Political football: World Cup fever has struck its most unlikely victim: Chancellor Angela Merkel. Dr Merkel is not known for her love of the beautiful game, nor for spontaneous displays of emotion. But as Germany struggled to get the better of Poland on Wednesday night, cameras captured the German leader getting carried away like never before.

"Goal! Goal!" screamed a bespectacled Merkel as Germany's David Odonkor put the ball in the back of the net. But, as the camera continued to roll on her, joy turned visibly to anguish as someone told her it was offside. "Nein! Nein!" she bellowed, losing the diplomatic run of herself. To her right, Polish president Lech Kaczynski allowed himself a chortle of schadenfreude.

"It was such a suspense-filled 90 minutes," said an enthusiastic Merkel after the German win. "The extra-time goal was a relief but also well-earned. It's good that we won 1-0. Psychologically very important, I think."

Chancellor Merkel had approached the World Cup with huge trepidation.

As a trained physicist, more at home in the lab than the football pitch, she knew she was always going to come off badly in comparison to her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder. He never missed a photo opportunity to kick a ball around and even his nickname, Acker, arose from his robust football style as a youth.

Dr Merkel hasn't even tried to compete. Asked if she thought the German side would become world champions, she answered sardonically: "We already are world champions", a nod to Germany's 2003 Women's World Cup win. "And I'm sure our men can do just as much as our women," she added with a smile.

Dr Merkel may lack the ball skills but not the tactical mind.

Political observers were wondering yesterday if it was a coincidence that parliament just happened to agree the greatest tax hike since 1949 yesterday - hiking VAT from 16 to 19 per cent in January - while everyone is distracted by football.

"There's strength in silence," she remarked mysteriously this week.

Dr Merkel's football fever doesn't appear to have infected her husband, Dr Joachim Sauer, who stays away from all official engagements except for the annual Wagner festival at Bayreuth.

"I'm more of a football fan than my husband," said Dr Merkel, explaining his absence from the two German matches so far and his incredibly strong will in turning down a free World Cup ticket.