Posted on 10 Jun 2010 at 16:37 PM by
Mr. Ed
To me, and to most other footy fans, the World Cup is like Christmas, but much, much more exciting. You look forward to it for ages, you spend most of it arguing with family (whether it be about the quality of the sprouts or the point of Emile Heskey's existence) and afterwards you weigh about 3 stone heavier from all the eating and drinking. However, unlike the over-rated Christmas which shortchanges us with a mere 12 days, the World Cup is here for a full month! Although to be fair, the nation only really remembers the first two and half weeks up until England get knocked out, then the tournament is wiped from our collective memory through a good session of the other national past-time; binge-drinking. So, with just one week to go until kick-off, here is my World Cup blog, so sit back, have a biccy and relax with a nice World Cuppa (terrible, I know).
I am particularly excited about this World Cup for a variety of reasons, none of which are tied to England's prospects in the competition (which I will go into in more depth at a later date). One thing I will be looking at closely will be the innevitable shennanigans of the Argentina manager, a shy, retiring type who is little-known and likes to avoid the public eye as much as possible; Diego Maradona. The bookies should really be taking bets on how far we get into the competition before Maradona does something absolutely bat-sh*t crazy, because we all know it's going to happen. Just look at his past behaviour as a manager (let alone everything he got up to as a player... I'm not writing a book here). He has the wacky team selections (Championship player Jonas Gutierrez over Champions League winner Esteban Cambiasso? Really?) and bizarre tactics that we all kind of expected of him, but he also has the potential for madness that makes him such a polarizing and fascinating figure. Take, for example, his pitch invasion belly-slide celebration after Argentina clinched qualification... now imagine Alex Ferguson doing that, can't quite picture it, can you? Or, perish the thought, imagine Sam Allardyce doing that. Ughhhh...
Maradona followed up his belly-sliding antics with a press conference in which he broke the Guinness world record for most expletives used in a 60 second spell, a record that had been fiercely guarded by Joe Kinnear, and before him Jon Aldridge at USA 94. And fatty Diego has already pledged that if the Argies do win the cup he will do a naked lap around the giant obelisk in the middle of Buenos Aires, something that nobody is wishing for. However, as much as I hate to say it, I think there is a reasonable chance that that nightmare vision could become a reality. For all his madness, I have a funny feeling that Maradona might just inspire his team to play with the inspirational improvisation that his game was all about, and widely offered at 7/1 they represent good value. Of course, having the best player in the world in Leo Messi, backed up by four of the most in-form strikers on the globe in Milito, Tevez, Higuain and Aguerro, certainly gives Maradona goal scoring potential that any coach would drool over, whether they are a mad dog or not. I see Argentina under Maradona as a boom or bust team, it will either be spectacular, flowing football, or it will all completely fall to pieces and they will start scrapping with each other on the pitch, either way it should be entertaining.
As much as I like the Argies to do well, I can't see anybody matching up to Spain overall. They are reasonably heavy favourites and for good reason; they have an incredibly deep squad that has a perfect blend of youth and experience, (e.g. Fabregas and Xavi, Pique and Puyol, etc), two of the hottest strikers around, and the big tourney winning experience that they always lacked before Euro 2008. It will take an inspired performance from some team to beat them. Brazil have the potential, but I think they have a young squad that is probably still a year or two away from reaching it's full potential. Germany don't look like much overall, but at the end of the day they are still Germany (it's a shame, I know). Italy look old, Holland lack depth at the back and don't have a bonafide goal scorer, and Portugal are pretty much a one-man team, and I use the word 'man' in the loosest sense of the word. Nobody fancies the French, I think partly because of the underhanded (or open-handed, maybe?) way in which they qualified (and it is gutting that Ireland aren't there - everyone loves the Irish, even if they hate us), but I think they might be legitimate dark horses. Thierry Henry has had a pretty rotten season, but if he can pull it together for one last dance on the world stage they will be challengers, and at 16-1 they represent good value. I would love to see Ivory Coast do well, and if they make it out the group of death then anything is possible, but having seen that Drogba has just broken his arm I think that effectively ends any chance they had. So that leaves us with England... but that's another story for another day and another blog.