And so its here day 1 of the world cup,Brazil v Croatia kicks the whole thing off this evening and leads us into a month of,well a month of what?
A feast of the greatest football the planet has to offer ?
A month of cheating players destroying the beautiful game in its spiritual home ?
A tournament overshadowed by protests from a people disgusted by the financial obscenity of the World Cup in a country where the basics of life are denied to so many?
In reality it will probably be a mixture of all 3 and the proportion of each will determine how posterity views this tournament
My first World Cup memory was 1966 ,yes I am that old,my greatest memory 1970 when as a teenager with a love of the game I watched Brazil,the greatest team in the history of the game define the "Beautiful Game".
Over the years there have been many highs and lows of watching world cups,sadly many of the lows involving England but I have never not looked forward to a World Cup until now,
This is a tournament being played out against a backdrop of massive corruption by the governing body of the game a game run by an old man who cares for himself and hiss mates and how much money they can make rather than the good of the game.Its a tournament involving players so wealthy and pampered that you wonder how in touch with the fans who cheer them on they really are,players to whom the spirit of the sportsmanship appears a dim and distant memory.
This Work Cup is I believe a real crossroads in the history of the game, will the spirit of the beautiful game in its heartland inspire so that our memories will be of silky skills and great joy or of snarling faces and a bending of the rules to breaking point,only time will tell.
I don't expect a Mexico 1970 but hopefully at the end we will be able to say that whatever the problems of organisation and administration that the game itself is still beautiful
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