Saturday, June 19, 2010

It must have been at least an hour since I heard the last words of the commentator in the game of USA vs Slovakia yelling into my already numb eardrums made senseless by the endless buzzing of the vuvuzelas that has been made so iconic in this World Cup held in the continent of S. Africa.

It is in full swing now, this event that is held every four years.
And it has become almost a routine now, me waking up in the wee hours of the morning for work, then immediately returning home at 6 from office to catch the games that kicked off virtually everyday at Singapore time, 230am, 1930pm, and 2200pm respectively.
Well, its hard not to thank the lords for giving me such a...perfect vocation in which its working hours just seamlessly falls into place to fit the kickoff times of every match.
I have never paid so much attention to any of the previous World Cups, and was never given the opportunity to anyway.

One or two quirky things that I noticed from my recent obsession with the games as a soccer fan.

1) Girls are more into soccer than guys (at least from my band of friends, thats the case)
Name Fernando Torres, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, David Villa and your girl-friends will probably identify themselves with the soccer stars easily with gushes of excitement. Bring this up to your guy-friends and you will find it hard to comprehend their TOTAL lack of knowledge in the footballing world. Well...you cant blame them I suppose, if the 11 hunks on the pitch were switched with 11 bikini clad babes running scantily around, I bet the male population would have made it a National sport in every country.

2) There is a country actually smaller than Singapore actually playing the World Cup.
Believe it or not, its true.
With a population of 2 million, the nation of Slovenia is impressing the world with their performance on the pitch, given that they have such a small pool of human. resources to draw from.
As a matter of fact, the heroes of this minute country held the USA to a standstill when two Slovenia players stunned the superpower by sweeping two into their back of the net.
The USA eventually managed to to salvage the game in the end, but coming from such a seemingly harmless nation, Slovenia made their point very clear with the damage delivered.

So, anyone into the S. league?

3) Never bet on anyone to win.
No gambling folks, has been the cautions thrown to the audience sitting being the TV set by the very very concerned authorities during this soccer season who is bound to see a spike in these activities, and, for good reason.

A football match is as random as radioactivity.
With Spain getting cut by the Swiss knife, England fumbling over Robert Green's professional handling of the Jabulani ball, France humbled by the less reputable Mexico for World Cup qualifications, you cant be a 100% sure where the match is heading. Even Brazil, who were expected to cruise through in their match against the hermit nation N. Korea, did not have such an easy time as everyone thought they would. Surprises (or more likely, shocks) await for gamblers at every corner all the time. Irrational refereeing or a gross act of indiscipline could probably see your money down the the drain.......

So listen to the cops for once will you?

LOL

Now its nearing 230 am.
Off for some England vs Algeria action!!
Good morning. =)