I won't bore you all with the dull, day one details of today's opening encounter between hosts Brazil and under-dogs Croatia. Except to note that, in the UK, ITV are joining together the uninteresting opening ceremony with the possibly uninteresting first match, in order to make a 4 hour advertising jamboree ... which will surely dissuade many sensible UK sports fans from tuning in.
Today instead, I look to: refreshment planning, the USA, England and Spain to bore you. Please do feel free to respond, comment and chatter away, below:
1) USA
According to ESPN, Landon Donovan believes USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann is wrong to suggest his team cannot win the World Cup. The striker, who was left out of Klinsmann's final squad, said: "This will come as a surprise to nobody, but I disagree with Jurgen."
Meanwhile, Taylor Twellman (a former US player of whom I've never previously heard - now turned ESPN soccer pundit) says Jurgen is merely "feeding the bear". Which totally confuses me! Is tackling the nutritional needs of large and dangerous mammals a standard part of US squad preparations for a World Cup Finals tournament? Or is this one of Jurgen's own special, Teutonic training methods? Ouch!
So, first you decide to stage a small number of matches in the middle of the Amazonian jungle, so as to take the World Cup 'to the peoples'. You realise you will have to transport ALL building materials, tools and sundries to the jungle by boat, down the Amazon river. You consider this both a logistical challenge AND a symbolic analogy of the status of your emerging nation's history and future. Then you realise the stadium you're going to need to build will be a 'white elephant' so you start to cut back on the spiralling costs ... and time ticks away rather faster than you were first expecting until Mañana (or Manhã) comes to Manaus and becomes today. One of the results of all this predictable but still-surreal political posturing and financial botching is one of the worst playing surfaces for a series of world cup finals matches in the modern era. It is so bad that even the head groundsman who is personally and directly responsible for the playing surface, one Carlos Botella, opines: "Frankly, Manaus is in bad shape". In fact, Enfield Town FC play on a far superior surface than the one prepared for Saturday night's Group D encounter. Ouch! It remains to be seen whether this situation suits either England or Italy the better ... or neither?!
3) Spain - a lesson from history?
Can teams survive an initial defeat in the first round of tournament finals? This is a question I heard asked just yesterday. To help answer, consider the following golden nugget?
So, it seems that losing the first game of a tournament is, in fact, part of a winning formula - and, therefore, something England and the USA may both try to emulate. Watch this space, sports fans.
... and finally
4) Day 1 refreshments have been sourced for the Harney World Cup fridge, in the shape of a case of Budweiser '66. I'd never heard of it before; but there should be little need to explain to English readers the lure of this brand name. For others, just think of World Cup 1966, rather than the following rather mundane COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION: “A lightly carbonated lager brewed with a touch of sweetness for a smooth, easy taste at 4% abv, Bud ’66′ is a winning concept. Inspired by the lengths our brewmasters go to create the perfect beer, we named it Budweiser Brew No. 66 after the winning recipe number that had the perfect balance of ingredients creating the taste we know consumers will love.”
Brewed in Luton and distributed in the UK by InBev this brand was, apparently, launched in July 2010 - and has been awaiting this potential moment of World Cup glory ever since. A 330 ml bottle of "66" has just 84 calories (I think they may have missed a trick, there!). Low CO2 content? Low in calories? A taste consumers will love? Sounds fantastic. Checking out consumer reviews on Rate Beer, however, (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/budweiser-brew-no-66/141085/ ) I fear that I may have placed too much faith in the allegorical power of that redolent brand name. A reviewer from Norfolk, ENGLAND, for instance says: "smells of nothing looks like stale pee, tastes thin and watery, flavour of brown sugar mixed in water". Another reviewer, from Bucks., adds: "It's rubbish, makes me think of what the bad Sainsbury's economy lager I tried last year would have been like if I'd left it open overnight". Ouch!
Sounds appealing; I just can't wait to try one! I fear it may, however, be like the proverbial 'liaison in a canoe'. I will advise. Come on, Croatia!
