william brown: Hey Graeme, seeing if you wanted to do a World Cup chat over the next week...over tea and scones perhaps...i could lob some fat softball pitches for you to knock around the park...for example...you've lived in England and Nigeria...and they are both in the world cup this year!...England looks like they're re-upping and starting fresh with some new blood and Nigeria looks to be the african favourite....how do you feel about their chances? will you be emotionally involved in their games?
Graeme Abernethy:
The Super Eagles
As far as being emotionally involved goes, some of that will be tempered by pretty low expectations. Nigeria gave away the African Nations semi-final earlier this year on penalties in a pretty bad way. Ghana won the match. I guess you could say they were damn close to the finals, but it was pretty deflating. People would be crowded around the guardhouse outside my office watching on a fuzzy little TV, cheering when Nigeria scored. When they lost that match it was just silence. I never heard anyone mention the result! It was interesting talking to my roommate about the African -- especially West African -- rivalries. They're extremely competitive. I was a bit naive about that I sort of assumed he would have supported Ghana in the 2010 World Cup when they went to the quarters, I guess out of some African solidarity. But he made it clear he was cheering for anyone but Ghana. I guess I feel more or less the same way about the US team. That's the one team I could never get behind, as if they don't "deserve it" or something, maybe as punishment for coming up with "soccer" instead of just calling it football. Goes to show you how emotional sports fans are, but there's always an element of that. That's one of my take-aways from having lived abroad: I have a problem with the word "soccer"! Does it bother you or are you okay with it?
Nigeria also just passed South Africa as the largest economy in Africa, and the newspapers were full of boasts about that around the time I was leaving in April. "The Giant of Africa." The Super Eagles lost a warm-up to the US this past weekend. I don't see that as a very good sign. I don't see them as the African favourite. Has to be Cote d'Ivoire, based on the group they're in: Colombia, Greece, and Japan. (Ghana's in tough with Germany, Portugal, and the US.) They also have a lot of big match experience, from Drogba to Yaya Touré, the birthday cake man. Nigeria's best-known player is John Obi Mikel from Chelsea, but he mostly sits on the bench.
The Three Lions
It's funny, as a Canadian I have no natural World Cup allegiance. It tends to shift from year to year I'm a mix of European stuff, but that goes about 4 generations back. My wife has South Korean roots, so I'm happy when they do well. As for England, I don't usually support them, though I tried to in 2010, as I was living in London during the World Cup. I'm not as big on club football as I used to be, but as an Arsenal fan, I could get never look past John Terry and Frank Lampard on the England team as guys I was accustomed to disliking. (I was actually supporting France in 2006 because of Henry and Vieira. That one ended badly!) And Rooney always played like such an angry child. I'm still trying to understand what all the hype is about with him, at least as far as England is concerned. As you say, England has some youth on their side this time around. The Liverpool guys, Sturridge and Sterling, have been especially good. Hodgson the manager looks like a twinkly-eyed old time magician. I don't fully know what to make of him, but I look forward to seeing the group games when it's all on the line. Unfortunately for England, they're probably expected to go out behind Italy and Uruguay. Suarez is a top-3 guy in the world right now, and Uruguay made the semis last time. But Forlan is 35 now, and Italy's on the older side too. If England do escape, they can make a good run.
Predictions
England: Loses QF to Spain
Nigeria: Eliminated at Group Stage
Final Four: Belgium vs. Spain, Brazil vs. Germany
Winner: Brazil
Do you support a club team? I know you're a Cristiano fan. Does supporting him on Real Madrid mean you more anti-Spain, given all of the Spaniards on Barcelona? What does it do to your opinion of Messi?
Which country did you support before Cristiano came along?
Could you ever get behind the USA team?
Will Portugal survive the "Group of Death"?
A lot of people say that the Champions League is the best of the best. Do you agree with that or do you prefer the World Cup tournament?
Also: how do the protests register with you as a fan of the tournament? Obviously it's a bit like South Africa in 2010--a host country with poverty issues on a big scale but billions funneled into stadium construction for a month-long tournament.
william brown: I have a pretty good activist streak in me, that's been fairly dormant of late, but something stirred when i saw that documentary on Brazil...i mean, i just don't really get it...how can they get billions to put into these stadiums...in which the majority will be useless after the World Cup...why are there so many fucking stadiums!?...ridiculous...billions and they can't get any to put into education or helping kids get off the street...i just wish there was a way to have these events, like the Olympics or the World Cup, be a little more beneficial to the local population...instead it's all about creating an illusion for transient "tourists"...but what can you do as a fan...or what can i do as a fan that's watching the games in Canada...not much, or i could i guess if i let it really get to me...it's a complex question once you start looking at it and how it affects you...in the end, i'll watch the games but with the awareness that it's "not all good" in Brazil...but fuck all that communist crying...enough of that granola eating, Che Guevara wearing, kitty loving stuff...this is all about the soccer...
