Is this the worst World Cup ever?

Written by Paul Quinn Sunday, 20 June 2010 15:52

England World Cup Blog

That question Tony asked the other week about which is the best World Cup ever (probably 1986, I think we decided), got me to thinking about which one is the worst. I've thought long and hard, and it's this one. Isn't it, though?

From the atmosphere-sapping vuvuzelas to the ball no one can handle, strikers and keepers alike. From the patchy refereeing to the even patchier performances from all (except maybe the Dutch and the Argentinians - and both of them failing to fully convince in at least one of their games thus far. From the players going down a little too easily to their team-mates gesturing frantically to get the relatively innocent parties a yellow or a red.

Nothing new of course, apart from the ridiculous shameful killer bee buzzing, but together they seem to have combined into a dull mass of mediocre matches and a largely thrill-less spectacle. Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting every game to be a classic - I've been watching football long enough to be more realistic than that - but I would have expected to see at least a couple of engaging contests by now. Just one would have been nice. You know, a bit of fire to go with the ice.

Mind you, it is early. We're only a week in. Plenty of time for the wind to pick up and whip the odd sparks into a full blown fire storm, and give us the games we crave. Then we can just chuck all the vuvuzelas onto the bonfire, smoke out all those annoying FIFA fence-sitters, and give them a good doing.

Maybe it's not quite the worst World Cup ever (1994 anyone?), but it's certainly the worst start to a World Cup I can remember.

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