KLU - VIE: 1:0

Some time this summer I noticed red flags advertising next year's Big Event (unless you're blissfully uninterested in soccer like yours truly) all along Vienna's Ringstraße. "That's a bit early", I thought to myself. Come winter those flags are an unappealing rusty brown with the print hardly discernible, thanks to exhaust fumes. Unless they are going to be replaced visitors will be greeted by dirty rags. Not a pretty sight.

In Klagenfurt, another venue for the championships, green versions of the EURO 2008 flags are all over the city (photo above taken by the lakeside). They are a pretty recent addition and chances are pretty good that they will still be in good shape for the games. Sometimes provincial can be a good thing.