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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Fabregas goes back to the greatest league in the world to play for Mourinho.
Wonder if Barca will take another look at Forster.
LB
Auldheid
Your second third and fourth paragraphs come under my all inclusive definition of mibbery.
Like most Celtic fans I admire your indefatigability, especially on matters such as resolution 12, sadly the long term battle to expose ‘Rangers’ and correctly determine their fate was lost when the Charles Green was secretly astonished and delighted, to have come away with a new licence, regardless of which division the 50,000 fan base were to begin the Big Hoose in, again.
Celtic, like you said recently not so much don’t want away but simply have nowhere to go, but in the meantime and hopefully for the foreseeable future finance, even with the SFA will restrict Sevco, – I just hope we have more Celtic fans with the stomach for the fight, against more future indubitable, injustice.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2655711/Neil-Lennon-offered-30-000-week-tax-free-manage-Al-Shabab-Dubai.html
Neil Lennon offer apparently. Tax free? He will think he’s moved over to Ayebroke
You’ve got to take your hat off to the media people at Chelsea the next 4/5 hours of World Cup build up will be coat tailed by their signing of Cesc Fabregas.
It’s big news any day in Football land, but today?
Free money advertising riding the associative wave of the Brazilian Vida Loca!
marspapa
Maybe not falling down but it does need major investment .
They have admitted that themselves I’m sure.
Personally would like to see our support forgetting about them now and concentrate on our own club.
Steinreignedsupreme
A real pity about Deyna, Man City supporters loved him when he was there, and they didnt always have too much to cheer about back then
Auldheid
16:09 on
12 June, 2014
I was thinking more of the stockmarket regulators to be honest. However I’m going to answer my own question.
Deloitte (I think that’s who it was) would have taken the projection of increased ST sales and revenue in good faith. That’s fair enough, playing in a higher league should result in those conditions being met. Sign off is for the coming year based on conditions *that day*. So essentially it doesn’t matter that things went South after that.
21stmay…
The ‘Peruvian’ ‘goalie in 1978, as has been mentioned already, was born in Argentina.
Can’t remember his name.
He had a ‘mare.
HH!!
twentyfirstofmaynineteenseventynine
Is that your money bud that’s shifted Mr Maynard from 14/1 to 7/1:-))
Murray loses first set in a tie-break
Made heavy weather of it ,6-2 up at one stage …
marspapa
16:00 on
12 June, 2014
Aoden bhoy
Clearly their stadium is’nt falling down , the great and the good at the SFA (lol) have just santioned an International to be played there , 10 in a row , starting to sound like them methinks , we’ve been downgrading the past few years , luckily it has’nt backfired , i’m looking forward to this season even if it does’nt all go our way …..lifes good :)
========================
Have we been downgrading? By what measure? Our buys to replace the players we developed have not worked out but those players that went were not the finished article either when they arrived.
I seem to remember Paul writing about NLs playing budget not being less than his predecessors so on that measure we are not downsizing but are caught in the roller coaster of the player development time cycle. The issue is not one of downgrading but smoothing out the highs and lows whilst going ever upwards.
Afternoon all.
Paul67,
Amen to your comments on Neymar. After his performance with our captain (and Fabregas was as bad), I hope he fails dismally. Little nyaff.
Tallybhoy
Whats the odds on that?
Who is worst keeper to have pulled on a Scotland top? Stewart Kennedy?
Aiden bhoy
You are spot on re concentrate on us , but we mus’nt take our eye off the ball regarding the SFA and Rangers , there are better posters than myself who could put it better anyhoo aff oaf , goat tae get ready fur ma humblin it the 5s , cheers bud
;))
bournesouprecipe
16:11 on
12 June, 2014
I’m not so sure. Green and Whyte have already been exposed as spivs during the period 2011 to 2014.
If HMRC win the UTT appeal then just how one club was able to go through 10 years of accumulating a tax debt of say £60M on ebt tax and penalties, plus £2.8M on the wee tax case ebt (excluding £1,3M penalty) which is already tax evasion and in spite of which a UEFA licence was granted then not withdrawn plus the £14m of unpaid PAYE/Vat to around £78MILLION has surely to become a matter of UK national interest and will not be so easily buried.
Even the attempts to bury it all will become recognisable more widely.
The UTT has a lot riding on it.
twentyfirstofmaynineteenseventynine
16:05 on
12 June, 2014
Henry Clarson
When I mentioned MacLeod getting a full house for a send ofF at Hampden I was alluding more to the fact that there was that kind of enthusiasm back then. Definitely dont think we’ll see it again. i’d take him again as opposed to Leiven/eck
HH
____________________________________
Got you.
Totally agree. I’d take a return to those days in a heartbeat.
The enthusiasm was tremendous and that made the football matches genuinely entertaining events. Scotland had all three ties at Hampden in the same week for the Home International tournament in 1978. All three matches were all-ticket sellouts at a a time when Hampden’s capacity was something like seventy thousand.
A few years after Ally’s time, the tournament was scrapped because of lack of public interest.
Auldheid
You are one such poster i was talking about , far better listening to your good self than me . That is sincere btw .
