World Cup fans bring Munich alive

Costa Ricans in red and blue wave their flags for the many television cameras, visibly excited at the prospect of the “Ticos” taking on the host team in just a few hours.

On the other side of the square, groups of Mexicans in green and red periodically burst into noisy rounds of “Ole, ole, ole, ole.”

Meanwhile a dozen teenagers in blue Brazil tracksuits take in the sights. Over the next few days they will take part in an international five-a-side football tournament designed to bring together local sides and teams from all over the world.

And everywhere the message coming across is the same: the Germans are a friendly people and they want their visitors to feel welcome.

Munich, capital of Germany’s southern state of Bavaria and a traditionally cosmopolitan city where one in four residents is of foreign origin, is certainly used to putting on a show.

It is perhaps best known to foreigners as the home of the annual Oktoberfest beer festival — and, of course, the Bayern Munich soccer team.

But the night before the opening ceremony, visitors could take in the more unusual sight of a calypso band from Trinidad and Tobago giving it their all in the Olympic Park.

The need to prevent any potential terror attack has also been at the forefront of officers’ minds during the two-year planning process for the World Cup.

The airspace above Munich’s stadium will be closed for a 30-mile radius while matches are played, with helicopters and fighter planes on standby to be deployed if needed.

The city has “a very bitter memory” of the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian militants kidnapped and killed 11 Israeli athletes,

Of course, the vast majority hope that Munich’s biggest policing challenge will be the more mundane one created by sheer numbers of fans converging on an unfamiliar city and sampling more of its famous beer than is wise.

And to help the lost and confused, Munich has recruited a 500-strong army of unpaid volunteers, most of them students aged 16 to 25, who have given up a month to lend a hand.

“We want to help, to meet new people, to make friends, to show people that all are welcome,” said volunteer Philipp Koller. “It’s a great atmosphere. Munich is the best city in the world but now it’s even better.”