The sideshows and the matches

(Guest blogger Sri Shanker Krishnan gives us his observations of the World Cup so far.)

So the 18th edition of the World Cup has finally kicked off. How has it been for you so far? As a self professed football nut (or whatever you can call it!), I have been very impressed with the way things have started.

I am going to give a quick run down of things so far based on my observations so far. Except for the unusually exciting opening game, things have gone pretty much as expected, except probably for Sweden, much of that later. The big boys have all performed to expectations, at least they have won their respective openings games, England included! Apart from the games there have been a few interesting ‘side shows’, to make sure the fans get more than just football. Among the many side shows, the ones that caught my attention were:-

• The Brazilian president sending an apology letter to Ronaldo for calling him fat. So much for telling the truth then!
• ‘Kaiser’ Franz Beckenbauer to get married later this summer. He has proved that he is a master at multi-tasking!
• Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari urging the Portuguese public to ‘will’ the team on simultaneously. Seeking divine intervention, Scolari?
• UN Secretary General Kofi Annan admitting that he is envious of FIFA being able to unite people all over the world. That’s power of football for you, bro!!!
• Togo coach Otto Pfister resigning over his players’ salaries issue. Case of jumping off a sinking ship?

And it goes on and on. Now this is what I call money’s worth! Now let’s get down to the serious business of football. Below is my dissection of things so far…

Opening Match – The opening ceremony and the ensuing match between Germany and Costa Rica were to put it simply, breathtaking. What a way to start! For a change it is nice to watch a German team playing with so much flair and attacking verve. I could not believe that I was watching an opening match, there was so much end to end stuff going on throughout the game. Torsten Frings, as the match commentator rightfully mentioned, has probably scored one of the goals of the tournament. Credit to Costa Rica for opting to take the game to their opponents. A word of caution – the Germans defence has to improve markedly, unless they want to entertain instead of win! Klinsmann is a living testimony that Americans do provide positive influences as well!!

Major Upset – Definitely got to go to Trinidad & Tobago (T&T). The Caribbean islanders performed wonderfully in what was a very entertaining 0-0 draw. So much excitement and drama - a pity there were no goals. This match has restored my faith for the underdogs, I expect a few more upsets to happen. That’s why we all love the game so much, eh?

Same Old England – England won. Well, that was the only positive thing I can say about the English performance against a woeful Paraguay. They started brightly, even scoring a goal after only 4 minutes of the game played. Then the English started playing ‘safely’. They just did not want to throw caution to the wind and attack all out against a team that was there for the beating! I just cannot understand why the English were playing so cautiously. To make matters worse, the substitutes brought in were Downing and Hargreaves – what nonsense. Why wasn’t Lennon brought in, I wonder. I actually rushed from an important wedding function and this is what I get in return. But then again I should have known better! Still let’s give them a benefit of doubt as it was their first game.

Best Match – On the other hand the wait to watch the Argentina vs Ivory Coast match at 3.00am was vindicated. For me this was the best match of the tournament so far. What technique, what flair! The skills level and tactical nous shown by both teams was par excellence. Some of the performances were simply fantastic and real joy to watch. This is what football is all about. Riquelme, Sorin, Saviola, Mascherano, Drogba, Toure, and Kone were all outstanding. Special mention must be made of Riqelme, what a class performance, easily the performance of the tournament so far! He was completely in control and was running the show single handedly.

That’s about all for now. Got to go back to catch more WC action, what with France, Spain and the mother of all the big boys, Brazil, have yet to come on. Don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough! Ciao!

(Sri Shanker Krishnan, in his own words, is a football nut who is rooting for Brazil to win this tournament.)