Beaten German football team arrive home from Euro 2008 to heroes' welcome

(30 Jun 2008) 1. Wide of stage of fan mile at Brandenburg Gate 2. Close up of quadriga on top of Brandenburg Gate 3. Mid of crowd of fans applauding 4. Mid of goalkeepers Jens Lehmann, Rene Adler and Robert Enke walking to fans, waving 5. Mid of players Lukas Podolski, Kevin Kuranyi and Miroslav Klose walking down stage with footballs 6. Close up of team captain Michael Ballack kicking ball into audience, pull out Ballack walking down stage into audience 7. Mid of banner in audience reading (in German): "Boys, we love you" 8. Wide of Michael Ballack applauding cheering fans, kicking ball 9. Wide of German coach Joachim Loew with colleagues walking down stage, kicking balls 10. Close up of coach Joachim Loew waving 11. Pan across stage with team holding banner reading "82 million + 23 = 1 team" 12. Wide of stage with team holding banner 13. Mid of cheering fans 14. Mid of player Lukas Podolski holding beer glass 15. Mid of Michael Ballack and Lukas Podolski talking on stage 16. Mid of players jumping and singing 17. Close up of singing female Germany fan 18. Mid of fans waving flags and singing 19. SOUNDBITE: (German) Germany fan, vox pop: "This really makes up for yesterday. It's the first time we have seen them live. We came all the way from the Baltic Sea, and it was well worth it. We would do it again anytime." 20. Mid of home made Euro 2008 cup with "Thanks" (in German) on it, held aloft by fan in crowd 21. SOUNDBITE: (German) Germany fan, vox pop: "We experienced the coming home party in 2006 (after the World Cup), but it is absolutely amazing again. It's really something special." 22. Mid of fans waving flags and taking photographs 23. Wide pan across fan mile with celebrating crowd STORYLINE: Some 100,000 cheering fans of the German football team welcomed their team home to the capital Berlin on Monday after a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Spain in the European Championship final the day before. The crowd waved German flags and signs bearing slogans of appreciation as the team players appeared one-by-one on a stage in front of Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate, kicking soccer balls into the midst of the crowd. "Boys, we love you" read one banner at the event on the so-called Fan Mile, a venue set up for open-air viewings of the tournament matches. Some 600,000 people gathered there on Sunday to watch the live telecast of the championship final, played in Vienna, Austria. One fan expressed the hopes of many that the team would build upon their strong showing in the European tournament for the upcoming World Cup in South Africa: "Danke: See you in 2010," the placard read. It was a bittersweet celebration after the loss to Spain, but some fans were consoled by the sight of their team on stage. "This really makes up for yesterday. It's the first time we have seen them live. We came from all the way from the Baltic Sea, and it was well worth it. We would do it again anytime," said one fan. Another added: "We experienced the coming home party in 2006 (after the World Cup), but it is absolutely amazing again. It's really something special." Team Captain Michael Ballack said in an interview on the stage in the nationally televised event that it was disappointing to lose after coming so far. The top-selling Bild newspaper on Monday proclaimed "Spain was simply better" in smaller text above a much-larger headline of "We're proud of you in any case" over a nearly full-page photo of popular midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger sitting slumped on the pitch after the loss. Berlin's B-Z tabloid simply said "Danke" ("Thank You"). Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...