Berlin, Jun 23: Politics and sport don't mix goes the saying except, it seems, when it comes to the World Cup.

Ever-eager to cash in politically on the feel-good factor fuelled by success on sports' greatest stage, world leaders have not been shy in stepping forward to wallow for a moment in the media spotlight.

Most visible has been Germany's first woman chancellor Angela Merkel, who has suddenly emerged from out of nowhere as a big football fan and cheerleader-in-chief for the national team.

The former scientist grabbed box-office seats for all three of the hosts' first round games, clapping and bouncing up and down with glee as Jurgen Klinsmann's team trounced Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador to reach the last 16.Her new-found passion for the game was most in evidence during the nail-biting clash with the Poles in Dortmund.

Merkel gasped, mistakenly cheered, and then threw her arms in the air in despair as the Germans hit the crossbar twice.

When Oliver Neuville scored the winner in stoppage time, she jumped out of her seat.

She certainly got German captain Michael Ballack's vote.

"It's great to see how thrilled the chancellor was.

I can't remember the last time I saw her so emotional as when we scored that goal against Poland," he enthused.

More predictably, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has inserted himself into the picture avidly following the fluctuating fortunes of Sven-Goran Eriksson's men in Germany.

Blair, whose popularity is at an all-time low just one year into his third term, is flying the English cross of Saint George above 10 Downing Steet on match days and has taken to wearing a white shirt and red tie.

Not to be outdone, the man groomed to replace him, Chancellor Gordon Brown has insisted, not altogether convincingly, that despite being Scottish born and bred, he is fully behind the England team.

Merkel, Blair and Brown are not alone.

Whenever France take to the field, President Jacques Chirac's office lets it be known that he is "in his office watching the game" having made patriotically sure his agenda was clear at that time.

And US president George W Bush while admitting he knew next to nothing about "soccer" still found time to send his encouragements to the Stars and Stripes team.

It does not always go according to plan of course.

Brazil's populist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lula for short, poked a light-hearted dig at star striker Ronaldo over his weight problems only to find he had stirred a hornet's nest of sensitivity.

A miffed Ronaldo hit back saying that if he was fat then everyone knew that former union leader Lula drank too much.

It all got a trifle nasty and could have done with the silky smooth diplomatic skills of UN chief Kofi Annan to sort things out.

Only he was busy getting behind his home team Ghana who have been carrying the African flag at the World Cup.

"I'm proud of my boys," he said bemoaning that he would have to miss the crunch game against the United States as he would be "trapped in a plane" on way back to New York.

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