The preparation is over. The previews have been aired. And we’ve seen the goals from 1966 about a hundred times already.
But now the action starts for real.
At 3pm (UK time) today the 19th FIFA World Cup finals will kick off when hosts South Africa line up against Mexico in Johannesburg for the opening match. Before a crowd of 94,000 and a massive world-wide TV audience, the first of 64 games to take place in a month will get the tournament started. And hopefully in some style too.
The host nation is now involved in the opening game, which makes sense really. Last time around Germany beat Costa Rica 4 – 2 in a very entertaining game.
Previously it was the defending champions who opened proceedings. In 2002 France suffered a shock 1 – 0 defeat to Senegal; the start of a disastrous run that saw the defending champions departing the tournament without even scoring a goal. And 1998 saw Brazil beat Scotland 2-1 courtesy of a late own goal from the very unlucky Tom Boyd.
How will this year’s opening game turn out? Well my prediction is that the Rainbow Nation’s legion of fans will be disappointed. I’m going for an away win with Mexico to triumph by 3 – 1.
This will be the first World Cup to be staged in Africa and the hope is that it will help football to develop in a continent that already provides a high number of players to European club sides. But I don’t see a local winner, and it is likely that not one of the African sides will make it past the group stages.
Ten venues will be used for the finals. Five new stadiums have been built for the tournament, and five existing venues have been upgraded. In addition, the South African authorities have invested heavily in transport and other infrastructure required to host such a massive event. It is estimated that 350,000 foreign visitors will find their way to South Africa over the next month, giving an economic boost to the country.
I’m hoping that this will be a tournament of goals and skilful football, and not one of controversy. We should be talking about the great players and amazing goals, not refereeing decisions. Almost all of the world’s top nations will be competing: only Russia and Egypt will be missing from the top twenty ranked teams.
I don’t see too many shocks in this tournament, as the favourites all appear to be very strong and playing to form. I’m sticking by my prediction that Brazil will beat Spain in a final full of fine attacking football.
So I hope you all have your bets placed, the schedules worked out and the TV remote to hand.
Let’s get it on!
Leave a Reply