SPORTS EDGE

Football
UEFA Euro 2008 Austria-SwitzerlandGermany V Spain Final
Life at a standstill
Reuters, Berlin/Madrid

Choose Your One: A sales girl in a merchandise shop displays red and white caps that symbolises the shirts of the two finalists of the Euro 2008 Spain and German in Vienna on Friday. The Austrian capital will host the final today. Photo: AFPLife in Germany and Spain is expected to come to a virtual standstill on Sunday when most of the combined population of 128 million in the two countries turn their attention to the Euro 2008 final.Aside from the occasional eruptions of joy and exploding fireworks when goals are scored, there will be precious little going on in either Germany or Spain for the 90 minutes.No single event in recent memory will draw as many people to their television sets -- or to the increasingly popular fan miles -- than the final in Vienna. It caps a thrilling tournament that has already brought record-breaking TV ratings.Sunday evening will be pure stress for the public water works in both countries as they brace for those famous surges of flushing right after the halftime and final whistles.Main avenues in Berlin and Madrid have already appeared virtually deserted when matches leading to Sunday's final at the Ernst Happel stadium were being played. Any pub or restaurant without a big screen showing the games was almost as empty. On Sunday, Germany and Spain will feel even emptier for anyone not near a TV set. The political leaders of both countries will all be in Vienna as well.Many factory assembly lines were shut down for last week's semi-finals and many of those who have to work on Sunday -- from police to firefighters and hospital staff -- have been setting up TV viewing corners to try to keep up with the score.Germany coach Joachim Loew and many of the players have repeatedly said the images of the frenzied fans back home have given the team an important long-distance lift."Thanks!" Loew wrote to fans on page one of the Bild newspaper on Saturday. "You've carried us up the mountain with your unbridled enthusiasm. Now there's only one step left and we're going to take that together on Sunday."Another capacity crowd of 500,000 -- the biggest gathering in Europe -- is expected to jam the central "fan mile" in Berlin set up on a closed off boulevard between the Brandenburg Gate and the "Victory Column" that lies two miles to the west.Hamburg (42,000), Frankfurt (35,000), Cologne (40,000) and Munich (30,000) have also set up central fanzones with giant TV screens that give supporters a collective stadium-like feeling.TV figures in Spain for Thursday's semi-final win over Russia touched a record 17 million -- 84 percent market share.There were 29.4 million German TV households tuned in to watch the win over Turkey -- an 82 percent share. Opinion polls have found that 95 percent of Germans plan to watch the final.In Spain giant TV screens will be set up in Coruna, Madrid, Malaga, Valencia, Zaragoza, Huelva and Santiago de Compostela.Madrid-based brewers Mahou estimated beer sales would be up to 15 percent higher than normal as Spaniards try to forget their deepening economic woes and ride a wave of euphoria at the national team's first major final in 24 years.Shops in Madrid were running out of stocks of replica Spain shirts while stores in Germany also reported booming business.Many of the 6,600 Spaniards who live in Berlin will watch the match at a restaurant near the Spanish embassy.Both countries are also planning huge public receptions for their teams -- no matter who wins.