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So Nicklas Bendtner is today packing his bags in South Africa after Denmark was eliminated by Japan last night losing 3-1. The result showed the continued progress being made by the Asian nations. Both South Korea and Japan have qualified from the group stage away from their home soil for the first time. Australia got thumped by Germany who played very well, got a decent draw with Ghana and beat a disappointing Serbia. The game’s progress is a bit static Down Under. They now need to kick to the next level. Their development has nevertheless been impressive given that they compete for players and supporters with three other football codes (Aussie rules, rugby league and rugby union). Cricket is also a factor as football is a summer game in Australia.
The elephants in the room in Asia are China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. The game is either static or falling backwards there. Given that just under 2.5 billion of the seven billion plus of us who live on this planet reside in the first two countries, these are two very important football frontiers. Of course they are when India and China represent more than one in three of us!
China of course qualified for its first World Cup in Japan/Korea 2002. The domestic game has slipped back there though. The Chinese Super League is mired in corruption, a common problem in Asia. Basketball, led by a few Chinese players being very successful in the National Basketball Association and the NBA having played a blinder in terms of marketing and promoting their game, is rapidly catching up with football. China desperately needs to build honest, incorrupt and competent coaching, officiating and administrative structures to support the development of the game there.
In India there is a perception that cricket reigns supreme. There is a certain truth to that, but football has deep roots in the country. It is a little known fact that the biggest regularly used football ground on the planet is the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). It holds 120,000 and has been packed to capacity regularly over the years for the East Bengal v Mohan Begum derby game.
The Premier League certainly has its beady eye on India. Our games have become big business on television over there. With a population so big you only have to convert one in ten of the population to have a huge market bigger than Britain and Germany combined.
Likewise, Pakistan with a population of 166 million and Indonesia at 227 million are two giants where concerted efforts need to be made to raise standards on and off the field.
Returning to those who’ve made it to the World Cup already, congratulations are due to New Zealand, a country of only 4.3 million where the game is very much the third football code behind rugby union and rugby league and which also competes with cricket. Three excellent draws. They can be proud of their performance.
North Korea did really well to hold Brazil to 2-1 then collapsed in the second half against Portugal. I confess to a strange fascination with the Stalinist hermit republic. I’d love to visit before the regime collapses which it almost inevitably will at some stage sooner or later in the next ten-twenty years, maybe even much sooner. It can’t be – to say the least – a lot of laughs living there at the moment. For some reason I can’t put my finger on it does fascinate me.
Congratulations are also due to the USA for a never say die performance, especially against Algeria where they got their reward for keeping on keeping on. An interesting piece about the game there in The Age, Australia’s best daily newspaper in my view:
The piece refers to a particularly poisonous and cretinous right wing conservative commentator Glen Beck. You can see his anti-World Cup rant here:
If ever a man should wear a t-shirt with the slogan “SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA A VILLAGE IS MISSING ITS IDIOT” it’s this clown. His ignorance is only exceeded by his conceit.
Have a look at these video clips on the New York Times website then see whether you think Beck is right:
I’m not making a political point here. There are plenty of cretins on the left too. Merely that I prefer debate to be backed up with some facts.
As for Arsenal at the World Cup, we’ll know whether Spain and Cesc continue today. If he does then we’ll only have him, Robin van Persie with the Netherlands and Carlos Vela with Mexico left in the tournament. Emmanuel Eboué and Ivory Coast will almost certainly go out today.
Keep the faith!
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