The World Cup is Here

It is here after an agonising four year wait the world’s largest event the Football World Cup has arrived and the excitement can be seen everywhere even in the most cynical of people. It is very hard to avoid the spectacle, the news stories and banter surrounding us every day whether it is on the TV or even on public transport over hearing a heated discussion about why the manager chose to select Heskey rather than Bent it is unavoidable and so involving for us all, it has a huge sense of togetherness which is surely considered a positive thing in this ever so negative and divided world.

The talking points of the World Cup so far –

The Vuvuzelas – They Sound like an insect buzzing inside your ear but bring a real iconic side to the South African World Cup, nobody will ever forget where they heard them first that is for sure but let’s just hope they are not used at every large sports event from today forward as they are rather impersonal.

The Jubulani ball – Is this really the reason we have seen such shocking passing, such dreadful long shots and of course the horrible goalkeeping (poor old Robert Green and England).

Some of the game’s biggest stars missing - Ronaldinho, Ferdinand, Essien, Ballack, Adler, Bosingwa, Karhan, Rolfes, Beckham, Diarra, Mikel and the possibility we may not see Robben or Pirlo this has definitely put a dampener on proceedings. Is the European season to intensive on the players?

The shock result so far Switzerland beating Spain, well that was unexpected not much else to say about it really! Did anyone tip that result?

And finally something which is quite upsetting is the evident lack of passion in some of the players. Do their ludicrous wages spoil them and take the fun away from the beautiful game or is playing for their country in the largest competition on the planet not as important as it once was..........

When you hear a snippet of conversation you cannot help but make your own (generally biased) opinion even though in the previous month most people would not have cared who started for Brazil against the mostly nameless North Korean side but suddenly we all have the know-how of the best footballing pundits in the world and believe a 4-4-2 would be an inferior option for the attacking Brazil so they should play an attacking 3-5-2. The question I pose is shall we embrace everyone’s outlook or not? Does our own opinion matter or is it something we should keep to ourselves?

After thinking about this long and hard I have realised as much as you can disagree with or totally dislike even despise others views it is a fantastic thing to see people showing that passion and level of enthusiasm towards this wonderful sport. I think for those of us who love our sport all the time and not just when the large tournaments come around should embrace this curiosity from the rest of the world it is the only way that we can further expand the knowledge of the great sport (in this case football). A perfect example of a clueless and rather annoying view was clear the other day hearing a colleague at work wonder why Australia did not play two goalkeepers against Germany which was quite cringe worthy but after explaining why this could not happen and the basic rules they now understand and will not have to make such a weird and uneducated suggestion again. What I think is that we should all clinch this eagerness to learn and teach others what we do know so more of us will be able to join in these intense and often very entertaining conversations you often come across, such as the reason there are 32 nations in the World Cup or the ever so evident disparity between the style of play in the different leagues of the world or the question still on so many people’s lips: What is the offside rule?