Posted by Kenny Hassan

Well it's here, the month of June 2010, the World Cup in South Africa begins. By the time most of you read this (in less than 2wks!) and by the time I get to write another newsletter, we will have already seen the hosts open the tournament against Mexico, a probable loss for Bafana in many peoples minds but I'm not so sure myself. I'll go with a draw -- Pienaar, Modise, Parker and Booth can hold their own in front of the home crowd. Uruguay may not be on the greatest form recently and may also be lucky enough to draw a lackluster French squad, who should have done the right thing and taken Laurent Blanc with them and left Domenech at home to figure out a better way to propose to his girlfriend -- sacre bleu! The second day of action will see my pick (my logical pick, that is) Argentina take on Nigeria, a match that should see some physical play and some wonderful skill by Messi, Milito, and Di Maria, a trio that will be too much for the African team. South Korea will play former European Champions Greece in which will most likely be the first "snoozer" game of the tournament, a draw. Then, we have the big one. England vs USA, in Rustenberg. England are coming off a very lucky friendly against Japan, which they won 2-1 courtesy of the Japanese scoring all 3 goals. Of course, if second half performances were how you judged a team, then none better than Coach Bradley's boys' combined effort against Turkey at the weekend when they fought back from a shambolic first half effort to seal the win with goals by Altidore, that's right I said it, ALTIDORE scored, and of course Fulham talisman Clint Dempsey notched the other. Phew!!!...that was a close one, they were really, really fortunate not to be down by 4 at the interval. Hiddink will not be happy with the Turkish finishing. Algeria will play Slovenia in the other group game that day, which is an interesting one if either team win it, and of course the USA get beat by England -- which they will -- it puts an incredible amount of pressure on the US squad for the Slovenia game. Immense pressure. Germany will beat the Socceroos, and Serbia will push Ghana all the way in a 2-2 draw and, maybe for me, one of the better opening games. I have a feeling like Steven does, Serbia could spring a surprise on us.


So there you have it, a quick preview of many wrong predictions by myself between now and the next time we connect through the WFD newsletter.

The World Cup really does bring back so many vivid football memories when it comes around every 4 years. I always cast my mind back and try to visualize the look of the tournament, the build up on TV, geographically where these countries are even located, how old I was, and how I was trying to gauge who these great men were only days away from battle; which clubs did they play for and in what country? The list was endless trying to piece together the greatest of all greatest sporting jigsaws.

I was born the month prior to England's victory at Wembley in 1966, a 4-2 win over arch rivals West Germany. Of course, if Gottfried Dienst, the Swiss ref, had any clue how to position himself on a football pitch, that result could have been oh so different. It did, mind you, catapult Sir Alf Ramsey to greatness with his belief in the 4-4-2 system.

1970, I was 4 so don't recall much of that one, although apparently Brazil faired rather well. So well that people are still in awe of that astounding Pele-led team. Its all opinion I guess when it boils right down to it, but for me, this is the THE team of all time.

1974 was special. I understood football, hey, I was 8 now, a man in some corners of the globe. I had even picked out my own position on the field (it would change by the next WC) right-half, the old #4, a Billy Bremner type, that's who I was, hard, industrious, and a gifted passer of the ball -- at 8.

The TV in our living room now had something it had never showed me before, ever -- It had colour pictures on it!! And the Dutch were orange, really, really bright orange. Man, it was heaven. Scotland had drawn Yugoslavia, Zaire.....and Brazil, who were really, really yellow. This colour TV was well worth the money, in my 8 year old eyes, that my Dad seemed to be constantly reminding everyone it was a 'fortune' to buy. Unbeaten in the tournament but still went out, such is the story attached to my country and its efforts at big tournaments.
Not the Dutch mind you, the really, really orange team were playing a football style my inexperienced 8 year old eyes had never seen before, and according to the commentators, neither had they. Surely it was their competition to lose, I mean the only thing that could possibly stop them would be a team full of players from a club that were out to avenge what was taking place, in the Premier club get together every year. That would be the European Cup, that would be the greats from Bayern Munchen, and that would be trying to stop the juggernaut that was Ajax. Incredible European Cup football led to incredible World Cup games in the early to mid 70's and of course after the Dutch took a very early lead through Neeskens, Breitner and wee Gerd Muller sealed it for West Germany in front of the great English ref, Jack Taylor.

1978 was my year, hey, I was 12, I had moved on from that old right-half position and was now a left-half! That's right, I was two footed now. That came around because the tournament that year was being held in military-run Argentina, who were somewhat favourites. But to play in the final match, they had to beat Peru by 4 and did by 6 in a game that is still considered the fix of all fixes. Scotland had drawn those really, really orange guys and went on to beat them with an Archie Gemmell wonder goal, an instant hero in Scotland the minute he weaved his way through the Dutch defense to score one of the most remarkable World Cup goals ever.

Mario Kempes had been the top scorer in La Liga for Valencia and my eyes have never been so mesmerized by a left footer since, not Maradona or Messi, but Kempes, he put me in a trance, and at that time my Dad told me, "If you want to be great at this great game, you better play with both feet and that guy Kempes has the best left foot of them all"....so I tried as hard as you can at 12 to copy him. He didn't let me down either, he was the star of the tournament and will always, always be a big part of the players I can't get out of my mind. Superlative skill.


'82 saw Brazil not win it, but they should have because they were sublime. Italy beat West Germany 3-1 at the Bernabeu and really great overall play by Rossi and Tardelli.

'86 was Maradona, Maradona, and even more Maradona. The 'Hand of God' goal will always come up, but he did some truly incredible things with the ball at those games and hence put himself in the same sentence for many, as Pele. What do you know? West Germany in the final again, this time losing 3-2 to goals by Brown, Valdano, and Burruchaga. Epic tournament for Diego Maradona, no question.

'90 was not my thing to be honest, a late Andreas Brehme penalty in Rome saw West Germany see off Argentina in a rematch from 4 years prior.

'94 was interesting because I actually attended. The US did a superb job, as expected, of hosting the games, and in a drab final Brazil took care of Italy in penalties 3-2.

The more recent World Cups are probably etched in your own minds, so I would encourage any of the audience to go ahead and write in and tell your own story, or even better yet, call in and let's have some WC memories start to fill the airwaves as soon as we can.

Anyone wishing to cover their country or any other in a preview is welcome to contact the show and we will be glad to find a spot for you somewhere. Don't forget that WFD is going to be on-air every single day the WC is on, yes!....even weekends! That's commitment from the crew right there. Shows will start a little bit later in the afternoon right after the games have been played which gives you, the listener, maximum coverage as it happens, and of course the real benefit is, you get the chance to call in right away and get on the line and get your take on the match -- live on-air.

Don't forget if you are in the Los Angeles area for the Eng/USA game, I'll be at the Capitol City Sports Bar in Hollywood with a film crew documenting all the action as it happens from a US perspective, and Steven will be close by at XIV doing the exact same thing from an English side of the coin. Should make for great content that Casey will put together for the video side of the broadcast.



Speak soon everyone,
Kenny.