The trouble with the World Cup

The World Cup plays havoc with my daily schedule and gets in the way of my blogging. I get up at 4.00 in the morning to watch the games. I am awake anyway and the games are a marvellous way of distracting my mind. There is so much drama, drama that it is impossible to explain to anyone not brought up with football. Twenty-two men run around for 90 minutes and more and have only one, may be two goals to show for it. How can this be anything but boring. But if you follow the game every movement of the ball is poised with possibilities. There are near misses that the outcome may depend on, fantastic individual ball skills, watch Neymar cut through the defence, outpace the fastest defender, shift balance from one foot to another and dispatch a powerful shot. Share the youthful enthusiasm of the Brazilian team. What if no one is left behind to protect the goal, they all want to be up the front scoring. Yet my sympathies went out to the struggler's, the Chileans, who played with great commitment. Perhaps no one expected them to get this far in the tournament except their coach pacing up and down the sideline, but having got this far they had the ultimate prize in sight. My hero is the Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, flying through the air, stopping impossible shots with his split second reaction. You don't have to know much about football to appreciate it.  It is a great thrill to participate in this huge Brazilian carnival. It is only 28 days and then it is all over, Then I can sleep in again. Hope that I will be around to enjoy the next tournament in Moscow in four years' time.