Watching World Cup, and nothing else
The first round of matches in the World Cup group stage has been completed, and my sister and I have been diligently watching every game. Now in my humble opinion it is imperative to watch every single team play before making risky decisions involving money. I caused my friend to lose quite a bit of money with a piece of crappy analysis four years back, and I'm not about to make the same mistake. Sure, I might still make wayward predictions, but at least informed predictions are that little bit better than guesses based on murky impressions. If recent form and performance during qualifying provided that much insight, nobody would ever lose money in the long run. Then there are punters who hand itchy just like to put some money on a match to enhance its entertainment value. Last World Cup there was an uncle who asked me what colour jersey his team was wearing ten minutes into the match.Judging the quality of a team is always tricky. Teams playing at 3pm local time suffer because of the sweltering heat. Which is why I propose to have noon kickoffs whenever Singapore play competitive matches at home against opposition more accustomed to cooler temperatures. I remember our boys restricting Japan to a solitary goal victory in a qualifer. Even though the game was played in the evening, the Japanese were guzzling water at every opportunity. If we had played the game at noon, maybe we could have had a three-goal blitz in the last six minutes to register a stunning upset. I'm saying all this because I usually play my football during the hottest period of the day and I feel kinda superior.
Not everyone is as free (and slack) as I am to be able to watch every game. Hence the need for selective viewing. People seem to be under the impression that only matches involving top teams are worth watching. Now, that's true to a certain extent in terms of quality. But then again the very best teams can be reduced to pumping long balls at one another under trying conditions. The two most exciting games in the first round were Sweden vs. Trindad & Tobago and Tunisia vs. Saudi Arabia, which I suspect were the least watched. But if we look closely there was no reason to expect the latter to be a boring match. Both teams would have gone for the win, since Ukraine had already lost. For both the heat wouldn't have been a major factor. And both teams had several pacy players who could beat their man. Since there's no telling which games are gonna be good, the best option for the real footy fan is to watch as many games as possible. Don't worry, the Boss won't sack you. Just say I say one.
posted by KynTheMan @ 8:28 PM
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