World Cup 2006

So the World Cup is nearly upon us again (see my countdown timer on the right for the exact length of time left to go!).

As a pommy living in Australia one tends to notice certain differences in attitude towards sport by the two nations. My observations thus far are:

England loves to…

• Support their team by drinking copious amounts of beer and shouting/chanting witty banter at the opposition (case in point: The Barmy Army – they are masters at this!)


• Really get behind their team until they lose and then pretend that you never expected them to amount to much anyway


• Treat any English talented sports person with suspicion


• Turn any 12 year old who can kick a ball into a celebrity and then when they start playing for a team write articles about their love live and how overpaid they are

Australia loves to…

• Sing their National Anthem at sporting events!


• Proudly support all ‘Aussies’ who are competing (and by placing the word “our” in front of their name in the media


• Practically adopt anyone who has ever been Australia as Australian in some way, shape or form


• Support their team 100% - even if they lose they are treated like heroes for ‘having a go’ and doing their best


• Really foster young talent (usually by sending them to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra which is just a sporting legend factory if you ask me)

This World Cup will be especially interesting as Australia actually made it into the finals this time round. They aren’t expected to do that well (even in Australia there is a far amount of caution when predicting results). But for a country of 20 million where soccer is by far the least popular football code (after AFL, Rugby League & Union) they have done pretty well. And let’s not forget their team does include some good players in Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Mark Schwartzer, Tim Cahill and Brett Emerton. And please don’t remind me of the 3-1 victory in the friendly they played against England in 2003 in London. They are in for some hard games in their group, playing a solid Japan, world class Brazil (!) and Croatia.

England on the other hand truly has the weight of nation on their shoulders. If they could win it would mark 40 years since the first and last World Cup victory. But without Rooney and potentially Owen they are in for tough ride even if they play in “1966” red.

The team selection leaves me torn between thinking Eriksson is a total genius or an absolute fool.

His choice mean Beckham will be leading a mixed team onto the pitch that could potentially contain a 17 year old who has never played in the Premiership (but who could turn out to be a masterstroke), and some of the old guard. I’m and yet again surprised to see Owen Hargreaves get a call up (who in my opinion doesn’t deliver that much) and Darren Bent not even making it to the reserves. Only time will tell if Sven has picked a ‘team’ this time and not a bunch of individuals.