The Field Marshal

D-Day for World Cup 2006!!! After a 4-year hiatus, World Cup fever is going to grip us again! I can still remember the days when Mydaemon and I jumping around in estastically when 'our' team scored, or hanging our heads despondently when 'our' teams lost. The latter was most profound when Spain and Italy was dumped out of the competition by the asian hosts - Japan and Korea. 'Cheat' was written all over those two matches. We were totally gutted! But that's then. All the action will kick-off tonight with Germany's match against the Costa Rican minnows. We can only hope for an upset, and a major one at that for the central americans to put one over the Germans. Used to be a fan of Germany, when it played under the guise of West Germany. United Germany ain't that great to watch somehow. As for the team, actually teams, I am cheering for this year, it's the usual suspects... England (which I think has no hope), Spain (always the unachiever), Italy (look at all the good looking men with oily scalps out there), and maybe Argentina (heard that they have a strong team). Deep down inside me, I am always a fan of England. Guess growing up with a staple diet of the English Premier League has somewhat determined the choice of team to get my shouts and tears. Wish I didn't have to go through the heartache again and again. I can't wait for all the action to unfold in the next few weeks. Heroes will be celebrated while villains will scorned. This is one single events where the most heroes and villains emerge. Look for players who decided to apply for Chinese citizenship by adopting the favourite Chinese past-time of public excretion of nasal mucus. There will be those poor souls who will miss that critical penalty, or the villanous one who scores with the 'hand of God'. Look for wrestling moves which would have made pro wrestlers with the WWE proud. Villains aside, on show will be generous souls who console the losing team. Sportmanship showing how human should ideally treat one another, albeit in a sporting arena. Hilarious moments, which always happen, when someone does something really weird. The smiles and the laughs by player as they clap each other on the back at the end of the match for a job well done. Whew... that's long. Anyway, the next few weeks are going to be tough. Have yet to formulate a plan to ensure maximum rest while watching the maximum games. It's times like these when I wished I am back at school...