...you know, i haven't really paid that much attention to soccer since the last World Cup...and i do call it soccer, because i'm Canadian and grew up watching NFL and CFL football...and the division stuck with me...which means i'm a World Cup guy...i like the Euro Cup too...i don't have a club team...don't really know who's on what team...i know vague things...like Cristiano won player of the year, man city won something, Cristiano's team won something...so i'm definitely not hating Spain or Messi or anybody, except maybe the USA or the Germans...for some reason i've always hated on the USA soccer team...could be jealousy cause Canada never gets to go to the big dance...i'm competitive with the USA with hockey, figure skating and soccer...so there would be nothing i'd like more than if they came in last in the group of death, and Germany can come in second last...for some reason i feel that Portugal is always in the group of death in these big tournaments...
I was married into Portugal...i didn't have a rooting interest in any team before that...and it's nice to be able to root passionately for a team at the world cup...it's fun, it'd dramatic...my wife's mom is so passionate with Portugal...she swoons if you mention Figo...she usually can't watch the games she gets so stressed...she doesn't like that some of the Portuguese players have tattoos...it's nice for me to feel united with her family through soccer, brings us all together.
Will Portugal survive...i don't know...they're always a wild card to me...Cristiano Ronaldo has never really had a good world cup, but with a player of that kind of talent he brings that hope and potential...if he's healthy too...funny to hear about a witch doctor putting a curse on him...i've put so many curses on players and teams in my life...i just put one on Manu Ginobli the other night...
What's the time difference like?...will we be able to watch these games live...at a reasonable hour?
You got any games early on that you'll be watching?...any players that you want to watch for?
Graeme Abernethy: We're in good shape with the time zones. The games look like they start at 9am Pacific most days, with a few games spaced throughout the days. I'll be watching a lot of games on my laptop, usually while getting a bit of work done. Brazil plays on opening day, so I'll aim to get familiar with their roster straight away. Plenty of talk about Neymar in this one. My son is crazy about the Incredible Hulk these days, so I'll definitely be showing him that Brazil has a player called "Hulk." He doesn't really watch sports at this stage. He does compare anyone or thing tall to Manute Bol and Shaq, though. I made sure to teach him that! Day 2 has Mexico vs. Cameroon -- with teams like that, a win or loss in the first match can be the difference. Spain plays the Netherlands on the same day, a rematch of the Cup final from 2010. England vs. Italy on Day 3. Usually with the tournament different friends and family members want to get together to check out their team or the big teams, so there's often excuses to make it into a social thing. I went to a South Korea game years ago at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver. That may have been a bit extreme for me -- an auditorium full of people clapping their "thunder sticks." But that football energy seems to have something a little different from other sports. The only European game I've been to was a Paris St. Germain game and all of the banners and chants and road flares being lit were wild. Teenagers were sneaking down from the upper deck in droves. They didn't sell alcohol, though, and there were nets to protect the fans of Olympique Lyonnais from having shit thrown at them. Shitloads of riot police waiting outside for the postgame as well. The other live European sport I've seen a fair amount of is tennis. It's just rare for a tennis match to have the atmosphere of even an ordinary football match over there. Guess that's part of the class divide as well, as tennis spectatorship is much less about fan unity than being seen or being able to say you were at the big match and had the cash or the connections to buy the tickets...
william brown: Yeah, there's a few good ones early on...i want to see how this Brazil team looks and if it has the ability to handle pressure...i could watch some Spain/Netherlands...Ivory Coast/Japan could be fun...and of course i'll be sweating through Portugal/Germany on monday!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Graeme Abernethy, is a Poor Righteous Teacher, who just survived and thrived at a teaching post in Lagos, Nigeria. He can be lost and found at www.graemeabernethy.com His book "The Iconography of Malcolm X" should most definitely be checked out here
TO BE CONTINUED...
Graeme Abernethy, is a Poor Righteous Teacher, who just survived and thrived at a teaching post in Lagos, Nigeria. He can be lost and found at www.graemeabernethy.com His book "The Iconography of Malcolm X" should most definitely be checked out here