Lily going for a swim

World Cup in Toronto...A unique experience.

Italy win. The streets are packed with cars, flags flying from the windows, horns blaring, driving through crowds of supporters wearing the Italian colours. The next day it's the same story, different colours on the street as Brazil win, then Argentina, or Portugal, or Ecuador. This is Toronto, Canada during the World Cup. Could it be the city, or country, that experiences the most unique World Cup atmosphere?

Canada is unique, not only because there is this huge football following every 4 years in a country dominated by hockey, NFL Football, NBA basketball and baseball. It is unlike other countries that rarely, if ever qualify for the finals, where football fans choose a country to follow. Canadians are not just that; they are Italian-, Portuguese-, Brazilian-, English-, Angolan-, Canadian. Football was a big part of their, or their, parents' culture before they emigrated to Canada. Even though these immigrants' children play hockey or basketball at school, they have an inherited love and passion for football which manifests itself every 4 years.

So right now Toronto is a great place to be. It seems you are in the minority if you don't have a team flag fluttering from your car window. The bringing-the-world-together cliche can never be over-used here. The city seems to bond in this fellowship of support, albeit for different countries. Their are nods and waves of acknowledgment when motorist sporting different flags pass each other, commiserating, and good luck wishes between total strangers. And just to give it some more authenticity there is the odd minor altercation amongst rival fans.

So despite my concerns about watching the World Cup here, in a country where football is not a major sport, I now think that this is the best place in the world to be every four years.

11.59 p.m. June 8th 2006. Twelve hours from now it starts. World Cup 2006. Even though I have to be up for work in six hours I do not want to go to bed. I want to watch every preview programme, watch all the news and read anything I can find on the internet. Problem is I'm in Toronto and the sports channels' coverage is dominated by the NBA and NHL finals. That's basketball and ice hockey.

My excitement is tempered by my fear of missing so many of the matches, which will take place during work hours. However, I have faith that I will get lucky and get to watch a lot more than I expected.

If any fans in Germnay or who are going to Germany read this, I envy you. I would so dearly love to be there. Even if I got to watch a match on a big screen in some town square, to be part of the party, to enjoy the atmosphere. For weeks I have dreamed that I would get offered the dream World Cup job, or that my family and I would be invited to spend a month in Germany, and I didn't have to worry about work. I still hope........

12.21 a.m. now. In 12 hours form now the first goal may have been scored. My money's on Paolo Wanchope dancing through the German defence.......

Enjoy, everybody, and celebrate and shout and cry.

Maybe I'll be in South Africa.......

The teams arrived in Germany today, and the lucky fans are on their way too. Oh, to be there.....
I hoppe this is a World Cup to remember. Just like the first one I watched, Spain '82. Please read this link.....
http://www.writingup.com/malteser/world_cup_memories

Today my thoughts are conflicting, between the players who make this the beautiful game, and the controversy which unfortunately is an integral part of this game I love.

Last week the Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, ran a story which really caught my attention. Romario, World Cup winner with Brazil in 1994, was in Toronto. He was not here on holiday, or to sign an autobiography or open a stadium. He came to play a football match with Miami FC, who that morning took on our local team, Toronto Lynx. For those of you not in the know, and understandably that is most of my readers, these 2 not so mighty teams do not even play in North America's premier football league, the MSL. They participate in the rather less well known United Soccer Leagues(USL). Apparently, Romario's motivation for turning out for Miami is not financial. He is attempting to match Pele's 1,000+ goal record. To help him, Vasco da Gama, for whom he still plays allowed him, and have assisted him, to participate in as many matches as possible, even setting up pre-season friendlies against lower division Brazilian teams.

The problem with Romario's target is that, as he stated himself, he is doing the counting. There has been controversy over his exact total, stemming from goals scored in un-official matches, or friendlies, which only Romario seems to have counted. His total seems to be somewhere between 920 and 950.

After his Toronto appearance he can add one more. His was the winner and only goal as Miami edged past the Lynx. Here's more evidence of the popularity of this league. The Toronto Star had no mention of the venue for this match. Toronto is a big city, there are not many, or any right now, football stadiums, but still some smaller venues in the suburbs. Anybody who doesn't follow the Lynx wouldn't haven a clue where to go. Apparently over 2000 fans braved the rain. It was the Lynx' annual school day!

Romario together with his strike partner, Bebeto, were the dynamic duo of Brazil's 1994 winning team. It was not a classic Brazil team, nothing like the 1970 masters, or, my favourites, the 1982 entertainers. However, one of the lasting memories of 1994 for me were these 2 little, they were short guys, geniuses. While Bebeto had the appearance, and enthusiasm, of a young boy out to enjoy himself, Romario strutted around the opponents' penalty area, chest sticking out, with the arrogance of a man who had the right to win the World Cup. And they complemented each other so well. Other members of this team were the almost un-Brazilian, hard man Dunga, and the tough tackler, free-kick taker Branco. Bebeto and Romario gave the team glimpses of the Brazilian flair that I had grown to love watching my first World Cup in 1982.

And then the conflict. South Korea. Reading about their friendly win against Bosnia on the same day that Romaro was in town brought back the anger that I felt in 2002 as I watched them progress to the semi-finals. I have had this argument many times over. How decisive were the referees in the Koreans success? Even though I feel like the Italians were hard done by in their defeat, they also had themselves to blame for their defensive approach and missed chances. However, what more could Spain do other than score 2 perfectly legitimate goals? It seems like Mr. Ghandour, the referee didn't like either of them and decided they had to score another one which he may have approved of. This never happened. Spain lost, and I have never had a feeling of injustice being done as I did then. Watching the inconsolable Spanish players at the end of the match is something I will remember as much as Brazil, version 1982. Losing in a penalty shoot-out is bad enough, getting knocked out in that fashion was too hard for even me to take.

