The Germany vs. Nigeria match in Christchurch will live long in my memory.
I'd been boring my mate Kevin at games with my appreciation of Hany Mukhtar, the German midfielder.
At half-time on Thursday night I was queuing for coffee behind an African bloke in German supporters gear.
"You support Germany?"
"Yes, yes. They are my team."
"Do you live here or are you from Germany?"
"I'm from Berlin. I'm visiting here for the tournament."
"Germany are a very good team. I've been enjoying watching them."
"Thankyou. I'll tell my son."
"Your son plays in the German team?'
"Yes. I'm Hany Mukhtar's father."
"He's my favourite player."
"Oh, wow."
Ensued a discussion about New Zealand's best players. As a keen student of the Bundesliga, he'd heard of Marco Rojas at Stuttgart.
He also remembered exactly which year Werder Bremen won the Bundesliga during Wynton Rufer's time there and corrected me when I said 1994: "I think it was 1993." But he didn't realise Wynton Rufer was from New Zealand although he'd seen him playing in the flesh in his first years living in Germany. That such a major player in Germany at the time was from New Zealand really impressed Mr Mukhtar: "I didn't realise New Zealand has produced players of that kind of standard. That's amazing. I thought New Zealanders were only interested in rugby."
Before we left to return to our seats I asked Mr Mukhtar to tell his son to watch out for Tyler Boyd when his Benfica team comes up against Tyler's Vitória Guimarães in Portugal. They may well play against eachother since both are likely to be playing for their club's youth / reserve team next season.
Mr Mukhtar it turns out, is a Sudanese immigrant to Germany (went to study there in 1990 and stayed. He met his German wife at university - she was in the food queue next to ours at the match). He told me that he'd spoken English in Sudan but it had gotten rusty after years in Germany. (Educated people in Sudan speak Arabic and English as a colonial legacy).
He recently retired early from teaching at the Engineering Faculty of the University of Berlin due to failing eyesight.
Hany Mukhtar's brother is currently studying Chemical Engineering at the university.
After the match, Hany Mukhtar jumped the barrier to greet his parents and the German supporters - and me and my mate Kevin (who's in a wheelchair) were right at the point where he jumped the hoardings, so were the first people he came across.
"I just met your father. He's a very nice man. Good game, Hany. You played well."
"Thanks!"
Queue a rush of German fans to the edge of the stand above us to greet Hany - especially the kids all offering things to be signed and taking photos of their hero.
Then, having satisfied his fans, Hany turns to me and Kevin for a chat and obliges us for some photos with him, crouching down next to Kevin in his wheelchair.
I even managed to tell Hany how Tyler Boyd has signed for Vitória Guimarães and he said he'd look out for him next season.