For months, Germans prepared for defeat at the World Cup. Media commentators criticized Coach Jurgen Klinsmann as the team suffered a series of pre-match defeats.

But that was before a string of wins in the World Cup matches threw the normally cautious and skeptical German nature out the door.

So it was that much more bitter when on Tuesday, Italy beat Germany 2-0 in last minute goals.

"It is very sad to end like this, because we really thought Germany could do it now," Matthias Brucker, standing in Dortmund's Friedenplatz, told the BBC.

Others hailed the team's surprisingly long run.

"It's a pity -- it was a great game," said Chancellor Angela Merkel, who sat next to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi during the game. "Unfortunately it wasn't quite enough. But this team can still accomplish a lot."

The top-selling Bild newspaper also tried for a glass-half-full view with the banner headline, "We are crying with you! You are still heroes" around a giant photo of Klinsmann, head in hands.

Shock, Surprise

Millions of fans around Germany watched the match with baited breath. In Dortmund, 200,000 fans cheered and groaned during the game at the stadium; outside, around the country, fans crowded around big screens to follow the game.

In Berlin, almost a million people trudged away from the Fan Mile behind the capital's best-known monument, the Brandenburg Gate, after following the action on big screens. The Fan Mile has been one of the abiding successes of this World Cup, and had to be extended ahead of the match.

During the final minutes of the game, the area was eerily quiet. After the winning goals, some cried, others applauded, most waved flags.

"We are still proud of them," Lukas Schmidt, 18, told DPA. "At the start no-one said they had a chance. But they went all the way to the last minute of the semi-finals. You can't ask for more."

Klinsmann echoed the sentiment.

"We are hugely disappointed," he told DPA. "It's amazing the spirit (the team) showed, the character. They made a whole country really proud."

A celebration

It was a different mood among Italians -- pure elation.

"After the final whistle, the Italians were the only ones cheering," wrote Berlin's Der Tagesspiegel.

"We were the better team in the game and finally we won - so we spoil the party of the Germans," Daniel Cacchio, an Italian who lives in Essen, told the BBC.

Many supporters expressed surprise.

Ludovico Megalini told the BBC that it was "wonderful... an incredible emotion for me. I can't believe it now - maybe tomorrow when I wake up. I can think only of Sunday now."

"The Germans can go home but we're going to party -- we're going to drink their beer and eat their sausages," he added. "It's great to celebrate in Germany after beating Germany."

Italy's sports dailies, delighted to take a step back from the mood of gloom that surrounds the club game at home which is mired in a wide-ranging match fixing scandal in which four clubs are accused of bribing referees were in festive mood.

"We love you," gushed the Corriere dello Sport in a large-type headline, while Gazetta dello Sport celebrated with "Fly high Italy, fly high. We are great and we know it. We have beaten the Germans, they will boycott our pizzas, but we have the taste and flavour of victory."

Keep the feeling

While football legend Franz Beckenbauer said he hoped that Germans would stay in an upbeat mood regardless, President Horst Köhler added that he hoped that Germans would sustain the new-found patriotism they discovered during the tournament, when for the first time since the war waving German flags and singing the national anthem were accepted as natural gestures of healthy national pride.

"We are on the right track toward standing up for ourselves and taking pride in what we have achieved since 1945," he told Bild. "The Germans identify with this country and its national colors. I think that is terrific."

He added that the country could still seek strength in the unexpected winning streak that took it to the semi-finals.

"We can achieve a lot if we have the courage to dare to do something new," he said. "We should remember that after the World Cup."