Eleven things I love about the World Cup ...
1. Ecuador goalie Cristian Mora, the only player I've ever seen do the same as the fans and display his country's colours on both cheeks during a match. Argentina defender Fabricio Colocinni's defiantly early Seventies-style ultra-shaggy mass of curls comes a close second.
2. Being served ice cream and Coke in your seat at games, just like at baseball in the United States - practical, so civilised and one of the few things football could learn from American sport. Premier League, take note.
3. The refereeing, such an under-appreciated vital ingredient of any game, has been generally excellent, and often outstanding. Graham Poll's forgetfulness and/or inability to count Josip Simunic's yellow cards in the Croatia v Australia war - sorry, Group F runner-up decider - was a rare, if spectacular, exception. Spain's Luis Medina Cantalejo has been exceptional, notably in Germany v Poland: strong, decisive and always explains his decisions to players.
4. Criticise Fifa for all sorts of things; I certainly do. But the cumulative effect of all their various changes of rules and advice to referees, all intended to promote attacking football and punish foul play, is a tournament where creativity is encouraged, flair players are better protected than ever and cynical negativity is happily rare. There has been refreshingly little diving and few flying elbows, professional fouls and such like; where it has occurred, refs have punished offenders, for example the second yellow card to Mexico's Luis Perez for diving in the area against Portugal.
5. The lack, although not total absence, of inflatable Spitfires, second world war helmets, hooliganism and choruses of Ten German Bombers among England fans. The behaviour of, atmosphere around, and demographics of the Ing-er-land faithful have changed so much for the better. There are far fewer xenophobic, aggressive, moronic arrests-in-waiting, and more normal folk. The contrast with Munich five years ago, when hundreds of England supporters fought the German police (and followers of rival clubs each other) in the hours before the visitors' unforgettable 5-1 rout of the hosts, could not be more stark, or more welcome.
6. The volunteers. They don't occupy high chairs like at the Olympics, but have been unfailingly helpful and patient in giving advice and directions - usually in English for those of us too lazy or clueless to have bothered learning German. A big shout, too, to the large numbers of German Red Cross personnel who are on duty at every match.
7. The Germans for being such good hosts. They have put huge effort into making everyone feel welcome, through intelligent policing, free newspapers in host cities tailored to fans of whichever teams are playing that day and turning out to loudly support teams other than Jürgen Klinsmann's, such as Ghana. It's no accident that the atmosphere has often been brilliant and that so many fans have mingled - in stadiums, fanparks and city centres - so joyously.
8. The German authorities' belated recognition that checking that the name on everyone's ticket matched their passport, as they foolishly threatened to do, was impractical. A one-nil win for common sense over the German love of order.
9. France and Juventus defensive legend Lilian Thuram's readiness to spend 20 minutes patiently signing autographs and posing for photographs for anyone who asked in the bar of Cologne's Hilton Hotel, as he did the night before the former champions played Togo. A legend on and off the pitch.
10. Being lucky enough to have been present at Ghana's always exciting, ultimately-euphoric 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in Cologne - a great match, and a fantastic occasion. Seriously, it could have been 10-2. The collective purr of satisfaction from those present, who knew they'd witnessed something special - though not the Czech fans, obviously.
11. German trains. Deutsche Bahn puts Britain's array of overpriced, often unreliable rail operators to shame. Game doesn't finish until 11pm, you won't get back to the station until maybe an hour later and you're staying two hours away in another city? No problem, sir, the 00.14 will get you there.
And eleven things I hate ...
1. Italy's Daniele De Rossi for his disgusting violence against USA target man Brian McBride, cynical attempt to con the referee and then, worst of all, belated apology to Fifa's disciplinary beaks in a bid to avoid a long ban.
2. Mexican waves by fans and their dopey booing of those who don't join in the 'fun'. Don't these saddos realise that they might miss the best moment they'll ever see on a football pitch by jumping up and down?
3. German hoteliers ripping off fans by charging exorbitant rates. The Jaguar City budget hotel in Frankfurt - which was demanding (and getting) 499 euros for a room usually costing 200 euros when Holland played Argentina in the city's Waldstadion - I mean YOU, and your similarly greedy and opportunistic counterparts around Germany. Victims left with a sour taste at such profiteering will hardly return to experience Germany again in a hurry.
4. The crass, in your face over-commercialisation of the World Cup, for example the huge sponsors' tents around the 12 stadiums where 'official partners' such as Continental, Emirates and Adidas entertain their guests. Why do the team mascots at every match have to be the McDonald's mascots, the Fan of the Match have to be the Hyundai Fan of the Match and the supposedly-prestigious Man of the Match award be prefixed with Anheuser-Busch's name?
5. The deafening music that blares out of stadium PA systems, so loud you can't ring anyone or even hear your neighbour speak, before and after games - especially Queen 'classics' (sic). Who decided that fans want such a din?
6. The fact that cameras are stupidly on the list of items fans are banned from bringing into stadiums, and that the rule strangely does not seem to apply to the massed ranks of corporate guests.
7. The sheer number of people, always with the best seats, looking smug as they saunter around with lanyards saying things such as Prestige Hospitality, Coca-Cola or Anheuser-Busch - yes, it's the World Cup sponsors and their many, many clients and friends. Each of the tournament's 15 sponsors is allowed to buy 25,000 tickets; that works out at 390 for every sponsor for every match across the 64 games. This kow-towing to corporate interests at the expense of ordinary fans is scandalous but also unnecessary because some sponsors, such as Coca-Cola, admit they don't need the indecently large number of seats that Fifa lets them buy.
8. The heartbreakingly huge number of people who have come to Germany, ticketless but hopeful that they'll turn up a ticket somehow, only to go home having got no closer to the action than a big screen at a 'fanpark'. In four years' time, when the World Cup is held in South Africa and many locals can't afford the price of entry, Fifa may regret disillusioning so many enthusiastic European fans by its grossly unfair policy of allowing supporters of the 32 teams taking part to have just 8% of the tickets for their games, and thus helping create such a large-scale black market.
9. The cost of public loos. Seventy cents at Frankfurt station was bad enough but at Cologne it's 60 cents for a pee and 1.1 euros for a sitdown. Let's hope Gordon Brown doesn't copy this punitive, cruel form of indirect taxation.
10. French fans - where are they? Their team were world champions until four years ago, their country borders Germany and they have some of the biggest stars of world football, yet pathetically few of them have bothered to come. If the Koreans, Mexicans and Ghanaians can make it, why not followers of les Bleus?
11. That the World Cup ends on 9 July.
Denis Campbell is the Observer's sports news reporter
