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World Cup 2010 - by Nick the Bookman
The World Cup 2010 in South Africa is over. Was it fun for all of you? Or was it a fuck up? Especially as regards the televising of the matches. I'm not quibbling about the timing of the matches (late evening and early morning HK time). HK is 7-8 hours ahead of South Africa so that was a necessary evil. The same conditions applied at the 2006 Event, held in Germany. What was infuriating was the fact that i-Cable snapped up the rights. For US$38 million, according to the SCMP (14/7/2010). They seized their moment ahead of ATV and TVB. But i-Cable doesn't have blanket access across HK. Apparently, it covers less than half of HK so a lot of people couldn't watch it. FIFA snapped up their bid and so much for FIFA's oft-proclaimed view that the World Cup and The Olympics should be the two major sporting events available to all on free-to-air terrestrial broadcasting. Money talks, so principles wither.
ATV and TVB were truculent and intransigent in their bully-boy tactics to force i-Cable to grant them the opportunity to show the matches. These failed and lengthy talks were needed to reach a compromise. Eventually, i-Cable agreed to let ATV and TVB show the Opening Match, the Semi-Finals and The Final. Provided they took the i-Cable feed. That seemed a no-brainer to me. The television stations failed to secure the rights and if they had to grovel to get to show the four matches, then so be it. Both television stations then fucked up big time by only showing the matches on their digital high-definition channels. Why? The digital channels only reach 42 % of HK. Were they forced to do this by i-Cable? Or don't they care about the peasants who can't get digital and must struggle along with analogue coverage? A bad move for two reasons. Their ratings were two-thirds smaller than in 2006. And, it's not a good idea to alienate your fan base when efforts to expand the tv station market are underway. The viewers and Government might decide to go with newcomers who are willing to do more than stick with the stuck-in-the-mud arrogant present companies. Just because you've been in business for 40-60 years doesn't mean getting complacent or indifferent. Length of operation doesn't mean continuation of power (excepting organised religion, which is also privy to folly and failure, but somehow abides)
So, HK ended up as possibly the only First World region which couldn't manage free-to-air terrestrial coverage of the World Cup. Remote areas of Africa were catered to by setting up giant screens. European nations had free coverage. So did Canada and probably the USA. Or there was blanket coverage on ESPN and other sporting channels. (If you watched the appalling NBC news on TVB each day, you wouldn't have known the World Cup was on. True, they covered the England-USA match (very briefly) and covered the Final, only in the context of the Uganda bombings. I'm sorry, that's just not good enough for one of the two primary global sports events. Back to i-Cable. They could have become saviours if they had allowed ATV and TVB to show a highlights programme each evening. Courtesy of i-Cable, of course. Would have been better than the computer simulations on TVB or the photos on ATV and TVB. It's like "Bomm" What was that? That was "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony". The photographic equivalent... Anyway, "Old Bowtie" Donald Tsang has promised that the World Cup will be free to all in 2014. Of course, he won't be in power then.
So, Lamma people ended up watching some i-Cable coverage at the pub next to the Deli Lamma. Diesels and The Island Bar had the Dream satellite coverage. In English, but no half time show. There were plenty of computer options available to get the BBC or ITV site or other global links. The best one I saw was with a friend who sort of "piggybacked" his signal from Canada through a linkup with his computer and his parents'. Great half time show as well. That was for the Argentina v Germany match. Mostly, the computer sites ended up with outbursts of freezeframe as more and more people tried splicing into the signal. Anyway, enough of that.
How about the World Cup itself? On a sporting level, it wasn't good for any of the African Nations. Hosts, South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria were eliminated in the Group Stages. Only Ghana made it to the Quarter Finals, cheated out of going further by Uruguay. All the South American teams, bar Uruguay, were out by that stage as well. Brazil were practical, but bad, winners. Cue possible jokes about the sacked Brazilian coach Dunga putting the "dung" into their performance. In a meeting of twice former finalists, Argentina were blown away by a very good German side, favouring mostly youth over experience. The 2006 Finalist, France and Italy, were dreadful, going at in the group stages in a welter of absymal play, internal dissent, strikes and so on. Good riddance, frankly. At least, they took some of the gloss off the turd that was England.
I stopped supporting England in the World Cup years ago. Maybe they have a microscopic hint of an iota of a jot and tittle of a smithereen of an excuse for playing so badly because they don't get a winter break like the rest of Europe. Their last stirring match was probably the "Beckhams Redemption" saga against Argentina in 2002. His penalty won the match 1-0 and gave him revenge for his red card against Argentina in 1998. That was another good match though England lost on penalties after drawing 2-2 at the end of extra time. Then, there were the Gazza tears in 1990 in the semi-final against Germany. Another defeat on penalties after extra time. You'd have thought they would have got the hint by now to practise penalties, but I guess you can't tell mewling millionaires what to do. The England-Algeria scoreless draw was a nadir for England. Not improved by Wayne Rooney criticising the England fans for booing their abject display. Cameras caught him saying "Nice to see your home fans booing you. That's what loyal support is for fuck's sake" He had to apologise later. On a cash comparative basis, the fans were right to be incensed. They've been saving for months to buy a World Cup package tour, worth maybe 10,000 pounds/euros?, only to be subjected to a pathetic performance. How long would it take Wayne Rooney to make that money? Half a game? His win bonus? Is it the amount of money Coleen would spend on a shopping expedition...
