Football crazy

I was determined that I wasn’t going to get caught up in the World Cup frenzy this time. What with the politics, the blatant corruption and the distances involved I was going to take a stance and ignore the whole affair, as much as I could. The thought of the orange one lording it up over a tournament that he has had nothing to do with (he seems to prefer UFC) makes me feel sick and FIFA’s sycophantic ‘peace prize’ took the biscuit. The dynamic pricing debacle and the inclusion of teams that aren’t even countries has just added to the farce.

Yet here I am, filled with football frenzy. You would think that the time difference would make it easy for me to avoid watching any games yet I have caught up with as many as I can, at least the first half that is. I’ve watched Mexico versus South Africa, Canada versus Bosnia-Herzegovina, Qatar versus Switzerland and Germany thrash that great footballing nation of Curacao (no disrespect intended). I check the scores of the matches I have missed on my phone every morning and chat with my son in law about the gossip. 

We have been buying stickers for the Panini FIFA WORLD CUP 2026 Official Sticker Collection, a task that is nigh on impossible to complete and, on school days, we have sat in the car and played old world cup songs. My favourite has to be Vindaloo but the kids sniggered at World Cup Willie.

It’s an addiction and I am well and truly hooked.

Of course there is the first ENG-ER-LAND game this week and they are tipped to do quite well, though we have all been here before.  

What I am after is to see good football with the world’s best players showing their skills, fair play and sportsmanship. I want to see matches as exciting as the 1966 final despite who is playing and, for some reason, I would like to see one of the African nations doing well. It would be good to see the dominance of Europe and South America finally overcome.

Despite my protestations and best efforts I have been caught by the World Cup bug. I cannot deny it and the only cure is to stick with it until the end, after all it’s only for five weeks. After that it’s the start of the domestic season.