World Cup Mania

I have yet to be bitten by the World Cup bug at this particular moment.

I watched 10 minutes of a football match yesterday night. It was between Argentina and Nigeria.

It was kinda disappointing, to tell you the truth. I had been channel-surfing and finally decided to watch a match just for the sake of watching something. By the time I started watching, it was already 20 minutes into the game and Argentina had scored a goal.

5 minutes later, after getting lost in the sea of blue and green players, I gave up. Not only was it boring, there were also too many missed opportunities, especially for the Argentinian team. They failed to score when they should have. Okay, I know I risk angering all you football fans out there when I don't even know what I'm talking about. So I shall stop with my comments about this particular game.

Then, I started people watching. Unfortunately, the both teams did not have any eye candy, and I gave up watching after 10 minutes.

Err...never mind.

I started 'following' the World Cup in 2002. That was the first World Cup I actually took an interest in. At that time, being young and impressionable, I supported the top teams such as Brazil and England. I know, some of you will probably say that I'm being bimbotic and everything for supporting a team like England, but hey, I was only 8 at that time. I wouldn't have known better. I remember being all excited over players such as David Beckham and Michael Owen. And that year was also the first (and last) time I ever made a bet about football. I bet against my father that Brazil would win the finals against Germany. In the event that I won, we would eat at a restaurant of my choice. If I lost, oh well, we would still have to eat somewhere anyway. It was also the first time I watched 2 hours of football just to make sure that 'my team' won. To cut a long story short, Brazil won the match and I got to eat at a fancy Indian restaurant. And also had the opportunity to gloat that I 'correctly predicted' the winner and won my first bet. I know this sounds really lame, but 8 years ago, that was an exciting event in my life.

Fast forward another 4 years on to the next World Cup. I was rather upset with Brazil and England as neither teams made it through to the finals. But then, I was wiser, I didn't really support both teams even in the initial stages. Instead, I made it a point to support the underdogs (or more like obscure countries with funny names) such as Trinidad & Tobago and Ivory Coast. Of course, they never really made an impact, but I wasn't really that interested in this particular World Cup as I had other things to worry about (think UPSR). The finals was disappointing, Italy against France. I didn't even watch the finals as I felt those 2 teams weren't worth my time.

This year, I'll be supporting the underdogs again. On my list is the North Korea team! Never mind about what happens in politics. This is football and sports is one of the few things that actually unite people. According to the newspapers, North Korea has a team which has strong stamina but lacking in skill. Also, they are determined to win for the glory of their leader and country. Well, determination will get you somewhere, so I really do hope that they create an upset and kick out of the top ranked teams. Another team that I'm rooting for is the South Africa team as they are the host country. It'll be really cool if they make it far too.

There you have it, my (somewhat amateurish) take on football.

Of course, when all these teams fail me, I can always go back to another 'side' of football. WAG watching!

Waka Waka!