As for the England captains...Steven Gerrard, the current captain. He's lucky not to have a criminal assault charge on his record after the infamous pub brawl. Rio Ferdinand, his predecessor (out of the World Cup with an injury). He served a nine month suspension for deliberately missing a mandatory drugs test. John Terry, Rio's predecessor, was sacked for a sex scandal. Cheating on his wife. His father's apparently a drug seller. Terry was also among four players who got horribly, abusively drunk at Heathrow on 9-11. Insulting distraught Americans at the airport. And he had the cheek to say that the only thing that haunts him is missing a penalty in the Champion's League Final against Manchester United. That was just a bad day at the office. The 9-11 incident was disgraceful. That should be haunting your memories. I could go on, but why bother. OK, if you insist.
England got stuffed by Germany 1-4 in the 2nd round match to reach the quarter finals. Their record against Germany is thus. 1966: Won World Cup 4-2 after extra time. 1970: Lost World Cup Quarter Final 3-2 after extra time. 1990: Lost World Cup Semi Final on penalties after 1-1 draw after extra time. 2006: Lost 2nd Round match 4-1 in normal time. The Germans cut England to shreds. Their play was reminiscent to me of Hungary in the 1950's. Klose's opening goal left John Terry looking as confused as a sex addict at an orgy who's realised hes left his testicles at home. The second goal by Podolski came off three one-touch passes from the touchline to the right corner of the 18 yard box to Podolski who trapped the ball and then nutmegged David James into the right corner. Two swift second half breaks and scores by Muller put the game out of reach. England were briefly back in the match when they reduced the deficit to 2-1 before the major controversy. Frank Lampard's disallowed (or not seen) goal. That might have been an equaliser and could have changed the game, according to some people. I don't think so. Germany would have won easily. I see England as an overpaid, underperforming group of sex addicts and other felons in waiting. Maybe, it's time for new blood. The big names didn't do the business.
Basically Dave James writing in the SCMP on 14/7/2010 put it in a nutshell. The World Cup was about "bruised egos, player strikes and embarrassed referees. Goals scored with a ball with a suspect trajectory. European power retained and the triumph of team unity over highly-paid, underperforming individuals". World player of the year, Lionel Messi of Argentina failed to score. So did Wayne Rooney. Former team mate Christiano Ronaldo scored once in Portugal's 7-0 win over North Korea. Spain's Fernando Torres failed to shine. New Zealand did all right though. They were the only unbeaten team in South Africa. A 1-1 draw against Slovenia. Another 1-1 draw against fading world champions, Italy. And 0-0 against Paraguay. They punched above their weight, but went out on goal difference. Spain, the perennial under-achievers, finally made it. They beat Holland 1-0 in a thuggish and turgid Final which saw 14 Yellow Cards and 1 Red Card to Dutchman John Heitinge. Fellow teammate Nigel De Jong was very lucky not to be red carded for a brutal kungfu kick with studs up into the chest of Xabi Alonzo. The final is up there in the dreary stakes with Germany's 1-0 win over a spiteful Argentina in 1990. It nearly became the joint worst final with Brazil v Italy in 1994. That was the only 0-0 Final after extra time. Decided on penalties. The high(low) light being Roberto Baggio's skied miss over the bar to gift the World Cup to Brazil and captain Dunga
Briefly, the World Cup was a success for South Africa, the country. Not for the Bafana-Bafana, the South African team. The vuvuzula made it's unwelcome appearance. China was apparently making 250,000 of them each day for global export. New Zealand promptly banned them from the opening Tri-Nations Rugby Union match against South Africa and said they are also banned from the 2011 Rugby World Cup. There were 145 goals scored with the suspect newly designed ball. 145 goals in 64 matches. Not a good return The referee howlers have prompted FIFA Supremo, Sepp Blatter (aka The Septic Bloater) to re-think goal mouth technology and provide extra officials for 2014. The highest score was Portugal's 7-0 victory over North Korea. The only hattrick was from Higuain of Argentina in the 4-1 win over South Korea.
Records to be broken include the top aggregate score. 12 goals in a match. Austria beat hosts Switzerland 7-5 in 1954. Top team score remains Hungary's 10-1 thrashing of El Salvador in 1982. Hungary equalled the 11 goal aggregate with an 8-3 defeat of Germany in 1954. The 11 goal aggregate was first achieved by Brazil's 6-5 win over Poland in 1938. Leonidas of Brazil and Willimowki of Poland remain the only players to score 4 goals each in the same match. The individual record is 5 goals by Salenko of Russia in the 6-1 demolition of Cameroon in 1994. Brazil have 5 World Cup Wins. Italy have 4. Germany have 3. Argentina and Uruguay have 2 each. England, France and Spain have 1 apiece. The 1000th World Cup goal was scored by Rob Rensenbrink of Holland in his team's 3-2 loss to Scotland in 1978. The 2000th goal will most likely come in Brazil 2014. The fastest goal on record remains Hakan Sukur's strike after 11 seconds in Turkeys 3-2 win over South Korea for third place in 2002. Finally, TVB screwed up on on 14/7/2010 when they said that Holland is the first team to lose three Finals. That may be so in whatever parallel dimension is occupied by their sports reporters/fact checkers. But on this planet, Germany lost their fourth final, 2-0 against Brazil in 2002. Holland have lost 3 Finals. Argentina, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy have each lost 2 Finals. France and Sweden have lost 1 each. And I guess that's about enough football for now.
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