Being a football fan I have few fonder memories of my childhood than those centred on my treasured Panini sticker books. I avidly collected the faces of the football stars in my albums and couldn’t wait to invest in the next packet of stickers. When this year’s World Cup started I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing in my life. I was about to witness a footballing fiesta but I did not have a sticker album and I felt an overwhelming desire to get one.
Tag Archives: world cup
Thoughts on the World Cup
I always look forward to the World Cup with eager anticipation but heaven knows why because recent tournaments have largely been a disappointment. What should be a massive festival of football has often been reduced to a war of attrition with one boring tactical match after another, a truly awful final and many matches decided by nothing more than poor officials.
2014 Continue reading
Can England Win The World Cup?
If England win the world cup it will be a miracle up there with the second coming of Christ. Anything is possible, even the reappearance of Jesus, but some things are so deeply unlikely that they barely warrant consideration and England’s fate in Brazil is one of them. It is not that I am unpatriotic, I am simply a realist and down here in the real world England simply aren’t good enough. Continue reading
FIFA Madness and the 2022 World Cup
I can still remember the hours leading up to the announcement of the venue for the 2022 World Cup Finals. I have never had the privilege of attending a tournament but would love to do so in the future and so the potential venues were of great interest to me. I was very concerned about the presence of Qatar in the bidding as I was aware that football authorities in general and FIFA in particular have a long history of making decisions based on money rather than the interests of the game or the fans. They always try to explain away their rulings with claims of high ideals but they don’t wash with me. I was not, therefore, surprised when the tournament was awarded to Qatar but I was angry and I still am! Continue reading