Posted by Jeff Bradley

DURBAN, South Africa -- Tonight, I'll be watching Germany and Spain in the semifinal match, and I'll be thinking about my generation of American soccer fans (ages 40 to 50) and our love affair with German soccer that began in the 1970s.

Now, I know everyone who loves soccer in the U.S. -- my peers included -- have become gaga for all things English. They have even changed the way they behave and talk about the game. They talk about their favorite kits, the condition of the pitch at the ground and, yes, when they're watching footy, they find it sacrilegious to drink American beer.

But back in the day, many of us who loved soccer worshipped the men from Deutschland, thanks to a weekly PBS program called "Soccer Made in Germany." Except for the brief affair we had with the North American Soccer League, "Soccer Made in Germany" was the only soccer available to us on television. And we devoured it. We imitated the way broadcaster Toby Charles pronounced "Karl-Heinz Rummenigge" and "Berti Vogts." We would shout Charles' signature call -- "There it is! It's in the back of the net!" -- when we played in our summer leagues. Beyond that, the shoes we wore were Adidas' Gerd Mueller Goals, and if you played on AstroTurf, you had some Beckenbauers.

My love affair with the German game went a few steps further. My uncle Jerry was a high school German teacher in Schenectady, N.Y., and used to return from his many trips with national team and club shirts. No, you couldn't go online in 1976 and order a Schalke 04 shirt, but Uncle Jerry could hook you up. Walking into high school and showing off one of my official shirts was quite impressive to my soccer teammates.

And in 1985, I got my own chance to live in Deutschland, in the city of Bochum (which would later become the home to U.S. forward Eric Wynalda). I attended as many VfL Bochum matches as I could during my stay and tried to absorb as much of the culture as I could. The songs and chants ring in my ears to this day.

So, tonight, even though I have picked Spain to win, I will have a special place in my heart for Die Mannschaft, for it was their forefathers who taught me and many of my soccer-loving friends to love the game. And we didn't even have to change the way we spoke.