I always think, was I mad at the Korean players. I was, but that wasn't right. What could they do? Make the ref change his mind? What really angered me was the sight of Koreans marching through the streets of Toronto, closing down streets, to "celebrate" their team's victories. I say celebrate but as they marched without a smile on their faces, it looked more like an-anti government demonstration. But even so how could they celebrate such a hollow, cheated win? To this day it gets to me. That's why I hope South Korea are humiliated in the first round and Spain put all their past disappointing World Cups behind them.

As I contiuned my daily journey through each of the 32 finalists' official websites today I decided to compare the Korean and Brazilian sites.

The Korean website, the English version at least, is quite boring. I was expecting pictures of fanatical supporters and pro-Korean football propaganda. Instead, I found that the latest bit of news was Coach Advocaat's announcement of the World Cup squad, without any real surprises or interesting comments from Mr. Advocaat who doesn't seem to be the most charismatic character in football.

The Brazilian site, on the other hand is......in Portuguese. I know Google can translate this page but that is always too wrong, and amusing. However, the website does look alive and full of passion, just like the team. There are pictures of their training sessions in Switzerland, for which fans can buy tickets and have been sold out.. This looks like a happy, confident team. Just looking at these picture makes me feel like I'm looking at 23 footballing wizards who are going to entertain and, more importantly, are going to be team that everybody else is going to have to beat to holding the trophy on July 9th. Memories of Zico, Socrates, Falcao etc. may re-surface.....not the same result though, I hope.

Beauty and controversy. They always seem to go hand in hand when I watch this sport which has consumed me for so long. While the artistry and passion always transcend the ugly moments, I'm sure it is partly a combination of both which keep us coming back Saturday after Saturday, Wednesday after Wednesday and every four years.

Michael Parkinson is my sports writing hero. A genius with words, always able to bring the passion and excitement from the pitch, the oval, the ring, the greens, right into his newspaper columns. One of his comments I never forgot, is in a story which I have to admit I have forgotten all the details about. He mentioned how his, or a friend's, father loved Australia because it was the best place to have a good argument about sport.

An important quality of a true sports fan is the ability to have an intelligent argument. In the company of fellow passionate supporters this is commonplace. Very often it is just the need for an outlet for this passion which drives the argument. How many lively discussions have you heard between 2 fans on the train or bus home after a match, and if you listen closely you realize they are in complete agreement with each other. And once they have both had a good rant, the conversation easily switches to something mundane and they are best friends again.

And this is what I miss. I grew up in football-crazy Malta, where every World Cup stirred up some very strong emotions amongst the majority of the population, which is split down the middle between supporting England and Italy.

Canada may not be a footballing nation, but the huge numbers of immigrants from football strongholds, Italy, Portugal, England, South America, does mean that the World Cup does consume the interest of a large part of the population. However, when it comes to the arguing, I'm afraid it's just not the same. Yes, it is there. I have watched matches in Italian bars and it's felt like home. But it is not everywhere, and many of the fans are children of immigrants. Their football interest has been diluted by hockey and baseball and basketball. When I watched the Champions League final and I see Thierry Henry fail to deliver in the big one again, I found no similarly dissenting views. When I heard that Mr/ Eriksson had picked Theo Walcott in his squad it was my poor wife, again, who had to listen to my groans of discontent.

I will enjoy this World Cup but like the last 2 that I've watched in Canada, I will miss the company of intelligent, passionate football watchers, whom, you may argue, are probably as lost in this world of football as myself.

It's been 24 years since the great Brazilian team of Zico, Socrates, Falcao, Eder, and more didn't win the World Cup. Six World Cups later and Brazil are still the favourites, Italy could still beat them and there is fear, and hope, that the hosts, like Spain, will not keep the Jules Rimet trophy in Germany.

Twenty-four years have passed since I was an eight year old discovering the World Cup, and that much football, for the first time. The start of an obsession that has lead me to endless searching for avenues to share my experinces.

In that time my football dreaming has taken me from Spain, to Mexico, Italy, the USA, France, Japan, Korea and now to Germany. In reality I have gone from hot summer nights in my parents' house in football fanatic Malta, to occassional hot summer nights in hockey fanatic Canada. And still the passion is still strong.

In my growing-up years, the ones that have passed anyway, world cup wacthing was relatively easy. First it was get homework done, study for the next day's exam, then wander downstairs, slouch in front of the TV and let the battles begin. Then it progressed to the what-bar-are-we-going-to-watch-tonight's-match-at dilemma. That was USA 1994. Second year of university was over, it was a world cup summer. Fantastic!

Next came the working world cups, and to make it more challenging these coincided with my move to Canada. France '98 turned out to be surprisingly stress-free and easy to follow. Working with a predominantly French staff made it even more enjoyable. Japan/Korea was a challenge which I overcame, albeit with sleep deprivation and a few cancelled work appointments.

Now I face what I think is going to be my greatest challenge. And I'm worried. I do not forsee many openings in my work day. Weekends are going to be even more special. And why shouldn't a 2 year old girl spend lots of quality time with her dad watching the greatest event ever put together?

So bring on Germany 2006. I'm not ready for it, but it is another step along my journey. When will it end? Probably when in 4 years from now, or 8, or 16, I'm settling into my seat at whatever stadium is hosting the World Cup Final.

We've waited four years, and we're ready to go again.........