PT Barnum may have been right 150 years ago, but The Greatest Show on Earth these days gets underway this afternoon, despite the shameful corruption displayed by Fifa. By comparison, the Olympics is a sideshow. My first experience of the World Cup was watching Scotland play Zaire in 1974. For 20-odd years the tournament had participation value for Scotland, even if the joy of being there was short lived.
These days the joy is all about being a neutral football fan and soaking up the drama and brilliance from the game.
Statistically it is difficult to look past Brazil, who will benefit enormously from home advantage. European teams have never won the tournament in the Americans, where Brazil and Argentina have won every competition since Uruguay triumphed in the last time the tournament was held in Brazil 64 years ago.
Leo Time
Lionel Messi was, until recent times, the undisputed best player on the planet, but his position in the all-time greatest list is in considerable dispute. Ask an older Barcelona fan, who has watched Cruyff, Maradona Ronaldo and Messi all do their stuff at the Camp Nou, and they are likely to tell you Leo is by far the better player. His stats as a striker bear this out, but ask an Argentinean, and he’ll scarcely get a mention in the same breath as Diego. There is not even a debate that Messi is the greatest Argentine.
After giving a spectacular display of goal-scoring prowess in 1982, then 25-year-old Diego Maradona singlehandedly led Argentina to their second World Cup in 1986 and back to the final four years later. By Comparison, 26-year-old Messi has looked comparatively pedestrian in his two previous tournaments. He’ll be 30 by the time of the next tournament, which will be held in the completely different environment of Russia. If Messi is to be considered an all-time great, he needs to take Argentina to the final. If his career ends without an outstanding World Cup, he’ll slip somewhere between Eusabio and Cruyff in the list.
I’d like Belgium to win. Belgian clubs and FA go about their business correctly and brought a remarkable bounty of talent to Brazil. It’s always been easy to back Brazil but I’m still not over the Neymar thing. The guy is an abomination in the Brazil No. 10 shirt, a vastly over-rated charlatan. Anyone but Neymar, please.
Bertie Auld live chat, tomorrow, 1pm, on CQN. Be there.
Visit the CQN Bookstore to get Tommy Gemmell to sign your personal copy of his tome, All the Best.
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Petec
I think I’m right in saying that, counting internationals, Oscar has played over 120 matches in the last 2 years. His club form tapered off,unsurprisingly, last season, but he looked a lot sharper and fitter again last night.
Let’s hope if Oscar can recover from a dip in form, the wee Messi man can too, for the sake of he tournament.
HH!
FGF
The TV companies choose the games to suit their own schedule ….they have no thought to the interests of the supporters
Also the clubs wouldn’t want the schedule to be given at the start of the season lest some fans decide that it’s not worth getting a ST ….clubs want yer dough ….thereafter you go and feck yersel
quantum 10:55 on 13 June, 2014
Likewise was enjoying the game untill the so called penalty .
Turned over after Brazil scored and watched a repeat of Game of Thrones.
At least that is meant to be fantasy. Can understand the reaction from the Croatian camp. They spend years preparing just for this game and it ends up being decided not on skill but on an extremely dodgy decision from a referee who was probably out of his depth.(Either that or corrupt!)
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It happens all the time. In every World Cup the host nation always get the benefit of dodgy decisions. It is embarrassing, and it is just a scunner now.
Game of Thrones. I haven’t watched this week’s episode yet. Still getting over the end of the previous episode. Brutal stuff.
new article posted.
Livibhoy
And how many of them were police generated baseless complaints
A fair few if the cases that go thro court are considered
beatbhoy
12:10 on 13 June, 2014
Petec
I think I’m right in saying that, counting internationals, Oscar has played over 120 matches in the last 2 years. His club form tapered off,unsurprisingly, last season, but he looked a lot sharper and fitter again last night.
Let’s hope if Oscar can recover from a dip in form, the wee Messi man can too, for the sake of he tournament.
HH!
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He was fantastic last night, I don’t watch the Premiership so I cannae say if he is on song or not.
He lit the game up for me and btw the Croatian fullback played well, it was a fantastic duel, the wee man just seemed to be lifted.
Billy Bhoy 05
11:50 on 13 June, 2014
natknow
11:23 on 13 June, 2014
By the way, here’s the poll result on indy vote for the last 2 years
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I appreciate your efforts, your posts and also the points you raise.
On our own door to door polls and after meetings on debates polls, show large disparities on the polls we see regularly in the newspapers: and your Poll of Polls.
We have been trying to figure it out locally here in Ayrshire as our polls show us gaining a victory.
You will no doubt know this but a week before the last election here Labour was well in front according to the polls, and yet it was a resounding victory for SNP.
Going back further did something similar not also happen with Thatcher?
Once again ta for your efforts
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I agree that polls are not “fact” but they can provide a general guide. In fact the Yes campaign were quite quick to use the Panelbase polls to highlight what they saw as a closing of the gap a couple of months ago. As I pointed out at the time, the Panelbase polls are online. Many of them are commissioned by the SNP – which is fair enough – and these show the best results for the Yes campaign. I don’t think the SNP commissioning them causes this but rather I believe this is due to :
1. Many older people would not respond to an online survey.
2. The Yes camp have a very good online strategy and will no doubt be rallying their troops to take part in these surveys.
Despite that, even the Panelbase surveys do not show a Yes win. But you are correct – polls are no crystal ball.
I’m sure that, like all polls, the results are extrapolated and filtered in an attempt to produce a representative demographic. However, the accuracy of that extrapolation will depend a great deal on the algorithms etc. used. What is also clear is the stark contrast between the Panelbase results and the other pollsters.
By the way – many thanks for engaging regards the poll data. I have posted these results about 5 or 6 times now and there has been no engagement. I started to think that was because the results do not suit the Yes narrative.
If and when Celtic have to play Sevco at CP I will be there provided there is no Old Firm nonsense from the club pre-match.
Previous generations of Celtic supporters taught me what we were up against in this country from the usual elements and it only made their, and my, support for Celtic stronger.
I and most others were of the impression that things weren’t as bad as they used to be in Scotland but then we only realised the extent of the huns corruption in 2012 and the extent of the attempts to provide them with a ‘soft landing’.
My old grandad saw the Celtic greats from the 20’s up to Larsson via Lisbon but just missed out on their liquidation as he passed away a couple of years before. He would not have been surprised.
Their ‘return’ in their new guise can be added to the list of shameful events from the toxic brand that they are.
We’ve know about this from the day dot and as before we should stand together with CELTIC and we will overcome.
They will be back in some form and, like the Dundee United fans before us, they will never be allowed to forget what happened.
And they will be powerless to stop us on the pitch.
HH