This time last year, the 2006 FIFA World Cup was well underway. The final round of group matches were being played and football fans around the planet were enjoying the exciting goals that were being scored from seemingly all parts of the pitch.
Amazing to think that a year has passed since all the action in Germany was taking place, isn't it? So many memories we now have of the colour and the spectacle as nation upon nation entered the field of footballing battle.
I do, however, have a confession to make. I don't really remember all that much about it.
Now before you ask - no I didn't spend much of June and July 2006 in a drunken state. I am not and have never been dependent on a copious alcoholic intake.
The real reason why my memory of the last World Cup is incredibly patchy may lie in the fact that my wife-to-be (as she was then) was due to give birth to our baby daughter within a matter of weeks. To say that our minds were on other things is an understatement. There were hospital appointments to be booked, nappies to be bought, a nursery to be furnished… so much to do in so little time.
It's fair to say that this would explain why my mind wasn't completely on the World Cup. I feel a bit of a fraud, quite frankly. As a child I would soak up every World Cup Finals that ever took place with a passion. I'd study the statistics of every match, watch every game on TV, analyse every team line-up - a passion that lasted me well into adulthood - and yet here I stand today looking decidedly vague when someone talks to me about the last minute victory by Italy over Australia in the quarter-finals or Ghana's impressive 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in Round 1.
My good friend Smart told me at the time that this was arguably one of the best World Cups ever. Lots of great goals, great games, great teams, yet I remember feeling decidedly lukewarm about it back then. I know now that he was right - largely because I recently purchased a DVD showing all the goals of the tournament. There was all the evidence I needed: excited, roaring crowds in attendance for every match, long-range shots and intricate team passing leading to goals of every kind… did someone steal my mind last summer while I wasn’t looking?
All I can say is 'thank heaven for DVDs'. At least now all those distant images in my head of the things that happened have been brought back clearly into focus. It really was a great tournament and one which many of us will look back on with a warm feeling. I just wished I'd known that the first time around…
Do you have a blind spot in your World Cup memory collection? Can you remember where you were for specific World Cup games of the past? Leave us a comment and tell us all about it!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
Two things stick out in my mind about last year's WC. First was, inexplicabley, the ABC affiliate in my city put the first England match on a 1 hour delay, and didn't tell anyone. The morning news just kept looping over and over. So I watched that match on the spanish language feed, as it was the only live one.
Secondly, the pub where I watched the games was all England fans and about 70% ex-pats. During the second England match, the US announcers talked over the whole of God Save the Queen. There were about 150 Englishmen yelling "Shut the F*ck up!" at the top of there lungs. Suffice it to say, the network must not have realized how many Brits live in the US and would call to complain, and there was silence during the anthems of all the games from then on.
I wonder why the England match was delayed? So that they could bleep out any swearing by Sven's men perhaps?!?!
Ah yes - we English may no longer have many colonies to rule over, but we make up for that by having a modern-day presence in locations all over the world! A bit naughty of the US announcers to overlook our national anthem. You never see that on English TV when other countries are playing. Just as well our contingent put them straight on that point!
Well it wasn't just England. They were talking over everyone's anthem. And it wasn't even useful commentary.
I have a big problem with the american commentary. Especially since ESPN pays two european commentators, Tommy Smyth and Derek Rae, a lot of money, but won't let them do anything but Champion's League.
I'm afraid what will happen if ESPN ever gets their hands on the EPL.
Post a Comment