by Richard Koscher, Publisher

For the past four years almost every country in the world, except for America, has been eagerly anticipating the arrival of June 2006 when the World Cup in Soccer takes place in Germany.

I’m a real fan of the sport and will be watching all the games. One team I will not be rooting for is the team from my native Austria, because those losers didn’t even make it past the qualification rounds. On the other hand, in 2008 Austria will certainly be playing in the second most important soccer tournament, the European UEFA Cup, which will be held in Austria. Even better than that, the games will be held in my hometown of Klagenfurt. I’ve already made arrangements to purchase tickets for that event. Even if the Austrian soccer team fails to improve, they will play at the games because the host team receives a free pass. The stadium that will serve as the venue for the event is already under construction at a cost of 81.8 million dollars. People who want to follow construction can see a live cam at www.woertherseestadion.at/content/36.htm.

When completed, the stadium will seat 32,000 people. The most insane fact I know right now, is that the Klagenfurt stadium will be used for only three games of the Euro Cup games. After that, the facility will undergo a tremendous refit that will d ownsize it to only 12,000 seats. Even though I think it is an essentially stupid thing for the Austrian government to do, I’m grateful to them for spending all that money to provide a great soccer experience.

It’s nearly impossible to overstate how important soccer is on the world scene, or for most Americans to comprehend the huge scale of this month’s World Cup. For example, if you Google the words soccer "world cup" Germany you get over 22 million hits. Just for comparison, if you Google Olympics 2006 Turin or Torino you get only nine million hits.

When I was 15 years old I had the great satisfaction of personally attending the 1990 World Cup at the enormous Stadio Comunale (Florence) when Italy was the host country. That occurred long before I had any idea of ever living in America, but by an interesting coincidence I attended the match between Austria and the USA, which are the two countries in which I now hold dual citizenship. Austria won that match 2:1, but I remember afterwards how joyfully fans from both nations exchanged hugs and flags with each other.

I also remember the reaction of the fans that evening after Italy – the team from the host nation – won their game. The streets were crowded with jubilant revelers. It was a wonderful experience! My young cousin and I replayed those thrilling games over and over again in my backyard – playing so passionately that during soccer season the glass window looking over the back yard had to be replaced on a fairly regular basis.

Tickets to the World Cup games are long gone. Tickets that originally cost about 30 bucks are being scalped on eBay for 300 dollars. That thousand percent markup does not include a Hefeweizen and a pretzel.

The great fun for us fans lies in predicting who will win the World Cup this month. I’m going out on a limb and am predicting a big upset. I believe that a team from one of the smaller countries – either the Czech Republic or Poland – will take home top prize. Unfortunately, the Czech Republic’s opening game is against the United States. I predict the Czech will overpower the American team by a final score of 4 to 2. After that the Czechs will polish off Ghana 4 to 0, and tie Italy at 3 points to finish number one in their starting group.

The Czech team will then defeat Croatia in the second round, France in the quarter final, and then meet Poland in the semifinal. I think the Czech Republic will win that match and then face mighty Brazil in the World Cup final. I predict that the inertia built up by the string of victories that the Czech team will have won at that point will make them strong enough to take the magic out of the amazing Brazilian players.

Another prediction I’m going to make is that the host country, Germany, will fail to make it past the second round. The U.S. team won’t make it out of the first round because, as I said, they unfortunately have to face the Czech team, whom I pick to be the chief contender. In spite of that, I will be rooting for the U.S. to pull off a tremendous upset. I’ll wear the American team jersey during the game.

Maybe a U.S. upset would serve to finally arouse American interest in this wonderful sport. At least you should pay attention to the World Cup games – if for no other reason than to see if my predictions stand up.

Richard Koscher, Publisher
richard@110mag.com