MADRID: While Spaniards were ecstatic over their defeat of Germany, one corner of the country was in despair, as tens of thousands of German tourists in a Majorcan beach resort were left with broken hearts.
Cries of "Nein!" (No!) erupted throughout Playa de Palma, a traditionally German resort in the Balearic island, as Puyol scored in the 73rd minute, the only goal of the match that took Spain to its first ever World Cup final.
"We lost to Spain in Euro 2008, now we`ve lost to them in World Cup, twice in important matches is too much," complained Judith, a 18-year-old German tourist in the Deutsche Eck (German Corner) bar and restaurant.
"Now we have to at least beat Uruguay for third place," she said, a garland in Germany`s red, yellow and black colours round her neck.
"If we`d had (suspended player Thomas) Mueller, we wouldn`t have lost," said her boyfriend Pierre, also 18, wrapped in a German flag.
In sweltering heat, Germans crammed into into overflowing bars and restaurants along the Playa de Palma beach to watch the match.
Majorca is nicknamed `Germany`s 17th Land` because of the millions of tourists from that country who visit every year,
And Playa de Palma, a strip several miles (kilometres) long full of high-rise hotels, souvenir shops and German bars and restaurants, is where many of them go for cheap `sun and beach` holidays.
Playa de Palma`s so-called Bierstrasse (Beer Street) was bedecked with German flags, and tourists wore shirts, hats, garlands and face paint in the national colours of red, yellow and black.
But the Spanish red and gold colours were also fluttering here and there.
Germans had begun gathering in bars from around midday to the match.
A screen measuring 14 by four metres was set up opposite the beach outside the Mega Park, a massive beer hall which managers said can accomodate more than 7,000 people and which was packed with young Germans, dancing and singing and downing vast amounts of beer.
Majorcan police stepped up security to avoid incidents, as they did before the Germany-England match last month.
In the Plaza Mayor, the main square, Spaniards packed into the more traditionally Spanish bars.
"The police won`t let us into the Mega Park as they don`t want any trouble," said Sebastian, 42 and unemployed, in the Victoria bar.
Some 27,000 German residents on the Mediterreanean island, in a population of around 862,000, are joined every year by nearly four million German tourists -- the largest number of visitors from any single country.
Some 450,000 Germans arrived last May alone, according to the local tourist authority.
BDST: 0227hrs, July 8, 2010
