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Hertha Berlin

Ground: Olympiastadion

Visits: 3

 

Date: 16th May 1987

Match:  Blau-Weiss Berlin - FC Köln  1-1  (Bundesliga)

Attendance: 9 189

 

Date: 30th June 2006

Match: Germany - Argentina  5-3 after penalties, 1-1 at full time (FIFA World Cup 2006)

Attendance: 72 000

Date: 30th October 2019

Match: Hertha Berlin - Dynamo Dresden  8-7 after penalties, 2-2 at full time (3-3 AET) (DFB-Pokal)

Attendance: 70 429

Report (Hertha Berlin v Dynamo Dresden)

With Paderborn being promoted to the Bundesliga I have a new ground to visit in order to re-complete Germany´s top division. I was hoping for Paderborn to be drawn at home in the 2nd round of the German cup but that was not to be the case. Instead I decided to start my trip to Germany with Hertha Berlin v Dynamo Dresden. My flight left Copenhagen at noon and 14.30 I was at my hotel in central Berlin. I have been to Olympiastadion twice before but tonight would be my first visit for a Hertha game.

Dynamo Dresden is in many ways a special football club. With Olympiastadion having a capacity of 75,000 Dynamo were given as many tickets as they wanted. In the end around 30 000 away fans turned up making this an amazing experience. My friend Julian, who lives in Berlin, had bought us tickets in the Comfort area, meaning a padded seat with extra leg room. From my seat I had a great view of the pitch as well as the Dresden fans. Having been to Brauhaus Spandau with Julian and Schalke-Marc I actually was in my seat only 10 minutes before the 20.45 kick-off time. Later than usual but then again this a ground I have been to before.

The Dynamo fans had an impressive tifo with “Yellow Madness” and plenty of pyros. The game itself was quite mad as well. When Hertha, in the 82nd minute, scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-1 most of us thought that was it. In the last minute of normal time Dynamo Dresden made it 2-2 though. In the second half of extra-time they scored again, 2-3, but Hertha refused to give up. In the 120+3 minute the home team made it 3-3, unbelievable! Hertha then went on to win the penalty shoot-out and in total it was 8-7. A cruel end for the visitors and their loyal away following but a great experience for neutrals like myself. After an evening I will remember for a very long time I was finally back at my hotel around 00.30.

Report (Germany v Argentina)

Olympiastadion in Berlin was built for the 1936 Olympics and back then the capacity was more than 100 000. For the 2006 FIFA World Cup the stadium was rebuilt and modernised and nowdays the all-seated stadium has a capacity of 76 000. My first visit to Berlin and Olympiastadion was in 1987 when I was on a school trip to Berlin. To enter and travel through East Germany (and get a lot of stamps in your passport!) was of course exciting for a teenager. Going to East Berlin via the famous Checkpoint Charlie crossing was another highlight but as someone who had already developed a huge interest in sports I was looking forward to visit the old Olympic Stadium. It was here Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics and Hitler refused to shake the hand of a black athlete. This is one the the biggest sporting moments of all time and it was a very special feeling to be inside a stadium with so much history. We went  on a guided tour and the next day I went back for a Bundesliga match as well. 

 

When I returned to Berlin 19 years later a lot had changed, no East Germany and above all the Berlin Wall was no more. It was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had in my life when I visited the old Checkpoint Charlie crossing, saw the tourists and remembered what it was like in 1987 when we crossed here. For this World Cup quarterfinal I arrived in Berlin with the night train from Malmö and since that train was in Berlin 6am I knew I had a long day in front of me. The visit to Checkpoint Charlie was one of several stops on a bus tour you could make. There was around 20 stops and you could leave and board buses when it suited you, hop and go. The match I was going to attend was Germany against Argentina and you couldn´t had wished for a bigger game than this. When I came to Olympiastadion three hours before kick-off there was already thousands of people there and when it was time for kick-off the atmosphere was electric. To hear around 60 000 Germans sing the national anthem was a breath taking experience and through out the game the home fans gave their side an excellent support. Argentina took the lead and were the better team but they made the classic mistake and stopped playing. 10 minutes before full time Germany equalised and forced the game to extra-time. No goals meant a penalty shoot-out. As a neutral this was what I wanted, a classic game with a dramatic finish. Germany are probably the best country in the world when it comes to penalties and this game was no to be an excpetion. Germany won the shoot-out 4-2 and progressed to the semis. My train back to Sweden was another night train meaning I had a couple of hours to spend at Berlin Hauptbahnhof but this was never going to be boring. The fans kept on singing and chanting and the atmosphere inside this huge train station will probaly never be as good again!

 

This was my sixth and last match of this World Cup and it had for sure been some of the most memorable days of my life, the fans and other people you meet during trips like this is what makes the World Cup in football  and hopefully I will be given the chance to see many more matches in a major tournament.

Pictures from Hertha Berlin v Dynamo Dresden

Teams-entering.JPG

Teams entering

Ostkurve.JPG

Ostkurve

Ostkurve1.JPG

Ostkurve

Ostkurve2.JPG

Ostkurve

Ostkurve3.JPG

Ostkurve

Spelbild.JPG

View of play

Spelbild2.JPG

View of play

Dresdenfans.JPG

Dynamo Dresden fans

Yellow-Madness.JPG

Yellow Madness

Yellow-Madness2.JPG

Yellow Madness - pyro version

Pyros.JPG

Pyros

Penalty.JPG

Penalty shootout

Pano-Olympiastadion5.jpg

Pano

Pictures from Germany v Argentina 

argentina fans

Fans from Argentina

 

fans utanför stadion

German fans outside the stadium

 

tyska fans3

 

tyska fans2

 

 

olympiastadion

Olympiastadion

 

olympiska facklan

Olympic torch

 

os 1936a

 

westkurve

West curve

 

sudkurve

South curve

 

ostkurve

East curve

 

nationalsånger

National anthems

 

westkurve2

West curve

 

sudkurve2

South curve

 

tyska fans5

German fans

 

sieg!2

Sieg!

 

sieg!

Sieg!