The Drama of World Cup 2006
You can't ask for more drama than what you are getting in the World Cup 2006. I mean look at the separate threads - the plot and subplots.
Every World Cup commentator is really looking to predict the ending of the main plot - which is none other than the Road to the World Cup. Every country started off thinking they are on the same road and one by one, they have been told by the rules of the road that they have come to a dead end and please, you have to go home now. The road is narrower now, the incline steeper, the rocks more threatening, your opponents more devious but the prize seems closer for those remaining.
What do we have for subplots?
Betrayal and deception - did you see the wink that Cristiano Ronaldo (I would not give him the honour of merely calling him Ronaldo) gave to his battle general (oops! I mean football coach) after he got Wayne Rooney sent off?
Redemption - old men can cry, they can also mull, regret and retire but best of all they can marry wisdom and experience with still retrievable talents and show us some fancy football footwork that no intensive training can reproduce. No need to grieve for young Brazilians of undisputed talent if they fell in a game of such skill and artistry as the one an older Zidane and his Frenchmen played on Sunday.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely - just substitute "power" here with "money". Don't get me wrong - there are plenty of rich men who do tremendous good with their philanthropy but footballers with expensive wives have money thrust on them in amounts thatsignal to them clearly where they should channel their energies. The signal is clear - do a great job at the club level. The World Cup will get you the club interest if you ain't there yet. But if you already have it made, like a few shaver endorsements, it may be a little more difficult to summon up the energy.
We want fairytale endings - we love to hear that some things get rewarded in a just World Cup. Most people like my Mum and Dad think that if you play beautifully, you should win. Others feel that determination and guts like what the Ghanaians and Australians showed should count for something. Alternatively, everyone wants to identify the frog prince, you know, to be able to say you picked out the underdogs? What do the villains look like? They look foul and play foul. Worse, they feign injury and abuse and cry foul - like Iago in Othello. Alas (if I can be allowed to spout some Shakespearean interjection), life ain't a fairytale and my Mum and Dad's melancholy will last for a while, until perhaps they can weave another fairytale around a possible Zidane-led French kissing the Cup.
Till then, may older bald men who come back from retirement bring back the fairytale to the World Cup!
PS. That said, if England had gone through, or Brazil had done the obvious, my parents would be really thrilled too! A fairytale can be woven every which way!
Every World Cup commentator is really looking to predict the ending of the main plot - which is none other than the Road to the World Cup. Every country started off thinking they are on the same road and one by one, they have been told by the rules of the road that they have come to a dead end and please, you have to go home now. The road is narrower now, the incline steeper, the rocks more threatening, your opponents more devious but the prize seems closer for those remaining.
What do we have for subplots?
Betrayal and deception - did you see the wink that Cristiano Ronaldo (I would not give him the honour of merely calling him Ronaldo) gave to his battle general (oops! I mean football coach) after he got Wayne Rooney sent off?
Redemption - old men can cry, they can also mull, regret and retire but best of all they can marry wisdom and experience with still retrievable talents and show us some fancy football footwork that no intensive training can reproduce. No need to grieve for young Brazilians of undisputed talent if they fell in a game of such skill and artistry as the one an older Zidane and his Frenchmen played on Sunday.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely - just substitute "power" here with "money". Don't get me wrong - there are plenty of rich men who do tremendous good with their philanthropy but footballers with expensive wives have money thrust on them in amounts thatsignal to them clearly where they should channel their energies. The signal is clear - do a great job at the club level. The World Cup will get you the club interest if you ain't there yet. But if you already have it made, like a few shaver endorsements, it may be a little more difficult to summon up the energy.
We want fairytale endings - we love to hear that some things get rewarded in a just World Cup. Most people like my Mum and Dad think that if you play beautifully, you should win. Others feel that determination and guts like what the Ghanaians and Australians showed should count for something. Alternatively, everyone wants to identify the frog prince, you know, to be able to say you picked out the underdogs? What do the villains look like? They look foul and play foul. Worse, they feign injury and abuse and cry foul - like Iago in Othello. Alas (if I can be allowed to spout some Shakespearean interjection), life ain't a fairytale and my Mum and Dad's melancholy will last for a while, until perhaps they can weave another fairytale around a possible Zidane-led French kissing the Cup.
Till then, may older bald men who come back from retirement bring back the fairytale to the World Cup!
PS. That said, if England had gone through, or Brazil had done the obvious, my parents would be really thrilled too! A fairytale can be woven every which way!
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