Berlin ? The stadiums are ready, the grass is cut and sleek; the giant sculptures of Bayer aspirin tablets and Adidas soccer shoes, proud German inventions, rise over parks and fields. Out walking their dogs or sunning in the Tiergarten, Germans seem happy, almost loose, ready to become unhinged by the madness, euphoria, heartbreak and torment of the World Cup.

The monthlong soccer tournament is a swirl of passions and nationalism, superstitions and prayers, bets and scandals. Old legends are recollected and new ones blossom. It is the alchemy of sporting genius and marketing prowess; echoing with dozens of languages and fans that include Asian Buddhist monks, topless Brazilian women, chattering Italians, drunken Brits, irreverent Czechs and, dare we say, the nearly giddy Germans.

“The image of the German people outside of Germany is not very good. But we’re re-unified and we’re in the middle of Europe. We know how to party,” said Markus Kurscheidt, a sports economist at Ruhr University. “No one would believe that Germans know how to celebrate. You tend to think of the Italians. But Germans know how. The World Cup is a chance to show that Germans are nice.”

Germany has been preparing for six years for the tournament that begins Friday. Teams from 32 countries will eliminate one another until the championship match July 9. Play will be scattered among 12 stadiums stretching from Munich to Hamburg to Berlin, where the 1936 Olympic stadium has been renovated with a translucent roof. Three million tickets have been printed, and the overall economic benefit is expected to be $10 billion.

Soccer spectactors demonstrate for a free Tibet during a test match between the national soccer teams of Switzerland and China, in Zurich, Switzerland, on Saturday, in preparation for the World Cup, which begins Friday in Germany. Switzerland will play in group G with France, Togo and South Korea in the monthlong tournament. China did not qualify for the World Cup.

“It’s a fever that grows and grows, and as it comes closer I completely devote myself to soccer,” said Bernhard Dizer, a philosophy student. “There is nothing that touches soccer. There is no higher religion of sport. If you win, you are king of the world.”

The World Cup lands here as Germany is rising in international stature. The nation was the world’s leading exporter in 2005. Chancellor Angela Merkel is a formidable voice in Europe and has begun repairing relations with the U.S. that were damaged over Berlin’s opposition to the Iraq war. And many Germans hope, although they consider it unlikely, that their team repeat 1954, when it won the first of its three World Cup victories and lifted the nation’s image after World War II.

This year’s tournament will conjure past demons and rouse present fears: terrorism, neo-Nazi and right-wing radical marches, hooliganism, racist slurs and, when Iran takes the field, questions about nuclear weapons and Middle East tension. Security concerns have forced the German parliament to consider deploying the army around certain venues, a sensitive prospect. German troops have not been called upon to serve on home soil in a security capacity since the Hitler era. “We’re used to the green suits of police in the streets, but not soldiers,” said Linus Zahn, a theater sound and lighting technician.

Like most sports extravaganzas, the World Cup, run by the Federation International Football Assn., is also about money, marketing and sponsors. This makes for endless advertisements and peculiar ironies. Germany, for example, is renowned for cars and beer, yet the South Korean automaker Hyundai, not Mercedes-Benz, is the official car sponsor, and the U.S.-based Anheuser-Busch won the beer concession.