My little World Cup post.
I’ve got my wall chart, free flag, posters, scarf’s, clothing, magazine guides and even a panini sticker book. I’m a sucker, I know.
The World Cup is full of ridiculous build-up and hype with any company trying to jump on the bandwagon with merchandise and advertising.
Finally the tournament is about to begin and the game is set to take centre stage.
Trying to predict who is going to win and what is going to happen is a fool’s game. Even if it is jolly good fun. Nut-cases like me spend hours sitting in front of a wall chart trying to predict every possible outcome in the group stages and who will meet who. It’s sad.
The World Cup is the most wonderful spectacle. The passion it creates around the world, only the Olympics can rival it.
So what I’m going to do is just list a few things I’m looking forward to as a lover of the game.
Beautiful Football.
This is tricky to say what beautiful football is. When you’ve got the greatest players in the World in one place it’s safe to say there will be moments of jaw-dropping splendor. I hope and pray for some Messi magic. I really hope Argentina get it together and produce the kind of quality we all know they can. For me it’s not just Messi, their little general, that is going to set them apart from the rest. Higuain had an amazing season scoring goal after goal for Real Madrid and seeing him fire on all cylinders, coupled with an easy group should see easy progression. The tough hard working mongrel looking Tevez, Maxi Rodriguez, Aguero… The only weak link for me is the most gifted player of all time and their Manager Diego Maradona. (For the record… For all those shouting the word Pele. Pele was the greatest because of what he achieved but for god given ability and skill Maradona is the best)
He’s not stable, not proven as a manager and just that little bit fucking crazy to balls something up.
Other beautiful football I can’t wait for is the Spanish team (tipped by many to win) with their awesome midfield led by Fabregas.
Brazil are always amazing to watch but I expect them not to play the samba style football that has made them the high emperors of the beautiful game but a more direct attacking and tough game. It will still be spectacular to see.
The revolution of African football.
Do not for one second underestimate the importance of this World Cup taking place in Africa. It is going to change Football globally. Football in Africa is as old and in some regards older then in Europe. Natural athlete’s with unlimited skills have always been subjected to poor management and internal crises. Now we have the attention of the world being shined on the continent that continually provides the best players to the top teams of the world. The injection of money into South Africa will hopefully trickle down (or up if you want to be geographical about it) to the rest of the nations making up Africa.
I would love to see teams like the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana (while not knocking out Australia!) progress through to the round of 16 or heaven forbid a quarter final or semi final.
Parties.
Football creates communities. I cannot wait to be at pubs, parties, public venues singing, cheering and being part of such a fun atmosphere. It’s going to be electrifying.
Gritty Football.
Let me just call this English Football. I want England to do something. I don’t want to see penalties. I want the England who pulls together and pulls off a great escape. I want hard running to the byline, I want hard tackling, I want pressure football. I want to see something similar to that wonderful moment where David Beckham stood in the middle of the pitch when they were playing Greece in 2001 where he yelled at his players that they were better then the opposition and then took a free kick in extra time to win the match. I want to see that. I want to see Rooney make history. I don’t know of any player who loves football as much, who works as hard as Rooney can.
Gerrard is a more natural leader of men then Ferdinand is and for me it could be an unexpected benefit. They will miss him but with Gerrard being captain he could be that little bit more inspiration in extra time to get them over the line.
The USA.
I think they will be a force to be reckoned with in the next few years, they have woken up to the fact that this game is something they could dominate. Unlimited resources, pools of talent; it’s all there for them. Don’t be surprised if they upset England in the first group game. It seems unlikely but it could very easily happen.
Just the vibe…
The atmosphere in South Africa is going to be electric. Africans celebrate football. Hopefully it will be a nothing but positive affair that will give us memories that will linger in the minds of football lovers worldwide.
The Socceroos.
I want to see this nation turn into soccer nuts, I want the A-League to be the best league in Asia and I want it to compete next year along side the big sports. Not likely but when you look at the fact more kids play football then AFL, Rugby Union or League when they grow up, the potential is there.
It’s not going to happen of course. But maybe, just maybe.
So yeah, nothing special about this entry. I’m really writing this because at the moment I’m stuck in Ballarat for 2 weeks and no one here cares the slightest about the World Cup. I did a voxpop on the street for a radio piece and over 10 people were interviewed, no one gave a fuck. Some of them didn’t even know it was happening. I put that down to some of them living under rocks and having 6 fingers though.
What I’m not looking forward to? Penalty Shootouts to determine the Final, Referee’s making mistakes that cost teams matches, violence in any manner and vuvuzela’s.
Anyway thats enough from me… The most uninspired post I’ve ever done but I’m disheartened by the pathetic World Cup atmosphere that surrounds me, it will drastically improve come kick off in the opening game tomorrow night when I’m back in Melbourne at a party.
