Important warning for all supporters intending to travel around Germany by train during the World Cup. The rail system here is not all it is cracked up to be.
The 08.49 from Dortmund to Hannover this morning arrived a shocking three - yes, THREE - minutes late, so make alternative arrangements and never complain about the service in Britain again.
World Cup preparations do seem to be running more smoothly. A big screen was put up yesterday in one of Dortmund's squares, where a huge crowd is expected to watch Germany v Costa Rica on Friday. A Brazil shirt in the window of Borussia Dortmund's city centre club shop suggests it is the visit of Ronaldinho and company to play Japan on June 22 that has most captured the local imagination. Brazil came to Dortmund, too, at the 1974 World Cup and lost 2-0 to Holland. An omen perhaps?
First shock of the tournament was turning up at Angola's training ground and being told by Rui Marques, their one England-based player and someone surely enjoying the greatest high of his career, that he was not talking to the media. Do any Leeds United or Hull City fans - or anyone else - know if he is usually like that?
