This year’s World Cup has been a very interesting one so far. No team has shown that they are a sure thing with France and Italy exiting early on. It’s very enjoyable to watch some of the smaller or less well off nations holding their own and even beating some of the rich/successful footballing nations.
I have enjoyed it so far but found myself infuriated at some of the decisions made by the refs such as Kaka’s red card. As I mentioned before the “acting” players do when they get “hurt” really puts me off the sport, if they were punished for this then I think the game would become a lot more interesting and there would be a lot less controversy around it. I believe that this World Cup has shown that the incorporation of technology into the game is long overdue e.g. obvious goals being denied and players being sent off for literally not doing anything wrong. This has soured it for me, the better team not always winning because of poor judgment and could even call into question whether some of the decisions made by the referees are totally sincere and not financially/politically driven.
I don’t know if it surprised me but I have noticed how football is a platform from which old rivalries or vendettas renewed and fought. For example take Germany vs. England, this is just like any other England game except.... they are playing Germany. Old wounds from (and this might seem a bit extreme) world wars etc are still apparent amongst many supporters. This might be subconscious but obvious to the outsider. They both want to win but its more than that, if England played the Ivory Coast there wouldn’t be the same drama...
Argentina is my favourite and they are doing very well. As I’m writing this I am watching Argentina vs Mexico. Surprise surprise there has been a goal which was allowed but 2 sec later EVERYONE (including the ref, the linesman, players etc) saw the goal on the big screen, realised the striker was offside. The goal had to be allowed because the linesman hadn’t initially put his flag up. Other than that Argentina are going strong and should progress quite far! (they just scored again!)
Technically I should be getting more and more excited but with so many mistakes with the referring I am becoming less and less interested. In a competition which should be all about the team’s skill, the matches are suffering hugely from poor official judgement, over acting and a lack of fairness. The winner will more than likely have gotten there on the backs of those who have been hard done by...
As far as I’m aware there have not been any events organised throughout London, or even the UK in relation to the World Cup. There has been the introduction of 3D in some pubs and a few cinemas are capitalising on the competition, showing the game on the big screens but not much else. There may be a few extra football leagues running but that is to be expected with the country’s current excitement and immersion into the sport
I have noticed McDonalds and Coke have been doing a lot of advertising around the World Cup which I think is disgraceful. 1000’s of brands would love (and deserve) to be associated with the sport but others are a completely out of place. McDonalds and Coke for example are brands largely responsible for obesity and diabetes. They should NEVER be associated with any sport, never mind at a global level. Do you think the players would go near this stuff? Money is the driver of many things and FIFA is a business but they would have done better to take onboard more brands offering less money.
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