2014 World Cup Thoughts

Those that know me know that I’m not the biggest sports fan in the world. Okay, that’s an overstatement. I don’t follow sports, and frankly couldn’t care less about most sporting events. Even when it comes to football (and I mean real football, not that American armored rugby game), I don’t follow any clubs or go out of my way to catch games. However, if there is one sport I would be tempted to follow, it’s football. Perhaps it goes back to my childhood, when I would at least catch the League Division tables at the end of Grandstand to see how our local team (Hereford United) were doing (usually in Division Four, and occasionally winning). And when the World Cup came around every four years, I would catch as many games as possible, and even help my Dad fill out the blanks in the charts as teams progressed from the group stage. There’s something about this game that’s more than just 22 players chasing a ball around a field. At its best, there’s real athleticism, skill, speed, stamina, quick thinking, and clever strategy. And teamwork. As with every sport (and every human endeavor, for that matter), there are superstars–people who excel, command big money, and gain a large spotlight. But on the football pitch, there’s no room for that. And the teams that win are invariably the teams that leave ego to one side and work together.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup got underway this past Thursday, and since this is the first World Cup where I have a blog and, therefore, a means to vent my opinions (bearing the foregoing in mind–i.e., I’m far from an expert, but I do have some history with the game), I’m going to post some thoughts on games so far. Feel free to use the comments to agree, disagree, or just talk about what you’ve enjoyed so far.

As of this morning, there have been eleven games. I’ve managed to catch most of them, and I’m thoroughly impressed with the quality of the matches. The teams have all come out to play, and play hard. I’ve yet to see a boring game. Clearly, there have been games where I would have preferred the result to go a different way, but there have been plenty of plot twists and surprises too.

Take, for example, Costa Rica‘s win over Uruguay. Being an ex-pat Brit, rooting for the underdog is wired into my DNA, so seeing Costa Rica trounce Uruguay 3 goals to 1 was a precious experience. Likewise Switzerland‘s win over Ecuador. And these weren’t flukes. They were hard-fought matches, and the victories were well-earned. Even Bosnia-Herzegovina‘s loss to Argentina brought a smile to my face, because B-H kept Argentina from scoring more than 2 goals (technically 1 since the first was an own goal), and managed a beautiful goal of their own. This is B-H’s first time in the World Cup. Argentina are World Cup veterans and fully expected to go far. It annoyed me intensely that the commentators spent so much time focusing on the only goal Argentina managed to score for themselves (it was an excellent goal), and didn’t give any attention to how well B-H contained the Argentines, and even managed a goal of their own. For most people, it’s a foregone conclusion that Argentina will win their group. I don’t doubt that’s true. But I hope B-H qualify right behind them. The way they played, they deserve it.

My two big disappointments so far are England and Japan. Of course I rooted for England, and despite the 2-1 loss to Italy on Saturday, I have a lot more hope for this team than the team of four years ago. There are some fantastic young players on the squad this time around, and I expect great things of them going forward. They deserved at least a draw, IMO, but Italy’s defenses were too strong in the second half. Oh well. I really hoped Japan would win, not just because SecondBorn is an Asiaphile, but there’s some serious talent in Asian football that’s so often overlooked. Again, the commentators were all over Ivory Coast, talking them up, and discussing the merits of African football, and saying very little about the drive and discipline of the Japanese team. Not to mention the skill shown by goal-scorer Keisuke Honda. I want to see Japan and South Korea make a big impact in the 2014 tournament, because these are nations that love this game, play it very well, and deserve more respect.

So, there are my thoughts so far. Have you been following the World Cup? Any thoughts to share?