In Singapore, thousands of fans catch the Indra Sahdans and Alam Shahs in action for their respective S-League Clubs every week. (And maybe holding a pink colour slip in their hands as well)
In Europe, tens of thousands of people flock to the Old Traffords and the Nou Camps to catch a glimpse of Cristiano showboating or to see how Ronaldinho and Messi combine to devastating effect in La Liga.
Around the globe, billions caught 'live' World Cup action in front of the TVs, LCDs and Plasma Screens. In front of billions of viewers worldwide, Germany captivated us with their new brand of attacking football under the stewardship of Juergen Klinsmann. Argentina wowed us with that 6-0 rout of Serbia & Montenegro. The Azzuris proved their critics wrong and won the battle of the Pasta vs Croissant in Berlin amidst scandals back home.
WAIT. Something's wrong here.
Is that how World Cup 2006 will be remembered? Forget about the lack of entertaining football, and how heavyweights like Brazil, Argentina and England failed to live up to the hype. Grabbing headlines of late is that headbutt from Zidane on Materazzi for an apparent insult on Zizou's family from the Italian. The Rooney stamp on Carvalho and the resulting row with Cristiano. And lastly, the Portugal-Holland match which descended into a farce with 16 yellow cards given out and 4 players sent off.
This is the World Cup. The stage is set. 'This is where legends are born' (Supposedly, anyway). Yet that is how most will remember World Cup 2006. Yes, i agree the stakes are high. But it's beyond my comprehension how players can verbally insult one's family members in the heat of competition, no matter how high the stakes are. Zidane has been heavily criticized that as a role model for millions of kids watching worldwide, he should never have reacted in such a way no matter how serious the provocation was. Not to mention the fact that it's the World Cup Final, with 10 minutes remaining in his glittering career. However, has anyone thought of the fact that Materazzi himself is guilty of lacking the professionalism to control his own feelings. Win the aerial battles with Zidane, intercept his passes and mark him so tightly to neutralize the French attack. That's the way to gain the upper hand over the twice-winner of the World Footballer of the Year. By taunting Zidane in whichever way he did, Materazzi is no less at fault than Zidane is for that retaliation. It also seems that players have mistaken for the fact that the stage is set for them to vie for the biggest prize in football, not acting. Portugal, in particular, must have thought they were competing for the Academy Awards.
Football, a simple game of 22 players chasing a ball, now with added flavours of colourful language and theatrics. Oh Well.
As kids, we saw on TV how Eric Cantona always had that aura around him whenever he is in possession of the ball.. And we also saw Becks announcing his arrival onto the footballing scene with that goal from Halfway line.. Courtesy of ESPN's 'Live' & 'Exclusive' coverage of English football, we witnessed the greatest goal in FA Cup's history: Giggs' 70-yard dribble before firing ManUtd to the FA Cup Final.. Hopefully, in years to come, we won't have to hear someone saying how he emulated Cristiano in the art of diving through StarHub CableTV to earn his JC a match-winning penalty in the Nationals.
-Vorsprung durch Technik-
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