Some weeks back I wrote a piece for this blog detailing the expectation that weighed heavy on certain teams going into this World Cup. 

As part of that blog, I stated that “While I certainly give England a better chance this tournament than I have at the last few - if only because of Capello, a man with a mind like a steel trap - I’ll still be laughing if they get bundled out in the first game of the knockout stages.”  Needless to say, I’ve had a hard time keeping my trap shut - though living in a neighbourhood of very, uh, ‘outspoken’ England fans has ensured that I’ve kept my laughter to a quiet level between myself and those too intelligent or humiliated to react with  violence or chav-ish intimidation.

Of course, the same English tabloids that pre-tournament were championing ‘the reborn spirit of 66’ and Capello’s ‘Golden Generation’ as being near enough to tournament favourites have responded with a typically calm demeanour:

  •  “Time’s up Fab; Go - and take these losers with you!”
  •  “You let your country down”
  •  “England get Mullered!”
  •  “Franks for Nothing”
  •  “WAG’s Horror as England crushed by Germany”
  •  “Capell-low”
  •  “FabiGO”
  •  “Fritz All Over!”
  •  “Kittens, not Lions”

It’s brilliant to live in a country where football matters so much - but you do see the dark side of things sometimes. A German fan had his shirt torn off him by an angry mob watching the game on a big screen in a town square; the BBC voice-over man performing the advert for Antiques Roadshow post-game sounded moments away from suicide; and for my personal favourite, I quote from the ‘beeb’s own online commentary: “I don't think Fabio will walk but, if he does, I actually can't think of many better candidates to replace him as England manager than Paul the psychic octopus. And the even better news is that Paul is actually English.” For those not actually familiar with Paul, you can see him here.

So, that’s the English done then. The media are now also finally beginning to wonder whether or not the team’s place in the world stage is as prominent as they think - but, predictably, a scapegoat will be found and the expectation will continue that English sides of the future are all heirs to 1966...

A Head of Steam

Meanwhile, there’s another team at the World Cup becoming well and truly swept up in hype and hysterics - but this time the hype is all of their own making. I’m talking of course about Argentina, a team that struggled through qualification and now has somehow become one of the outright tournament favourites. The madness of Maradona has had a galvanising affect on not just the Argentine players, but the world’s press as well. Maradona media conferences are now big-ticket items in the world of journalists and bloggers - badly-translated accusations of homosexuality, random bear hugs to waiting reporters, the stroking of a well-manicured beard and slicked-back hair that seems to ooze wealth and smarminess; by taking all the attention and criticism, Diego has somehow produced a team that is comfortable doing its own thing on the pitch. And what a thing that is, too - goals from all over the shop, and yet none from the best player in the World! Perhaps there is method in his madness after all?

Their upcoming match against Germany has all the makings of a World Cup classic, and I only regret that this meeting has not come later in the tournament. It seems a shame to lose such class teams meet relatively early in the piece.

Germany’s expectations have been managed with the wonderfully engineered-precision we expect of their cars and machinery. Always touted as a team that would be outstanding in two or maybe four years time, the wunderkids of South Africa 2010 now look very much the real deal - depending on how you see the English performance. If they can bring consistency to their game, eradicating the mistakes of the Serbia and Ghana games and focusing solely on the type of play that wiped out both Australia and her colonial overlord, they must surely be considered a chance of knocking the Argies out. Yet are the German media outlets getting carried away? Well, not really - “That’s quits, then” said one paper in reference to the controversial 1966 goal suffered by their own side. One commentator went as far as to quip - “Surprised? No. We’re Germans - we don’t bother starting to watch the World Cup until the knockout stage anyway”. Supreme confidence then, certainly - but hardly said with an arrogance that can’t be backed up on the pitch.

La Celestial Magic

Meanwhile, did anyone have Uruguay down as a team that would coast to the quarter-finals? In a group featuring the hosts, last tournament’s runners up, and a young and spirited Mexican side, Diego Forlan’s side looked to have a tough ask to make it through. But they topped their group and accounted for South Korea with some stylish play. They are a classic example of a side playing free of expectations - while the likes of Spain, France, England, and Italy labour under theirs.

A next up match with fellow wildcards Ghana will ensure that at least one ‘unexpected’ team makes the semi-finals of this World Cup, potentially earning a dream matchup with Holland or Brazil. Forlan, so often the subject of scorn in his Manchester United days, is now playing like a true leader for his country - creating and scoring goals through both talent and sheer willpower, he is one of the key elements of Uruguayan success. And while I’m supposed to dislike the South Americans due to their historical run-ins with Australia, the romance of history likewise draws me to their success at early tournaments, and just how long between drinks it has been La Celeste. Winners of the first two tournaments they entered (in 1930 and 1950), they’ve since been pushed into the shadows by more glamourous neighbours Brazil and Argentina. Perhaps 2010 is a chance to grab back some of that glory - albeit in a totally unexpected manner.

Meanwhile, the Black Stars will have two completely polarised attitudes going into the next round - on one hand, there are no expectations on their shoulders, having made it to the knockout phase and now the quarter finals. They are the kings of Africa, sole representatives of the continent at football’s most exclusive of tables. Yet this brings a pressure of its own, as now the whole continent expects them to fight like a lion and earn more pride for their land. It will be a tough ask against a talented opponent, and the worst thing that could happen would be a comprehensive drubbing - as if to say, “get back to where you belong, the big boys are playing now”. Africa wants to feel it has arrived - earned its stripes - and with the host nation failing to get out of their group, they’d like nothing more than for Ghana to show the world that African footballers aren’t just good for poaching by overseas clubs and countries - they can play in their own right, too.

For Brazil, Holland, and Spain, the pressure is ever-present to be right up there in the final four nations. They’re not all going to manage it, and there will be tears. But that’s all part of the fun of the world cup - the making and breaking of reputations, and the exceeding or ridiculing of expectations. We’re getting towards the pointy end of this cup now - and I fully expect more tabloid overreactions and over-the-top celebrations (how about that running lap of the stadium?) before the final whistle is blown on South Africa 2010.