The FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia is now less than 18 hours away, but despite me being in my early forties I cannot control my excitement. I don’t know what it is about this great competition that gets me going so much, but the fact there are sixty fours games coming up over the next four weeks might have something to do with it.
My eight year old lad is so excited as well, he was of course just four years old at the last tournament and although he sort of knew what was going on, he didn’t really understand that much. This time around though, I can tell he’s genuinely looking forward to it so much. Similar to me I suppose when I was young, I was born in 1976 so the Spanish World Cup in 1982 is something I do not really remember or was interested in, but Mexico 86 certainly was.
That Marco Tardelli goal from Spain 82
Although I remember seeing Bryan Robson’s goal against France in 1982 over and over again on the television, or is that because I’ve seen them so many times over the years? Who knows, but apart from the Robson moment, the 1982 World Cup for me was about Michel Platini and that Marco Tardelli goal. The next three World Cups in Mexico, Italy and USA are of course ones I will remember fondly, but of course are tournaments I watched at home with my parents.
Since France 98 till now though, I can safely say I have probably missed less than ten games out of the few hundred that must have been played. 1998 was easy though, I was student and had nothing else better to do and I can still remember moving day on July 12th, World Cup Final day. The first thing we set-up was the television, got moved in and then opened the beers in time to watch France destroy Brazil.
For the South Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002 I was working in London, and although they were some of the worst kick off times ever, I still managed to work around all the early and lunch time kick offs to see nearly off the games.
Germany 2006 I was out there for ten days or so, travelling around Hamburg, Berlin and Hannover, soaking up the atmosphere with friends and although we didn’t get to any games in the end, we had a fabulous time. 2010 and 2014 were a little more tricky but I got my half day holiday requests in early enough, so I was home to watch the games live from South Africa and Brazil.
Now here we are in 2018 and the joy of watching random players and teams that you don’t know much about is still great. I may be a lot more busier these days but my work, family and social schedule will hopefully not affect my capacity to once again watch every single match. Some might be on delay, some might be an hour after they’ve kicked off, but I’m an expert at avoiding scores, which means I will still be able to watch them “as live”.
