Buzzin Football

Lets be honest, this World Cup hasn’t been the most pulse raising event to grace a football supporter’s retina. The majority of the matches if not all have been cagey, on occasions courageous and not really captivating.

Many of the matches have reminded me of a lot Premier League games over the years. In the sense of small, technically limited but hard working teams have attempted to stifle and strangle the breath out of inferior opposition. Switzerland, North Korea and Japan have been similar in their approach to Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers when they came up against teams like Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea compared to Spain, Brazil and Cameroon.

What you have to do though is understand why these matches have been predominately poor. This is because teams have been more afraid to attack as they become paranoid about being vulnerable defensively; even the sides well renowned for out and out attacking football have failed to penetrate their usual liquid football to the fans who crave for their genius.

It’s almost as if the more humble sides like Switzerland and North Korea have performed better because of their desire to work for each other rather than individuals. Every top side can learn from this. However it could be said that in a team you need individuals like Robinho, Messi and Rooney to make a team go that level up which is so vital in International football.

Other issues that have been flagged up in this World Cup so far include the un-needed hype and too many people reading into the Jabulani ball. At the end of the day the game is called football, the players are playing football which is round and has air in it so what is the problem?

The problem is there are people with too much time on their hands, or countries in this World Cup are preparing to write a diary full of excuses, or there are teams who aren’t fully prepared for this prestigious tournament at all which in my mind is a total disgrace. It’s not what type of ball you have; it’s what you do with it on the pitch that matters. Yes the ball may swerve here and there but every ball does this.

The skill of the players curling it like Maicon or the talent of the players striking it like Xabi Alonso determine the outcome of the World Cup, not the ball. It makes no bones whether or not greedy manufacturing companies bereft of ideas tinker with a ball aerodynamically. What matters is the quality of the players, the camaraderie of the team in question passing with it.

That’s the beauty of football though, different footballs for different competitions, different opinions and debates which arise from it. Fundamentally though you won’t see small teams beat inferior opposition because of the ball, but because one team either played better, worked harder or stopped the other team from playing. Each team is playing with the same ball so let’s top hearing from people moaning, and let the players get on with it.

The Vuvuzelas have been a major talking point. The majority of the discussion has been surrounded by people who have never been to South Africa before and never will do because they aren’t interested in going. So what gives them the right to call for the ban of the Vuvuzela because there is a loud bee like noise coming from their 40 inch, HD ready, LCD Samsung TV?

It may have escaped my mind but the whole point of having the first World Cup in Africa is not only the opportunity to allow a major and fantastic continent to show their greatness, but a chance for the whole world to embrace their culture. So embracing African culture means embracing the Vuvuzela and therefore understanding why the local and most importantly happy support in South Africa uses them. It would be like England hosting the World Cup and foreign fans saying alcohol should be banned. It’s in Africa so let Africa stage it on their terms and no one else’s.

What hasn’t been really discussed is how immaculate the pitches have been in South Africa. The FA should hang their old dilapidated heads in shame. Much is made of in this country of the outer football events held at Wembley stadium such as concerts, gigs, rugby and American football. What people have failed to understand though is that a ground like the Emirates Stadium has gigs on it as well but has the pitch been affected?

No because they have invested proper money, proper time and most importantly commitment to wanting a surface that allows for pure, passing football, just like in South Africa.

These are the aspects of running a ground which the FA need to address otherwise they will make an even bigger mockery of this old, out of touch and sleazy organisation than they already have done. An example to prove this is, is something which may seem obvious to the ordinary football fan but they fail to comprehend.

Near Wembley are two fantastic grounds with great pitches in White Hart Lane and The Emirates. Hasn’t it occurred to the bumbling hierarchies about gaining local advice or even getting the grounds men themselves to do the pitch? Wouldn’t it make sense? I’ll tell you what it would do, it make our dreadful Wembley pitch better.

So as the opening week comes to a close despite the opening group matches being cagey, there are promising signs with Argentina scoring goals that the first stage of matches was a minor blip. The new ball manufactured for this tournament they use is another sheer money making scheme and completely irrelevant as every team is playing with the same ball anyway.

And the South African supporters should be allowed to make any noise they wish as the Vuvuzela is a part of their lives and their culture which the whole of the World Cup viewing audience should embrace for the greater good.