Nearly a million jubilant Germans roared and stamped and danced in a sea of black, red and gold as Berlin blew its lid at the appropriately- named Victory Column yesterday.

The column, constructed to celebrate Prussian military victories over France and Austria, became the centre of celebrations of Germany's World Cup victory over Argentina.

As far as the eye could see, right down to the Brandenburg Gate, the sky was filled with shimmering German flags and waving hands.

"I'm the wrong side of 50 and I really didn't know I could celebrate like this," said Sabine Keseberg with a flushed face.

The mood built slowly through the day and, over two hours ahead of match time, police closed the fan-mile viewing area, forcing thousands to look for an alternative place to watch the match.

The German euphoria was a long time coming: in the first half it was groups of Argentinians who dominated proceedings, dancing wildly to their banging drums and clashing cymbals and dragging huge, 30-metre flags across the crowd.

But the manic, rhythmic energy that peaked with the Argentinian goal soon seeped away and was swallowed by the silent mass of German fans gazing imploringly at the huge screens.

Miroslav Klose's equaliser in the 80th minute lifted the crowd with a roar of approval and relief, and the cheering continued to build, right through the extra time, ending with cheers of "Let's go, Deutschland".

Through the penalty shoot-out, as the suspense grew, fans danced nervously from one foot to the other or looked away entirely. Each German strike that hit home raised a roar, and the cheers of "Lehmann! Lehmann!" must have reached the Olympic Stadium a few kilometres west.

The German goalkeeper's final save ripped right through the crowd and the volume hit 11 as fans flipped out, leaping into the air with their flags, nerves and voices gone.

"What an excellent game! What a fantastic team!" shouted a hoarse Ulrike from Berlin.

On the big screen, Chancellor Angela Merkel could be seen kissing Franz Beckenbauer furiously, her husband nowhere in sight.

One German-Argentinian couple, Christine and Gustavo, kissed even more passionately under a tree, flags and beers in hand.

"I'm for Germany of course, always was, always will be," said Christine, her lipstick as smeared as the German flag tattooed on her cheek.

"We played better but it's a lottery. Congratulations to Germany all the same," said Gustavo, smiling despite the disappointment. "I hope we'll still be able to celebrate together anyway."

Within minutes, the streets of Berlin were filled with flag-draped cars blaring a crazy scale of horns punctuated by bangers and gunshots.

"Anyone who has to get anywhere urgently, forget it," said a good- natured traffic reporter on the radio.

The entire city was on the move for hours last night, east to west, west to east. The Olympic Stadium crowd poured out of Berlin's gleaming central train station into the government quarter, giving a fresh boost to the party that continued on into the night in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

The one-time Cold War border between East and West Berlin, a deadly no-man's-land, was last night Lehmann's land.