I have 2 days to catch up on so I'll have to do it briefly but first of all, I just wanna say that I've just calculated that this is my 7th World Cup! I can remember my first one back in 86. Mexico! I was 10 and I can clearly recall being utterly dumbfounded when Maradona's "hand of god" effectively knocked England out.
I think I was still in shock when, minutes later, Maradona (again!) picked up the ball inside his own half and under pressure, taught Zidane how to do his own "Zizou 360 move" before taking it past another 4 playes and scoring the most memorable goal in footballing history.
I'm gonna say that because, when you look at "moments in footballing history" there are very, very few that compare with that one. Technically, there are many, many great goals. Fantastic volleys, bicycle kicks, goals from the half way line, free kicks, bla, bla, bla.
But, put everything together, including the importance of the goal and in my opinion, this one beats all of them. They even put up a statue in dedication of the goal outside the stadium. Anyway, let’s leave that debate for another time and maybe another blog ;)
Maybe this is one of those "age" things. A kind of "Do-you-remember-where-you-were-when..." thing. I mentioned it to my class the other day and one of my students said "Oh 86! That's when I was born!" I then asked him if he remembered it but after a few moments of contemplation, the answer was negative.
He did, however, have a moment of clarity and feigned a punching action, similar to that of the Diego man himself, when he realized the year! (Funny what people remember though. Instead of the magnificent goal, here's a South Korean, born in the same year, knowing about the match for the infamous hand of god instead.)
If the USA think they've been unjustly treated this tournament then just turn the page back 20 odd years, look at that quarter final and think about how we felt and still feel now.
Anyway, back to World Cups. Since then, we've had Italia 90 and the mysterious Salvatore Schillaci. Disciplinarily, one of the worse world cups ever with 16 red cards dished out, including the first ever in a final. USA '94 (not happy cus England weren't in it!), France 98 and the Beckham-sending-off saga. 2002 with the Ronaldinho lob and 2006 with the Zizou head butt.
But I really can't remember one as exciting as the one unfolding in South Africa right now. I can understand people's frustrations when we look at goals and winners and losers in matches, but the truth is, you need that so that you can put great footballing moments into real perspective.
So, a quick re-cap then, the final 16 is decided and it kicking off later today in Port Elizabeth where South Korea will take on Uruguay.
The biggest surprise is the omission of both of last World Cup's finalists, France and, somewhat amazingly, Italy. The Italians were - and probably still are - in utter shock as they made a super-dramatic exit, losing to Slovakia in their final game 3-2. Unbelievable stuff!
For the first time, I actually feel a little bit sorry for them... but in football, you learn that actually, there is no such thing as pity for your opponents. So actually, deep down, I'm quite happy hehe (sry to all Italians out there).
The night before that was the one with the Italian's scandalous departure, Paraguay and Slovakia making it through there and in Group E, Japan put in an impressive performance to fend off the Danes, with the Netherlands already through, beating Cameroons 2-1.
So, here we go! The last 16! Great games to come with Spain playing Portugal and England taking on the Germans. The winners will face either Argentina or Mexico in the quarters.
Other games see Brazil vs Chile, Paraguay and Japan, Netherlands against Slovakia and later today USA vs Ghana to add to the South Korean game.
If, like me, you thought it was exciting till now... just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait ;)
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