I recently heard of an extreme case of post-World-Cup depression: on the evening of Monday 12th July, a couple of guys had already tuned in to one of the local channels that were airing the World Cup tournament ready with their cans of beer to watch the match. But wait a minute, what match? This is the question that woke them up of their drunken soccer stupor.
As I also suffer from post-World-Cup depression, always wondering what to do in the evenings when the matches used to air, I can’t help but think that this particular sporting tournament was special. There were many ‘firsts’.
For one, the event was held in Africa for the first time. This will definitely be a beautiful memory for all Africans as we hail South Africa for taking over the laborious task (not that anybody is complaining!) of showcasing such a successful World Cup on behalf of the continent.
….and how else would you remember this event without the mention of the vuvuzela? This was the first World Cup to be characterized by the three-foot-long plastic trumpet blown throughout games to create an atmosphere and also for celebration purposes.
Though this instrument came with a lot of calls for its ban, supposedly due to its high levels of noise, FIFA president Sepp Blatter however insisted that people should not attempt to "Europeanize" the African tournament. Way to go Seppy! At that point I really believed that this guy has a soft spot for Africa. Seriously, a vuvuzela ban would have robbed the African tournament part of its cultural identity.
Ever had another world tournament where a mollusc correctly predicted the winner of the final game? Yeah, your answer is as good as mine: this was the first World Cup to have a psychic octopus correctly predict the tournament winner, in this case, Spain. Paul the octopus correctly predicted seven of the matches that Germany played at the event, including its two losses to Serbia and Spain. The sea animal was put to task to make its eighth prediction, the Spain – Netherlands final, and it proved to be correct yet again!
There are people however who highly doubt Paul’s psychic abilities, claiming that he was attracted to flags with a red colour. I say, let’s just cut all the theories from this and accept the awe as it is! Oh, by the way, Paul’s aquarium declined to sell him to Spain with reports saying that a Spanish businessman had offered $40,000 to buy the octopus. Bad news though, the celebrity mollusc won’t be around for the next World Cup in Brazil since the life expectancy of an octopus is 3-4 years.
And here comes the biggest ‘first’! As we all know by now, the tournament produced a first-time World Cup winner, Spain! It officially joined the other seven countries that have previously held that title. Many people I know were actually shocked to learn that Spain had never won this event before. For a team that came into this tournament as the favourites, I was truly happy for the extremely talented squad. Viva Espana!
In the meantime, i'm contemplating becoming an avid follower of the ‘Dr Phil’ talkshow or those numerous Nigerian movies to fill in my ‘world cup time’ vacuum.
As I also suffer from post-World-Cup depression, always wondering what to do in the evenings when the matches used to air, I can’t help but think that this particular sporting tournament was special. There were many ‘firsts’.
For one, the event was held in Africa for the first time. This will definitely be a beautiful memory for all Africans as we hail South Africa for taking over the laborious task (not that anybody is complaining!) of showcasing such a successful World Cup on behalf of the continent.
….and how else would you remember this event without the mention of the vuvuzela? This was the first World Cup to be characterized by the three-foot-long plastic trumpet blown throughout games to create an atmosphere and also for celebration purposes.
Though this instrument came with a lot of calls for its ban, supposedly due to its high levels of noise, FIFA president Sepp Blatter however insisted that people should not attempt to "Europeanize" the African tournament. Way to go Seppy! At that point I really believed that this guy has a soft spot for Africa. Seriously, a vuvuzela ban would have robbed the African tournament part of its cultural identity.
Ever had another world tournament where a mollusc correctly predicted the winner of the final game? Yeah, your answer is as good as mine: this was the first World Cup to have a psychic octopus correctly predict the tournament winner, in this case, Spain. Paul the octopus correctly predicted seven of the matches that Germany played at the event, including its two losses to Serbia and Spain. The sea animal was put to task to make its eighth prediction, the Spain – Netherlands final, and it proved to be correct yet again!
There are people however who highly doubt Paul’s psychic abilities, claiming that he was attracted to flags with a red colour. I say, let’s just cut all the theories from this and accept the awe as it is! Oh, by the way, Paul’s aquarium declined to sell him to Spain with reports saying that a Spanish businessman had offered $40,000 to buy the octopus. Bad news though, the celebrity mollusc won’t be around for the next World Cup in Brazil since the life expectancy of an octopus is 3-4 years.
And here comes the biggest ‘first’! As we all know by now, the tournament produced a first-time World Cup winner, Spain! It officially joined the other seven countries that have previously held that title. Many people I know were actually shocked to learn that Spain had never won this event before. For a team that came into this tournament as the favourites, I was truly happy for the extremely talented squad. Viva Espana!
In the meantime, i'm contemplating becoming an avid follower of the ‘Dr Phil’ talkshow or those numerous Nigerian movies to fill in my ‘world cup time’ vacuum.
