Bermuda joined billions of football fans across the globe in turning its gaze to Germany yesterday ? as the biggest sporting spectacle of the year kicked-off in spectacular style.

From Ronaldinho to Rooney, the greatest players on the planet are taking centre stage in the 18th World Cup.

As supporters prepare to gorge themselves on 64 matches in 31 days, TV viewing figures in pubs, clubs and front rooms worldwide are expected to top 30 billion.

Unlike next year?s cricket equivalent, Bermuda will not be represented in Germany. But World Cup fever still has the football-mad Island gripped.

And the country is now a multicultural melting pot; virtually every ? if not all ? the 32 countries competing in this year?s World Cup boast a presence amid its 65,000 population.

Residents with roots in Trinidad, Portugal, England and America might make up the majority, but fans from Iran, Ecuador, Mexico and Croatia based on the Rock will be rooting just as passionately for their heroes.

There may only be a scattering of Serbs and South Koreans, a tiny pocket of Poles and Paraguayans and a small selection of Swedes and Swiss. But representatives from every World Cup flag will be battling to make their voices heard here, as the goals crash in thousands of miles away across the Atlantic and thousands pack the Island?s bars to watch matches.

One smart-thinking businessman has taken an early lead against the opposition, tapping into the multi-national appeal of the World Cup in Bermuda. Music Box Eddy DeMello, a leading figure in the large Portuguese community that will flock to the Vasco Da Gama club for games, is stocking flags and memorabilia from every country taking part in Germany 2006.

Fancy an Iran neck chain, a Dutch bracelet or a South Korea hat? Then his Reid Street store is the place to be.

?I?ve not got all the shirts in stock, but I?ve got most of them,? he stated. ?Not many people have come in asking for Togo and my supplier told me that I was the first person to order everything across the board.

?But I?m covering all bases ? you never know who might come in.?

Portugal, Brazil and Argentina are, not surprisingly, his most popular-sellers. But Mr. DeMello said he was shocked when a customer came in asking for merchandise from Iran, a nation not noted for its footballing prowess.

?That?s the last country I thought anybody would ask for,? he said. ?Somebody also came in the other day and cleared me out of Asia and Middle East stock.

?It?s unbelievable the mix of people we have here in Bermuda.?

Mr. DeMello?s world-wide purchasing policy got thinking. With more than 20,000 expats on the Island, could we contact somebody hailing from every country taking part in the World Cup, based in Bermuda?

With Portugalalready firmly crossed off our list, we got to work on Wednesday afternoon, in an ambitious attempt to gauge the mood of Bermuda?s united nations of football. Let?s call it 80 hours around the world: here?s how we fared...

First port of call were the Consul General offices of a clutch of European countries. A quick flick through the phone book revealed a plentiful supply of nations.

Eager anticipation greeted our first call back, from Frenchrepresentative Edgar Humann-Guilleminot. Sadly, when asked his verdict on ?Les Bleus? his answer was ?non?.

?I know very little about the World Cup,? he said, providing us with the journalistic equivalent of a first-minute own goal sliced into the top corner of the net, ?I?m not much use to you.?

He did point us in the direction of another Frenchman, but he never returned our message. Eric Cantona would be appalled.

There was more success with the GermanyConsul General, Peter Bubenzer, beaming with pride at the prospect of his country hosting the big soccer spectacle.

?The World Cup is something I always pay attention to,? said the managing partner at Appleby Spurling Hunter, who has family in Munich. ?There will be tremendous support from the home crowd and the team has started to come together after a couple of lean years.?

He predicted his side?s famed steely discipline would make them rugged opponents, but said the tournament was wide open with exciting teams from Africa and Latin America ones to watch.

We thought we?d find somebody from Switzerlandat Swiss Re, but the sole Swiss worker was on holiday. Possibly skiing.

We finally tracked down Joel Johnson, 40, who is Swiss/French and comes from NeuchatelI hope we go far,? said the financial analyst, who believes there were about 80 of his countrymen based in Bermuda.

There was no trouble getting hold of Bermuda?s USrepresentative, Gregory Slayton. ?We?re going to win it all,? predicted the Consul General, with typical American swagger. ?Brazil, Argentina ... bring them on.?

After struggling to make inroads against traditional sports like gridiron and baseball, soccer is gradually gaining popularity in the States. And Mr. Slayton predicted it would be as popular as baseball with the next generation.

And the man rarely pictured without a hat on his head, plans to cap any Uncle Sam World Cup triumph in his own unique style. ?If we win, I?ll be making up a special victory cap,? he promised.

On the other side of the global diplomatic divide, beautician Mitra Johnston, from Iranbased in Bermuda 17 years, said she would love her team to triumph over America. ?We are pretty good at football in Iran,? she said. ?Good luck to the team.?

A tip from our athletics correspondent got us in touch with Swedishpersonal trainer and keen runner Victoria Fiddick.

She said her country would grind to a halt for the tournament, although she wasn?t exactly clamouring for the first ball to be kicked. ?I haven?t lived there for 20 years and I have no clue what they are doing soccer-wise.?

A rumour there was a Dutch diver working at the Wyndham Hotel got us in touch with a Spaniardbullish about the under-achieving matadors excelling.

?They never perform but their group is pretty good so we should make the quarter finals,? said Michael Burke, 46, owner of a Spanish mother and Blue Water Divers shop.

?We won the Champions League (Barcelona) and the UEFA Cup (Seville) and Rafael Nadal is wiping up in the tennis, so the World Cup would be nice as well.?

