How it all started - World Cup 2006 Germany

On July 1974, West Germany beat Holland 2-1 in Munich
to win the World Cup. In Saigon, Vietnam, a 10 year
old boy was curious why his father spent a lot of time
watching on TV a group of men in shorts running and
kicking a round thing. He asked his father to explain
the game and soon fell in love with football.

That WC made a lasting impression on the boy and he
became a fan of the West German team. He did not do
well in foreign language in school (English) but he
could memorize the long strange names of the 11 German
players in the Final: Maier, Beckenbauer, Vogts,
Schwarzenbeck, Breitner, Bonhof, Grabowski,
Holzenbein, Overath, Hoeness, and Mueller.

Throughout the fall of 1974, the boy would buy all the
football magazines he could and spent a lot of time
dreaming about being a football player. One day in
early 1975, his father came home with a film reel. The
West Germany Embassy in Saigon had loaned the South
Vietnamese Army a film of the highlights of WC 74. As
an officer and a physician in the SV Army, the father
could use his influence to borrow the film for a few
days to bring home to show his friends and families.

With evryone gathering in a large dining room, the
highlights of WC 74 was shown. The boy was in
paradise.

A few months later, the Vietnam War came to an abrupt
end. The SV Army lost and the father was taken away to
a reeducation camp. With no future, the mother took
the boy and his sisters and they escaped Vietnam on a
boat. The boy never saw his father again.

32 years later, the World Cup is back in Germany. And
the Vietnamese boy will be there in person. And his
father will be there with him in spirit.