Each set of group games was played over two nights and it seems to have been fixed that England and Brazil played on alternate nights.
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Weird. I wonder why I missed it. I don't remember seeing any of Brazil's matches. I do recall watching a highlights of the Portugal game with Pele limping off the pitch.Originally posted by Jah Womble View PostComment
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2010: warmed slightly to england as, having left the united kingdom, decided to start watching them in public whilst drinking. had started my first job in the netherlands, the one that almost broke me through stress, and was in a golden age of enjoying the company of my colleagues. was earning half-decent money whilst living in social housing, so had cash in pocket. enjoyed watching, and being amongst, the dutch once england had been fucked off, but still had a good chortle at them having debased their entire footballing tradition and come home with fuck all. north korea the underdog ne plus ultra, but also plucky new zealand.
2014: england stinking the place out. shit final. stood in my local going mental about tim krul after the unorthodox substitution and the costa rica pens. germany 7-1, the first half of which i missed getting the train home from i can’t remember where. thought my girlfriend was winding me up/mad/watching football wrong when she text me an update. in my own mind, i missed the final because i was busy moving house into a third floor flat on the hottest day of the year, but actually that was euro 2012.
1998: david batty, rob lee, alan shearer. bergkamp. not much else comes to mind. i remember watching england-romania in the local gigantic bowling shed, it being staffed entirely by people not at all motivated to stop drunk 15 year-olds acting the twat. jamaica make an apperarance. scientifically proven to be the world cup with the highest number of players that make me mutter now that was a footballer as my eyes glaze over and i go full george clarts. roberto carlos, ronaldo, mijatovic, zamorano and salas, desailly, sammer, stoichkov, hagi, batistuta, prosinecki and boban, nearly all of the dutch and italian squads, kevin gallacher… i mean i could go on.
1990: i was 7. i remember being excited about gascoigne, and i remember being cognizant of him, waddle, and beardsley having a newcastle connection. i remember, after the game against cameroon, being taught a racist song by one of my brother’s mates.
2006: peak hateable england, as far as i am concerned. barnstormed their way to the quarters thanks to peter crouch climbing up the dreadlocks of a man about three feet shorter than him. fucked out as soon as they played anyone decent. angola a top niche underdog. the apotheosis of zidane, forever in cantona’s shadow.
2002: i don’t think i remember anything at all of the 2002 world cup. south korea homered their way to the semis and the guy who scored the winner against italy got treated like shit by the chairman of his club. benitez signed nearly all of the senegal squad, giving el hadji diouf to english football for the next eternity.
1994: all the pitches looked very big and clean. diana ross. that saudi fella with his brilliant goal. fuck knows what else.Comment
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Houllier signed that useless prick. Benitez took over in the summer of 04.Comment
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Jesus, how could I get that so wrong?Comment
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I've been trying to forget it for years. Still can't.Comment
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1970
1974
1994
1966
1986
2006
1982
1998
1978
2002
1990
2010
This one has been very watchable and would probably make my top four.Comment
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1982
1978
1974
1990
2014
1986
1994
2002
2010
2006
1998
would put 2018 between 1974 & 1990. Mostly a list of personal preferences based on youth...the excesses of the 1978 tournament wouldnt be tolerated today while 1982 probably wasnt the hottest tournament of faulty memory but it was the first spent watching football in the pub with the additional frisson of lock ins for the games after 3 pm..plus Brazil for the first (& sadly last...maybe 1986 aside) time put out a team to match the stirring legends of yore...Comment
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