Following the Football Ferns around the world is something I've really enjoyed doing throughout the last couple of decades. And I hope I continue to do so for some considerable time yet. While it's certainly impacted on me financially - you don't want to know how much, but it's it's well over the six-figure mark now! - there are few other ways I would prefer to spend my money, and the benefits to be had have certainly been well worth the outlay. Visiting countries I otherwise doubt I would have even contemplated visiting is one such benefit, and the latest addition to my collection of passport stamps is one I'm well pleased to boast. But it was very much touch and go if I would make it to Germany in time for the start of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals - a couple of fire-related activities reared their heads in untimely fashion, just when I least needed them to do so! The first one, of course, is the much-reported ash cloud issue, arising - literally - from that Chilean volcano of recent vintage. I was scheduled to fly out on Singapore Airlines' Friday lunch-time flight, but I discovered, just after finishing packing at 3am, that the inbound flight had been cancelled … Cue a frustrating day awaiting developments. But finding out about it when I did meant I had it easy compared with some. The Clanseys, for instance - they flew up from Wellington and ended up on a global tiki-tour with Emirates Airlines and Singapore Airlines, stopping at all sorts of places along the way. It's a minor miracle they weren't re-routed via Outer Mongolia, although it wouldn't surprise to learn that it was contemplated! While they were booked on the same flight as myself, their revised journey saw them depart later that same afternoon, while I discovered a couple of hours later that my cancelled flight was cancelled no more - Singapore Airlines decided to operate the service 22 hours later than scheduled, which meant a revised departure time of 10am Saturday. The flight north was drama-free, save for that on offer in the two Sean Connery movies on the in-flight entertainment. Being a James Bond nut, "Goldfinger" was up and running as soon as we'd lifted off, and it was a treat to follow up that 1964 classic with one of more recent vintage, with the gorgeous Catherine Zeta Jones starring opposite the action movie legend in "Entrapment". Connery has aged well in those forty-odd years, make no mistake. Once in Singapore, there were six hours to kill before the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. What better way to do so than update Scoreboard and compile my weekly Northern League review? I managed to complete everything just before it was time to board the plane, and it was at this point that the real fun and games started. With most passengers on board, there came an urgent announcement to disembark! "'Ello, what's going on here, then?" Back to the transit lounge, where we soon discovered that there had been a small electrical fire in the cockpit!! "Wunderbar!! NOT!!!" The prospect of 24 hours in Singapore awaiting a replacement aircraft loomed large, which would have put my attendance at the Football Ferns' match against Japan in jeopardy, never mind the opening game of the tournament, between Nigeria and France in Sinsheim. The problem was isolated to the weather radar unit, something which no 747 can get by without on a nigh on thirteen hour flight twixt Singapore and Frankfurt. Thankfully, a replacement part was swiftly found, installed and tested, and we ended up departing only five hours behind schedule. Considering my initial plans had me arriving in Frankfurt at 5.30am on the Saturday, it was just as well there was plenty of "fat" built into my schedule. My flight eventually landed at 9.50am on Sunday, roughly two hours before my train to Sinsheim departed. So it was touch and go for a while as to whether I'd get to the Nigeria v. France encounter, but it was certainly worth the effort - just 139 seats shy of a sold-out stadium made for a terrific atmosphere, and an entertaining game of football which saw the Louisa Necib-inspired French prevail 1-0. Later that day, in Berlin, host nation Germany thrilled the nation with a deserved 2-1 defeat of Canada, a win watched by over 71,000 fans in the stadium and a record 14.1 million on television - that's 20% of the German population! Kerstin Garefrekes' tenth minute header - she also missed an absolute sitter from four yards! - was followed up just before half-time by a drive from Celia Okoyino Da Mbabi, whose joyous celebrations were featured on the front pages of the following day's newspapers, of which there are plenty here.

