The best football on show

I decided not to waste whatever the online equivalent of column-centimeters is on the English team’s performance at the ongoing World Cup in South Africa, any more.

Hence, I woke up this morning scouring the global media for one word that would capture England’s showing against Algeria on Friday night.

CNN gave it to me – turgid.

Pundits, to try and sketch some sort of coherent global map that explains the whys and hows of World Cup football, have fielded various parameters and metrics.

Some have used GDP, some a co-relation between national leagues and foreign players and some even numerology.

As the schedule moves us into the heart of the second round of matches I see the game being played in a manner that is truly ‘global’.

The standard of football at this World Cup is, more or less, even among all teams, irrespective of their pedigree or background or leagues.

A global bully like the USA, with an estimated GDP of $14.4 trillion (Wikipedia), are able to trap and chest the ball with the same expertise of Brazil, by all accounts an emerging economy.

The freedom the Spanish enjoy in their democratic country is perhaps best expressed in the free-flowing football they play. But, the North Koreans showed us that when they are not making a nuclear bomb or giving the free world a headache in general, they can past the ball just as well as the fancied La Furia Roja (The Red Fury, as Spain call themselves).

Both lost, but both played a very high level of football.

The English… oh yeah, forgot, don’t waste space.

The French… ahem, waste of space again.

The point I’m trying to make is, whether the team is African or Asian or even Kiwi, the basics of the game have reached a very impressive global average.

Gone are the days when you had a team who were not technically up to the international standard.

Now everyone is. So, switch off for a moment (as Brazil and Spain did) and you could be hurt very badly indeed.

Football unites the world today not just in terms of passion or love for a beautiful game, but in terms of the highest standards at which the game is played. Rich, poor, broke or oppressed. All play football and play it well.

And the World Cup is better for that. Not as many goals, but overall, the best football on show.

At the time of writing this, only two teams had made it through to the second round - the Netherlands and Argentina. Three groups are split wide open with three more groups to play. I expect Brazil will go through. But, the rest of the groups will all go down to the wire. That’s the effect of the ‘global’ game.

I predicted Argentina to win it before the tournament began. I have not seen anything yet to make me change my mind.

Tailpiece: Note to Wayne Rooney: Now that all your fans know you are human and are capable of playing rubbish, please know your fans are also human. Humans boo when they see rubbish. Get used to it.
 

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