I loved the 2010 World Cup. I thought it was an excellent tournament, and over a week later I am still struggling with the absence of it from my life. From the first game when Mexico tore the hosts to shreds in the first half but failed to score to the wild Spanish celebrations following Iniesta's tournament-winning strike, I was engrossed.
Some, of course, don't feel the same about the recent tournament. Along with the poor football, the complaints about vuvuzelas, refereeing, the ball and even South Africa itself have managed to dominate post-tournament analysis. Whether it's just bitterness from English/Italian/French/Brazilian/Australian/any other country who underachieved at the tournament or whether these football fans were generally disappointed I'm not sure. The bitterness from non-football fans during and after the World Cup has been far less subtle, obvious in its motive and is not worth debating.
Why to Love the World Cup
When I put my case forward for the World Cup being a very good tournament, it's important to note that I'm not suggesting that the football was good. At times it reached a high level- notably when Germany, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile were in full flight. For the most part, though, it was at best average and certainly some matches (mostly featuring England or Italy) were entirely poor.
Sport, however, is not memorable for the standard to which a game is played but rather the quality of story that a contest produces. Les Murray gets this, Jesse Fink does not. The jabulani and the vuvuzela might've been annoying, but they've given us all something to talk about for a month and I suspect we'll still be talking about them for a while to come. The ability for South Africa to defy the doubters and showcase the positive aspects of African culture is a great and memorable milestone in social history. And will we *ever* stop talking about Paul the Octopus?!
The World Cup also provided us with some great stories on the field. We've had France's implosion and subsequent loss to unfancied South Africa. We saw Germany ruthlessly expose the deficiencies of Maradona the coach as Argentina fell apart in the quarterfinals. USA showed an unbelievable never-say-die attitude to come from behind in 3 out of 4 matches and be only a few minutes from group-stage elimination before Donovan's goal against Algeria. We had gritty New Zealand managing to not lose a game- the only team to manage this in the whole tournament. We had numerous games of amazing drama- most notably Ghana vs Uruguay, Serbia vs Australia, South Korea vs Nigeria, USA vs Slovenia and Netherlands vs Brazil. And of course we had Spain becoming the first 'new' World Cup finalist and winner since 1998 and also the first European team to win on a foreign continent.
With all that to keep me going for four years, I find it very hard to accept that it was a poor World Cup. A few more goals might've been nice, but van Bronckhorst's amazing strike against Uruguay and Forlan's scissor kick against Germany made up for that in two short moments. A few more dazzling displays from individual players might've been good, but seeing Schweinsteiger dominate Argentina, Robben take it to Brazil and Messi float through Greece was enough to have me content.
Bring on the A-League
I'm sure if you've read this far you're wondering why a Perth Glory blog has featured a dissection of the World Cup. The reason, since you asked so politely, is that I love the A-League for the same reason that I loved the 2010 World Cup.
The football isn't always great, but the stories that are produced are as good as any other league in the world. We have a new league creating new history and tradition in this country, and we're free of the repetitive monotony that dominates the major leagues of Europe.
We have perhaps eight teams with a realistic chance of winning the championship and 11 who are all expecting to make the finals. We have clubs that are starting to show real personality- Melbourne and Sydney wanting to be the dominant powerhouse, Central Coast and Wellington trying to punch above their weight and represent their small regions with pride, Brisbane the sleeping giants of Australian football and Perth desperate to rediscover their past glories.
We have big personalities. Ange and Arnie have the big shoes of Frank and Kossie to fill as they vie for most amusing coach although Miron should still be outright favourite for that one. Muscat is sure to yet again have people talking yet again. Every fan can hang out for a Ljubo Milicevic interview. On top of all that we have guys like Bosnich, Harper, Fink and Foster to provide hours of amusing punditry as the season unwinds.
For those who are obsessed with the quality of football being played, they can look forward to watching Barcelona videos on repeat for the rest of the season. For me, I can't wait for Perth Glory and the twists and turns of the 2010/2011 A-League season to take away my post-World Cup blues!