We had called the hotel to speak to diving instructor Nicole Veltman, who hails from Holland. The 27-year-old said she would consider painting her face orange if Ruud Van Nistelrooy and company made it all the way to the final ? and made her tangerine dreams come true.

A call to MexicanEduardo Fox hit paydirt, as he directed us to more nationalities.

?In Mexico football is the main sport,? said Mr. Fox, 53, who has lived in Bermuda for 30 years. ?It?s not religion as in Brazil or Argentina, but it?s pretty big.?

Will it be strange watching it in Bermuda, we asked, away from the hustle and bustle of crowded Mexico City? ?I?ll watch it at home or with friends but unfortunately I?m going to have to work. I?ll have to check to see if I can catch it in the office.?

Magdalena Prusinowska, who works with him at Appleby Spurling Hunter, said she hoped her Polandteam met England at some stage. ?My boyfriend is English,? said the legal assistant, who hails from Poznan but now lives in Southampton. ?It would be nice to see Poland beat them in the second round.?

Our search for Latin Americans hit a kind of Samba-style standstill. Staff at the Somerset Country Squire assured us that a BrazilianJoe, would be watching the tournament there. We didn?t catch him or a couple of other Brazilians, but soccer sources said the Island?s large Brazilian contingent plan to cheer on the kings of flair in Flanagans. An Irish pub.

A man from Ecuadorworking for Ground Effects gardeners returned our message but said he was too busy to speak. Perhaps he was plotting his viewing schedule for the next few months.

There was more luck with ArgentinaGisela Gamba, 30, star striker with North Village Lady Rams, said she was a massive football fan.

The biologist from Buenos Aires will be passionately cheering on her idols with a group of about eight Argentines, but certainly not with any rival fans, especially the English. ?I get annoyed with other teams.?

Those emotions were echoed by ItalianGiuseppe Lestingi, assistant manager at La Trattoria. ?I like to watch by myself.

?I do not want too many people around. I get quite heated,? admitted Mr. Lestingi, who said his mother would be watching with Azzurri with him ? and would be on hand, probably to cook up some spaghetti and meatballs.

Former restaurant owner Antun Duzevic, from Croatiasaid he was not aware of many Croats in Bermuda. ?If we are not too over-confident, I would not be surprised to see us in the quarter finals,? he said.

We got in touch with Serbia-born Jelena Mitrovic, 25, at a Hamilton language school, although the prospect of a month of soccer failed to set her pulse racing. ?I?m not a big fan,? said the 25-year-old from near Belgrade, who speaks four languages, including Greek and Latin.

One man fluent in soccer talk was Trinidad and Tobago supporter Rob Mahadeo. Along with an estimated 600 fans from Bermuda, he has jetted out to Germany to see his team?s group clashes with Sweden, England and Paraguay. He also secured tickets for two games involving Spain and Brazil because his friend knows a member of the FIFA top brass.

Asked how his team would fare, Mr. Mahadeo, whose parents were born in Trinidad, said he didn?t expect them to escape the group stages. ?If they score a goal that would be great,? he told a faint sound of steel drums rising in the background as he spoke?It?s just a celebration that we made it.?

He put us in touch with a colleague from South Koreabut our phone message was not returned. And despite numerous calls to sushi bars and martial arts centres, we had to say ?Sayonara? to our attempts to track down anyone from Japan

That?s 18 countries down... just 14 left.

Apparently there?s a waitress at Cafe Cairo called Katrina from the Czech RepublicMaybe she was too busy fretting about star Pavel Nedved?s injury to speak to us. And attempts to get a World Cup message from the mega-rich Saudi owners of the Elbow Beach Hotel proved fruitless.

We had more success in Costa Rica, where Bermudian Alex Outerbridge sent us this unique message via e-mail: ?Ole Ole Ole Ole....Ticos Ticos....?

Swept up in the ?intoxicating enthusiasm?, he explained: ?This is the national chant that can be heard at every street corner. There is more anticipation tonight than before a national election! Even the president has declared June 9 a public holiday.?

Another exotic e-mail winged in from the Ghanacamp. ?We have to play against Italy and the US, so that?s going to make things hard,? said Kiki Nortey, who along with best friend Daphne Dadzie, is on a two-week holiday in Bermuda.

?But I?m sure Ghana will do their very best and we are going to be watching every game and screaming for our team. Football is very big there and the whole country will be going mad for the Black Stars.?

Over in the slightly more sedate confines of Government House, Deputy Governor Nick Carter said as a Southampton fan he was looking forward to seeing former stars Peter Crouch, Theo Walcott and Wayne Bridge make a winning contribution to England?s World Cup. ?I believe, they have a good chance of reaching at least the semi-finals,? he said, later admitting he had not seen Crouch?s famed robotics-style goal celebration. ?Better take a look and get practising,? he added.

A call to a couple of Australiansgot nowhere when they said they were too shy to speak to the press. Maybe the Socceroos were still smarting from the Ashes defeat last summer?

So after hours of phone calls and wild goose chases, we failed to track down seven countries. The elusive nations proved to be Ivory Coast, Togo, Paraguay, Tunisia, Angola, Ukraine and Japan (despite numerous calls to sushi bars and martial arts centres).

After criss-crossing the globe, what better way to end our world cup odyssey than with a Bermudian.

So who is Premier Alex Scott backing over in Germany?

?I will be watching every game I possibly can ? and taping the others,? the Premier said last night, as he checked his video timer worked and plumped for the pre-tournament favourites and current holders.

?I have supported Brazil since the days of No. 10, the great Pele. When Brazil lose ? which is very rare ? they play better than any other team in the competition.

?No, it is not safe to support Brazil ... it?s smart!?