The First Week of the World Cup

A week since the start of the World Cup and I have been back to look at the predictions I made before the tournament started. Still looking good for my outside choice for the final – Holland. It also looks like my prediction about the home country doing better than form suggests could be correct too. It will be interesting to see how Germany fare in their final group game.

Already I am beginning to fear what John Motson will do as England move into the knockout section. He shows himself to be completely out of touch with people who watch football at times. In the first England game, about fifteen minutes from the end and holding on at 1-0, England fans in the ground audibly ramped up the singing and chanting. John Motson comes out with some comment about 'let's hope they have not started celebrating too early'. John the whole point of being at matches as a fan is to encourage your team by chanting and singing, not just to 'sing when you're winning'!

Fortunately David Pleat, in the Sweden v Paraguay game, showed there are some people there who know what it is like to be encouraged by the fans. He made the comparison between the Swedish and English fans, making the comment that the Swedes were much quieter and this would not help their team. People like John Motson have never had go through the process of getting tickets for a game in the way that most England fans have to, so have no idea why fans are prepared to sing and chant for ninety minutes.

One facet of the tournament that has been a surprise is the extremely hot weather and humidity. It begs the question as to why so many Germans go to Majorca for their holidays when it seems far hotter in Nuremberg. It has been interesting to note too that teams wearing shirts made by Puma appear to be absolutely drenched with sweat after only a few minutes of play. What sort of material are those shirts made of? It looks extremely uncomfortable.