my interest in the world cup soccer

Soccer world cup as always is one of the biggest sport event being watched by millions around the world. I started watching the world cup from 1994 when I was twelve years old. I still remember roberto baggio penalty miss against brazil, it really made headlines eventhough brazil could have won with the next shot.

France 98 world cup was ok, nothing really memorable about it, except france winning it easily in the finals. I think ronaldo was not fully fit and did not play well. In all these world cups I did not really have a favorite team (ofcourse india is useless in football(soccer)). I just watched it because the whole world is watching it, followed teams with a fancy superstar, italy was my favorite team at that time due to baggio, due to the dramatic way he lost the 94 one and his stylish outfits etc. Infact italy is still in the top 3 teams that I would want to win the world cup, totti and co looked strong in their first match in this world cup, lets see how far they can go.

I think it was sometime after the france worldcup when i started watching english premier league and the greatest set piece specialist david beckham. His crosses were always perfect, it was andy cole and teddy sheringham at that time really benefited from it. Later van nistelrooy and beckham really connected along with giggs on the other side, manchester united became my favorite club. Although beckham is not with premier league now, i am still following united and want them to win, rooney is my favorite at united now. Being such a strong follower of EPL, I was supporting england in world cup 2002. Although english men conquered india for around 100 years and looted a lot, I became a fan of english soccer team and never thought england should lose for this reason. England was very good in the group matches, but due to ronaldhino's brillance and david seaman's mistake brazil won over england in the quarter final.


Although brazil had a player sent off after leading 2-1, england never capitalized and lost in the quarter finals. I knew it was going to be one of these two teams which is going to win the world cup during that match. Due to the lack of stamina and proper game plan against a 10 men brazil england lost and brazil carried on and won the world cup. The other matches which followed were not very interesting, except for khan brazil did not have any good chance, but ronaldo and co were too good for the germans.

Now its world cup 2006 and probably david beckham's last chance to win the cup. England's hope really went down with rooney injuring months before the world cup. I know beckham will always play a good role by giving enough crosses, lampard and gerrard with their power shots at the goal from distance and solid defence of terry and ferdinand will give them enough chances to win the cup. But england was always lacking their finishing capabilities. But after seeing today's match against trinidad and tobago and crouch heading beckham's cross into the net, it has given me enough reason to be convince that england is the number one contender for the world cup.


Look at the picture to your left and see how high is crouch jumping, i dont think any defender has a chance against him. I am sure beckham can provide him more than a couple of similar chances to him every game and with lampard and gerrard's capabilities of scoring goals I think this is the best time for england i guess. Also with rooney avaiable we can see some wonders from this yound talent and last but not the least we have terry and ferdinand who can win a one on one battle with most of the players, its going to be a interesting one. All said, it will be very crucial to see how england flares against sweden in their third match, requiring only a draw to get the top position, I think england can surely make it. But I would love to see beckham and crouch connect again in a similar fashion to really make the world think that they are a force to contend with.