Even though The Greatest Show On Earth™ has been going on for what feels like several months, I am still not totally engaged with it. If we happen to be in a bar with a TV screen – and there are very few in this quiet outpost just off west Africa – our eyes will drift across to catch the action, as they did last night when we half-watched a truly terrible game between co-hosts Canada and Switzerland. Later, we watched the first half of Scotland’s implosion against an erratic Brazil, giving up long before the end because there are books to read and a single malt (Scotland’s actual world class export) to enjoy. There will be plenty of time to enjoy – or will it be endure? – the rest of the tournament when we get home.
Gone are the days when I want Scotland to lose football matches. In the 1970s, when Scotland actually qualified for World Cups and England didn’t, jealousy and schadenfreude got the better of me. Naturally, the over-expectation of the Tartan Army, particularly in 1978 when Ally McLeod’s team were going to “really shake them up” when they won the World Cup, didn’t help. Oh how we laughed when as per usual Scotland imploded and went home after the group stages.
With the likes of Andy Robertson and John McGinn playing for the national team, I have gradually warmed to them. And while I haven’t fallen for the usual hype about their chances, I didn’t actively want them to lose. Yet the pundits and so-called experts on BBC’s pro Scotland panel seemed to be convinced that “something special” was about to happen to their boys. Well, it turned out something special did happen: Vini Jr.
That this is not a vintage Brazil doesn’t matter. Beyond Robertson and McGinn, and on a good day Scott McTominay (and yesterday was far from a good day for him), the Scotland team comprises of mainly Championship standard players, particularly in defence, midfield and attack. The gung ho BBC studio folk abandoned cold reason and went with emotion. It’s what happens when you pack the studio with fans and not objective observers. Doubtless, you will see the same with England during the rest of the tournament, for however the rest of the tournament lasts for them/us.
Without checking the fixtures, I have no idea who is playing. I do not have my wall chart (free with When Saturday Comes), I don’t know the standings in the groups, quite frankly apart from ours I don’t know who is in the groups. I read that it is still possible for Scotland to qualify for the last 32 but I have no idea, nor actual interest, in how.
I am sure I will get caught up in the alleged excitement eventually. Being somewhere way off the beaten track, where hardly anyone else cares about the World Cup, except when Spain and Argentina are playing (you should have heard the din from the Argentinian steak house the other night when Messi was doing his thing), may be having an effect. Or maybe it’s just that I have simply had too much football?
Seriously, bad luck to the Scots, if they do end up departing early. At least they have the consolation of half a dozen Old Firm games to look forward to before too long. For England, we too have the optimism and expectation we shouldn’t have after 60 years of failure on the international stage and soon, I fear, the massed hordes belting out ‘Ten English bombers’ and ‘Keir Starmer is a wanker’ will be departing, empty-handed with empty bank accounts, as they always do. It’s the hope that kills you.
