"Gee, we looked swell - full of that yankle-doodle-dum..."

Any game featuring Germany, England or Brazil – sure.
But Italy versus United States didn’t appear the most obvious target for ticket touts hoping to do big business.
Yet walking through Kaiserslautern today, I saw more people appealing for tickets than during any other pre-match afternoon hours this past week.
Of course, when seemingly every other passer-by is proffering a card saying “Need tickets / Brauch Karten”, the true entrepreneurs turn more emotive.
One burger-munching American dad had weighed down his young daughter under a sweltering Stars and Stripes felt hat, and a billboard bigger than herself.
‘Her’ message read: “I really need to buy four tickets for my family – pleeeease help!”
Let’s hope daddy dearest was at least prepared to foot the bill, rather than raid his downcast-looking daughter’s piggy bank.
The ticket-beggars seemed split between the Italians – whose players will hopefully maintain last Monday’s superb standards – and the Americans, whose players surely can’t play any worse.
Perhaps a clue to this match’s popularity should have been picked up, when it became impossible to book overnight accommodation afterwards.
Not even a Linton Travel Tavern-style “sordid little griefhole” is on offer for me tonight.
Instead, I’ll be either hanging around the poky Kaiserslautern Haupbahnhof – or, more likely, nipping onto the first Munich-bound train I can find, and catching whatever sleep possible.
Hopefully the match will prove worthwhile, for all concerned.
After all, the Americans appear to have taken their defeat to the Czech Republic rather badly.
Or, indeed, maybe not. Maybe one day...