My chariot awaits SQ286 on final approach to Singapore ... at last! National anthems time in Sinsheim Louisa Necib (France) in control against Nigeria Ho hum! Anthems time again, this time Japan's Our champions face the Canon firing squad Kicking off our Women's World Cup campaign

And as for magazines … But I digress. Christine Sinclair's superb free-kick set up a nervous finale for the host nation, but the hosts held on to give the nation the ideal start for a tournament which no-one can not possibly be aware of! Every match is shown live - mind, there are at least thirty TV channels to choose from here, so it would be criminal if they weren't! Newspaper and magazine coverage is off the wall - I've never seen so many publications dedicated solely to the women's game in one place at one time (and yes, I've already acquired most of them)! And they're not one-off efforts, either. It's certainly great being in a football-oriented country, that's for sure. Onto Monday, match-day for the cherubs, and a train trip from Frankfurt to Bochum to start the day. Prior to leaving Auckland, I took advantage of a couple of offers to visiting media from FIFA, specifically a pre-paid 2-3 star accommodation package for the entire tournament at around the 2500 Euro mark, and, for another 500 Euros, unlimited first class train travel for the duration of Germany 2011. My only other visit to this area of the world was in 1988, and I got a BritRail pass to cover my train travel then - a hugely worthwhile investment which paid its way within a matter of days. This Deutsche Bahn arrangement is proving every bit as fruitful - definitely money well spent. And the train system itself runs like clockwork. Absolutely brilliant. If you're running late, too bad - 10.03 is 10.03, and the train leaves at that time come hell or high water. No compromise. Come the end of the tournament, it will certainly be a challenge returning to the patchwork system by which transport in Auckland somehow manages to operate. There really is no comparison. So to the game, one which was a battle for our girls in 30 degree heat, playing against a team which cherishes possession - none of these hefty wallops downfield for Nadeshiko Japan, that's for sure. And with a player of the calibre of Mana Iwabuchi to come off the bench and change the game for you … until she came on, nicking a result seemed possible. The goal which won the game, Aya Miyama's free-kick, was the sort you rarely see these days - how often do set-piece specialists manage to get a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area up and over the wall and down below crossbar height? Think about it - not often, eh? Just our luck that it had to happen in our game, at our expense … After going behind to a Yuki Nagasato goal just five minutes into play, it was a massive boost to see the girls bounce back so quickly, with Amber Hearn earning herself a place in New Zealand footballing history as the first player to score at both the Olympic Games and the World Cup Finals. There aren't too many players in the world game who average a goal in every two internationals - I'm well proud of our number nine, as she is one of them! Going down 2-1 to Nadeshiko meant we needed England and Mexico to draw their game in Wolfsburg, and thankfully they did, 1-1. Fara Williams gave "The Lionesses" the lead with a towering but preventable twelve yard header, but Mexico's equaliser was a snorter - a 35-yard rocket from Monica Ocampo which left England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley looking decidedly ordinary. After watching that game, and knowing what our girls are capable of, I'm quietly confident we can get something out of both our remaining group matches - this dream ain't over yet, not by a long chalk. Go get 'em, gang - you can do this! But the trip to Dresden, for me at least, is a few days away. Today, a day trip to Leverkusen is on the menu, with Columbia and Sweden providing the main course on a day the USA and North Korea lock horns in a clash between two of women's football's superpowers in Dresden. Tomorrow, another day trip is on the agenda, to Moencengladbach to watch Brazil play Australia - no prizes for guessing who I want to win that one! That match, together with the game in Augsburg between Norway and Equatorial Guinea, wraps up the first sequence of first round matches, after which you can look forward to reading another update on life in Deutschland. Group A details: Germany 2 (K. Garefrekes (10), C. Okoyino Da Mbabi (42)), Canada 1 (C. Sinclair (82))  HT 2-0 Nigeria 0, France 1 (M. Delie (56))  HT 0-0 Group B details: Japan 2 (Y. Nagasato (6), A. Miyama (68)), Football Ferns 1 (A. Hearn (12))  HT 1-1 Mexico 1 (M. Ocampo (33)), England 1 (F. Williams (21))  HT 1-1