World Cup Buzz

Please forgive my delayed beginning to writing on this page. My intention is to write from home, but acquiring internet service is proving to be a tough chore.  I’ll pen my first column from work here at my own peril.  Such is the love for the game.

 With Euro 2008 only a few weeks away the whole Footballing world will focus on Europe and the single greatest confederation specific tournament.  Throughout the month of June very little attention from the casual Footballing fanbase at large will be paid to the rigorously long process of the 2010 World Cup Qualification.  I personally believe that to be a great quality of the World Cup and its qualifiers.  With the complete tournament in mind (qualifiers to the finals) the World Cup transcends and outlasts all other international tournaments as the main entree among tasty appetizers.  Sure the European Championships only occur once every 4 years, as does the Olympics, but their scope and influence reach only half or less as far as implications of any World Cup game.  With all that in perspective, I can now move forward knowing that hopefully all readers can share the same glimpse of immensity the World Cup, in all its stages, carries for me.

I often try to capture that vastness by playing the tournament and its qualification stage out on the specially released World Cup video games.  It’s easy for me to appreciate the long road a team such as Bermuda or Macau would endure to reach the World Cup simply because I’ve simulated it through a game on XBox360 or on a PC.  While the emotion and atmosphere falls considerably short, I can appreciate the qualification process a bit better through some basic transference.  Just that is enough to help me realize the massive implications of the upcoming games for Barbados against the United States, or for Belize with Mexico.  While in the grand scheme it’s only a minuscule piece to the giant qualification puzzle, it also happens to be the grandest of occasions for two countries that have never known a World Cup from the pitch.  Which brings me to my first topic, not surprisingly about my home country:

 With the USA-Barbados game no more than a month away there has been talk that Barbados could stack their team with some professional talent.  There’s no secret to naturalizing players anymore, the USA has been gaining foreign talent at the expense of other countries (sorry Cuba, that was just ridiculous…) for a while with the promise of the American lifestyle in return for solid consistent World Cup Qualification performances.  Barbados has the opportunity to call any or all of 11 professionals from the English leagues for their home and away series, most notably bigman Marlon Harewood, who may be an afterthought in the EPL, but would be a driving influence in any CONCACAF qualification contest regardless of opponent.  His size can only be matched by Oguchi Onyewu and even that would be a daunting assignment.  USA need to be careful here, while it would be understandable to expect the foreign based players to scoff at Barbados’ invitation, it could be potentially disastrous should they decide to try their hand at the international game and succeed against a far more experienced power.  The real burden of proof is on USA, nothing less than 2 comfortable victories will do in the eyes of the casual soccer fan in America.  For those who may read my column here, please beware, and offer a little slack, it’s quite possible we’ll see a stuttering start, but there will be no excuse for losing.  I predict the possibility of a tie in Barbados and a win Stateside. 

I’m the kind of spectator who, when presented with a neutral position, will side with the underdog.  I grew up watching over and over again the greatest movie I had ever seen: G’Ole, the 1982 World Cup.  I’ve since realized that the 1982 World Cup wasn’t nearly as exciting and dramatic as the movie, and music, depicted it.  The movie itself I would say is the crowning achievement of the World Cup Recap production film genre, which might as well say its the cleanest piece of trash in the dump.  However, as child and even now, I fell in love with the totally inept New Zealand squad that magically found themselves on the pitch alongside USSR, Scotland, and Brazil for three resounding defeats.  New Zealand in 1982 to me exhibits the true characterization of the underdog surprise qualifier, of which there have been a few recently, but that moniker is quickly disappearing.   The possibilities have run thin from Asia for the less talented teams, and it’s virtually impossible to progress on continuous luck without good performances in any other region besides Oceania.  The Oceanic Confederation is so small with the qualifiers so sparsely scheduled, that only a team from that region would really fit the description of “surprise qualifier” anymore.  I could make an argument for Angola or Togo from the last Cup, or Trinidad and Tobago.  But they proved their worth over the course of a strong and dense qualifying campaign schedule.  My point is that while Oceania could cry foul about FIFA reaffirming their 0.5 allocation of places, they remain the only confederation with the ability to provide the last true underdog to a tournament.  I’ll be watching New Zealand closely in hopes that they find their way to South Africa with some luck and decent performances in the only 2 games that will matter: the qualification legs against the 5th placed Asian team.

Finally, let’s come full circle today and investigate Europe again and the European Draw.  Those of you reading should already know what it is, and if not, just to go FIFA.com to see the groups.  England are on the cruel end of a seriously hilarious prank by drawing Croatia again, but the World Cup is more serious than Euro Qualification, I have to believe the players approach it differently even though the sentiment from the fans carries the same weight.   I’m mostly a supporter of Wales (Ryan Giggs had the greatest influence on me growing up) and I see their draw to be very difficult and probably insurmountable considering Russia’s resurgence on the world stage.  I’m greatly intrigued by Groups 3 and 9 for different reasons.  I’ve seen Northern Ireland win a number of games that they normally would have no business staying competitive in and should they have the ability to sneak past Poland and Slovakia, they could be looking at a playoff place and a possible spot in the finals.  They are to be considered very carefully by the Eastern European teams or the consequences could be dire, and Windsor Park is no fun for visiting nations.  Group 9 should offer tasty match-ups for the Dutch, Scotland, and Norway to all beat each other to pulp and see who’s still standing.  The Netherlands aren’t particularly fantastic in qualification, and Scotland has shown they can beat anyone, and no one should look past Norway for a moment.  There are no tier 4 teams, as I identify them, in this group (I have my own 4 tier rating system for International teams) and I would expect Iceland and Macedonia to both steal wins at home against anyone, and it’s those results that will cause havoc in this group. 

Perhaps it’s too early for me to predict all this, but then what are predictions for?  I haven’t gotten into the real current events and breaking news yet, but I promise to find more relevant topics to address in the future.

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