If I have been quiet about sport for a while now, it’s because there have been so many fine sporting occasions in the recent past. Think back, for example, to the cliffhanger of a match between Wales and Ireland that brought the six nations to a thrilling close with a 15-17 scoreline, leaving Ireland deserving their Triple Crown and Grand Slam (their first since 1948). It may not always have been the best of rugby, but it was a magnificent sporting occasion. In the Champions League there have been some excellent matches, but the one that surely takes the biscuit (so far, at least) was the 4-4 draw between Chelsea and Liverpool. Talk about a goal fest! (I shall refrain from mentioning Liverpool’s 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid – OK, then, I won’t refrain.) Just this Saturday, when I saw the UK Premier League half time scores on the internet, I consoled my Liverpool-supporting daughter that, with Man Utd 0-2 down against Spurs, Liverpool would be top of the table again. I spoke too soon. When I looked at the full time scores, Man Utd had won 5-2 – yes, that’s right; 5-2. Extraordinary stuff. And yet…. and yet… could this be Barça’s year? They have been beautiful to watch and surely have the most silkily dangerous front three… I am certainly looking forward to Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
Another dramatic game was the one between Man United and Everton on 19/4. When the penalties started the TV channels were showing couples of Everton supporters literally crying thinking their team would not make it compared to the Man un superstars, and, in the end they did! Football is quite often a lottery when it comes to those 11m long shots, but I also had the feeling the blue chaps were believing in it more than the red ones, at least that evening…
There are parts of our continent where totally different sports equal with (or prevail even over) the interest in football amongst youngsters. Take for instance Czech Republic: at only 800 km away from Brussels, both young men and young ladies hearts beat for ice hockey. The whole public opinion was scotched this week to the TV sets, young people taking even sometimes holiday hours to go home at 4 instead of 5 in the afternoon just to follow the pool games (Czech against Norway, Czech against Belorussia, etc).
It’s a pleasure to see there’s still variety on our continent – along the lines of the by now famous “unity in diversity” motto – though, of course, the round shaped ball that produced geniuses like Pele and Pavel Nedved remains undoubtedly the King.
For more info on Czech hockey performances: http://www.eurohockey.net/
Let’s hope Man U and Barca don’t cancel each other out on Wednesday evening.
Martin