World Cup KO

The World Cup kicked off today with a 1:1 draw between hosts South Africa and Mexico. Dull first half, lively second half, fair result. I'll be watching as much of the tournament as I can although a third of the games kick off at 1:30am including England's opener v USA.

The first World Cup I remember was Mexico 1970. Esso coins of the England players (which I still have), Bobby Moore and the jewels, that Banks save, Bonetti and those dodgy subsititutions in the quarters, the amazing Italy-West Germany 4:3 semi, and of course Pele and the fabulous Brazil team. Then there were the stickers for the '74 World Cup, Holland's 'total football' (whatever that meant), Cruyff, Zaire... all re-enacted in the playground. And so on.

Never thought I'd see the tournament staged in Africa. Amazing how far South Africa's come (if not the rest of the continent). I'm not that confident of England's chances and not really looking forward to their games: it's always an excruciating experience. Anyway, to coincide with it all, I'm reading what must surely be the definitive book on the game: David Goldblatt's The Ball is Round - a scholarly but very readable 978 pages of everything and everyone that has ever mattered in football. Brilliant.