This morning I noticed something at the New Zealand vs Slovakia game. I noticed that half the seats were empty! At the World Cup! Try convincing a non-believer that this is the biggest sporting event in the world while showing them stadiums that have fewer people than a minor league hockey game. It's not an argument you'll be winning.
The issue here can be the location. Certainly FIFA will deem these games a failure due to the attendance issues. South Africa was, sadly, the wrong location to host the 2010 tournament. I understand that Africa needed to have a World Cup since it was the last continent to accomplish that task and it was only fair. The problem is the state of the continent. The rampant poverty simply means that the tickets won't sell to the home crowd or draw local fans to obscure games. In Germany in 2006 and South Korea and Japan in 2002 the home fans were so excited that they would attend games with weaker sides and fill those seats in. This time it just doesn't seem to be the case. Morocco would've been the better choice of the two possible hosts due to their proximity with Europe. I know the later rounds will be sold out as well as the bigger games, but it's the little games that are the most telling. Watching Japan vs Cameroon, a game that featured an African nation no less, saddened me since the stadium was half empty. I'd say that at New Zealand vs Slovakia there were more empty seats than filled. FIFA can't be happy. You won't be seeing an African hosted World Cup again for a long time.
Now onto today's games.
Today’s round of games started off with the amazingly weak New Zealand team against the European Slovakia side. Usually the Czech Republic is the stronger of the two former Czechoslovakian sides, but this time it was their cousins down the road that qualified. The general consensus was that the Kiwis had absolutely no chance. Their game is rugby and they are good at it, with their All Black team has won quite a few championships. However this soccer team, the awkwardly named All Whites, have seen little success on a world stage. Even regionally they were weak until Australia left the OFC. So what happened today came as a huge upset. Slovakia were ahead for most of the game after putting a goal in the net early on, but in the dying minutes of the game the Whites crossed a ball in front of goal and headed it in for their first goal in a World Cup tournament. The matched ended several minutes later and even though it was a draw New Zealand walked away feeling like a win. For them it really was a win, the first result they ever had. Great moment.
The second match of the day was supposed to be a big one. The Ivory Coast took on Portugal in the first Group of Death match. Both teams were fielding strong teams and Didier Drogba, with a broken elbow, even managed to be on the roster. Unfortunately the match never really got into a groove and there weren’t any goals. It was a match that was full of spirit, though, with the players often getting into each others faces. Pretty boy crybaby Cristiano Ronaldo would flop at the slightest touch, hell even an intense stare would send him to the ground. His antics really started to draw the ire of the Ivorians and eventually the ref had seen enough, pulling a yellow card for Ronaldo’s whining in the most hilarious moment of this tournament so far. It was unfortunate for Ivory Coast who I really thought had the better chances in the match. A 0-0 draw meant they both went to 1 point, and with Brazil set to dominate the rest of the group both countries are feeling a bit nervy.
Brazil vs. North Korea is one of the biggest mismatches in World Cup history. Brazil is ranked 1st while North Korea is way, way down the rankings and has no history of success. That didn't stop the North Korans from going out there and putting on a hell of a show. For the entire first half they played with roughly 397 people on defense, surrounding the selfish Brazilians on every attack. This was the weirdest form of ultra defense I've ever seen in football. Truly a display of a style that I'd never seen used. And for 55 minutes it worked as the North Koreans fought so intense and so rigidly that it looked like they might actually get something out of a game with the world's best. But then the Brazilians scored and tore their opponents confidence apart. They capitulated another goal making it 2-0. Somehow they managed to pull one back but it ended 2-1 and the North Koreans got no points for all their hard work. It was actually a really fun game to watch.
That's it for today in World Cup. Another long boring write up about the games. I promise to be a bit more concise tomorrow and write about something more than the tournament. So expect a short write up about the three games followed by something else. If it's just a month of writing up match reports I'll lose my audience... of three people.
GET ON YOUR BOOTS!
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