Downgrading and being lucky , NL worked out lucky , we took a chance and god love him he did us proud , from all the previous names linked with us we got Neil , now the 5/9 candidates we have RD who i woll give every chance and support but to me this is downgrading , as the saying goes never judge a book….
I hope he works out well for us ;)
When I saw Paul’s headline there I thought something must be happening g in sevconians, but apparently the world cup starts today.
Dont often disagree with Paul but his verdict on Neymar is a tad over the top.To me the boy is an outrageous talent.He comes alive when he pulls on that Yellow jersey.He is a hero in Brazil,and he will set this tourney alight.IMO,of course.If they get out of the toughest group,Chile will be a tough nut.If you are looking for a bet,stay with the old tried and tested.
Brazil,Italy,Germany,Argentina.
Auldheid
15:28 on
I think the unknowns are why it is unwise to make predictions on what is going to happen next.
I obsevered several months ago that in my opinion there was no way an admin event would happen as it served no purpose for the Spivs, yet Phil and others were clearly being fed innacurate stories which they ran with much to the delight of the Sevconian hords who have since ridiculed much of what Phil has been saying.
I also notice a growing reluctance from our own fans to embrace Phil’s revelations on his blog as a result of his innacurate ponderings over the previous several months.
He obviously has his sources but has been let down badly of late.
Marsapa
It may be by default but Ronny might just work out as a bit of a master stroke. It looks as though he is the type who, if he isn’t given £5m or so for a player, who will look to improve a current player or promote a youngster. Many would chuck the toys out the pram, but I don’t think he’s that type. Downsizing? Maybe, but as I say, it may well work out fine.
Baptism of fire for sure. Let’s see what the qualifiers bring.
twists n turns
haha sounds like its really fancied, whole of cqn on it maybe.? I took 12s. Also took it in forecast, wont say who with as I dont want to hex you
HH
twentyfirstofmaynineteenseventynine
Call me psychic but I’d say you were on McCoy:-))
tallybhoy
maybe he had a gun to his head ?
twists n turns
Stewart (the Incredible Hulk) by a mile for me
Henry Clarson
Used to love the Home International when I was younger, remember Toshack getting hat-trick against us but also some great wins v England. As I said before we’ll never get back to that
HH
Turkeybhoy…
Someone else posted this earlier, take a look and see if you change your mind about Neymar…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tezk-XsLiNY&feature=youtu.be
twists n turns
Youve rumbled me mate
There’s no longer any doubt that Argentina fixed the 1978 semi-final against Peru.
It’s unfair to blame the Peruvian players though – they were mere pawns in a political deal and had next to no choice in the matter. Defying their political masters’ instruction to throw the match would have been literally suicidal.
However, from what I’ve read previously only some of the players were approached and the goalkeeper wasn’t one of them. I remember reading years ago that he was almost substituted at half time because he was going ballistic in the dressing-room at some players whom he accused of not trying a leg. I believe he was also one of the first to go public with the accusation that the match had been thrown.
Meanwhile, here’s another angle on it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2098970/Argentina-cheated-World-Cup-1978-says-Peru-senator.html
Auldheid
I hope your right about UTT and hope it doesn’t go the same way as FTT or incur the same slap on the wrist as LNS did for Oldco.
Things have a tendency to be overridden, so far in this travesty.
I genuinely believe that Celtic’s business has adversely been affected by their demise, but not in a way MSM would have us believe. It’s not, not seeing their reincarnation again that gets me, it’s the fact that I will, regardless of what punitive measures they get, or more likely don’t.
Neymar
Failed to deliver the business in the big matches.
Never worth what they paid for him.
He feigns injury far too often and is an outrageous cheat.
Scott Brown was to blame for his own sending off.
TT
Good evening friends.
Current investments consist of –
1. An Argentina – Germany final (12/1)
2. Spain, Colombia, France, Belgium, Germany to all win their groups (around 13/1)
3. Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Chile to win their opening games (around 7/1)
4. Mr Maynard to win or be placed its race this evening (10/1 or ¼)
5. Rory or Bubba to win the US Open (10/1 and 16/1)
6. Poulter, Sergio, Jiminex and/or Gallagher to win or be in top 6 in the US Open (66/1, 33/1, 100/1, 100/1 or ¼)
Total amount staked (some would say donated) £7.50. Sweating already ;-)
Think that’s about covered it all for now…
ernie lynch
13:36 on
12 June, 2014
werribeepat
13:22 on 12 June, 2014
‘I have been in Australia since 1967. I left Scotland for all the obvious Glasgow area Catholic school teacher reasons:’
####
You mean TD67?
I bet you’re glad you didn’t chose Canada.
Liked that one.
jobo
is that £7.50 or £750 ? considering the amount of bets
Murray beaten straight sets
twentyfirstofmaynineteenseventynine –
No £7.50 in total! It’s for the thrill of success rather than the monetary reward!
Good Luck mate
Twists n turns
If RD does great things then we lose him2 years down the line like our better players , what an outlook the board have , but then again they’ll have their “old firm ” games to look forward to ,and a fantatic balance sheet , just saying like aff oot ;))
there is something awry with Murray was obvious from very early in the match