Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Fans of England's Team Crying in Their Lager After Loss to Brazil
Aired June 21, 2002 - 06:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Fans of England's team are crying in their logger after the loss to Brazil, and what better place to down their sorrows than in a London pub? That's where our resident anglophile, Richard Quest, is right now.
It was certainly a tough loss, Richard. But I understand you have dueling ambassadors with you.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do indeed. I have to explain one thing to you, Carol. Inside the sports cafe, where I had been just a few moments ago, things are getting a little hot under the collar, maybe because of all of the cold beer. They sort of tend to put (ph) things up a bit. My braces got cold, so we have moved outside, because the one thing we didn't want, besides any untoward incident, was a diplomatic incident.
Joining me now is Dr. Hans-Friedrich Vonploetz, the German ambassador here in London...
HANS-FRIEDRICH VONPLOETZ, GERMAN AMB. TO U.K.: Good morning.
QUEST: ... and Glyn Davies, the American minister here in London -- good morning to you, gentlemen.
GLYN DAVIES, DEPUTY AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO U.K.: Good morning.
VONPLOETZ: Good morning.
QUEST: Your teams meet this afternoon -- well, in just over an hour and 20 minutes. You by rights should trance his team. Are you going to win?
VONPLOETZ: I hope so. But I think we take the American team, which is the best you have ever had, quite seriously, and we know many of the players who play actually in Germany.
QUEST: Right. Minister, the underdogs, but you have done rather well. How have you done it?
DAVIES: Well, it's hard to say. I think by playing consistently, by not making many mistakes, and by having so many of our players, nine of them, who have European experience, and who know how to play the game where it's really played in a big way here in Europe.
QUEST: They play technically -- the Germans play technically very well. That's what you're going to have to watch out for. Your lot just plays with a lot of enthusiasm and good spirit.
DAVIES: Well, that's it. And we hope that our speed and maybe some of our thought processes can outdo the Germans, who are physically a much stronger, bigger team.
QUEST: Right.
DAVIES: Their headers are fantastic, their crosses from the corner...
QUEST: Hey, this all sounds very like you have been watching the games, Ambassador.
VONPLOETZ: Of course I have. Of course I have. But don't worry. I mean, of course, we play on the pitch, but basically, football brings us closer together, or soccer, as you say, because I was in Washington last week, and I see soccer fever is now also rising in the U.S. So that is very good for us.
QUEST: Finally, final thoughts, Glyn Davies, why is soccer simply not very popular in the U.S.? You have been in England now, or Britain, for some time. Why is it much more popular here?
DAVIES: Well, soccer is not unpopular in America. It's just that it is competing with some bigger sports, like American football and baseball. But remember, America did win a World Cup. Our women won a World Cup, and many Americans love the game.
VONPLOETZ: Do you want to know why I hope we will win?
QUEST: Go on.
VONPLOETZ: George W. Bush said America loves winners, and we want to be loved by the Americans.
QUEST: Oh, listen to this! Pardon me. The diplomacy is just oozing out of these two gentlemen.
COSTELLO: Hey, Richard.
QUEST: I mean, just listen to them.
COSTELLO: Richard.
QUEST: Yes, Carol.
COSTELLO: Tell them to throw out diplomacy and make a bet.
QUEST: Go on.
COSTELLO: Make a bet. Tell them to make a bet. QUEST: Gentlemen, they want to -- make a bet between the two of you. Who is going to win by how much? Hang diplomacy, throw it out of the window, bet between the two of you. What are you betting?
VONPLOETZ: 2-1.
QUEST: 2-1 says the German ambassador.
DAVIES: I think we'll take it 3 to 2.
QUEST: 3 to 2 says the American consular from the embassy here. May the best team win. Notice what the rest of us are wearing. When you get to be a diplomat, you wear blue suits.
VONPLOETZ: Oh, we dressed down, you know that.
QUEST: And this is their version of dress down Friday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dress down Friday. But are they going to make an actual bet? I mean, is money going to exchange hands? What are they betting here? We've got to put something on the line, Richard.
QUEST: Oh, oh, they can't hear you, but they are looking for money to change hands here on the bet. So -- oh, hang on. Hang on. I think they both prepared for this. Oh, there we go. There we go.
DAVIES: What I am prepared to wager, Mr. Ambassador, is if you win, I will give you this American team jersey. And I understand you may have a towel for me, is that correct?
VONPLOETZ: Yes. I mean, needs explanation for American viewers.
QUEST: Right.
VONPLOETZ: This is the German beach towel, which we put on the pitch or on a deck chair, which we want to be reserved for us. And that's on the pitch for the finals.
QUEST: Right. And being a German, that towel, it will be there before anything else, before the rest of us have even woken up. Ambassador, we thank you very much -- gentlemen, we thank you very much indeed-- Carol, back to you in Atlanta.
COSTELLO: Thank you very much, Richard. It was a lot of fun as usual.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
