Germany World Cup heroes return to huge fan party

Fans throng a street along the river Spree in central Berlin to cheer Germany's 2014 Brazil World Cup squad as they proceed in an open-top bus through the capital during a parade to mark the team's victory, July 15, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

BERLIN - At a party 24 years in the making, hundreds of thousands of Germans showed their admiration and adoration for their World Cup winners in a parade to the Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday.

The players, in matching black T-shirts bearing the number "1," lapped up the love by playing up to the estimated 400,000 people packing the "fan mile" in front of the landmark.

Fans began arriving overnight to secure good spots to welcome home coach Joachim Loew's team and the trophy. Germany's fourth World Cup, the first since 1990, crowned years of work by Loew to modernize the team, and followed near misses at recent tournaments.

"We're all world champions!" Loew told the crowd.

"Of course, it was a long way to the title, and an incredibly tough one in the end. But we're incredibly happy to be here with the fans now."

At a stage set up at the Gate, Mario Goetze, the scorer in the 1-0 win over Argentina in the final on Sunday, was greeted with deafening cheers by the sea of fans waving black, red and gold Germany flags.

Midfielder Toni Kroos led the crowd in a chant of "Miro Klose" - a tribute to veteran striker Miroslav Klose, whose two goals took his World Cup tally to 16 and made him the tournament's all-time leading scorer.

As the players waited to take their accolades, the fans welcomed each of them with a chant of "football god" - giving Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Mueller, Goetze and Klose the loudest cheers.

"We're just mega-proud of this achievement, after standing here in 2006 and 2008 as third and then as second - and now we've finally done it after this long journey, with this sensational team," defender Per Mertesacker said.

There were problems with the sound system, meaning most of the players' words were lost to the crowd. The supporters didn't mind, though, and cheered even louder as defender Jerome Boateng, back in his hometown, shouted: "I can't hear you!"

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