To the World Cup

Ooh, I've been busy.
Roles felt abit reversed lately.

HE wanted to head down to town to shop for clothes, especially now with GSS.
ME decided to stay in the heartlands and have dinner with the family at Swensen's instead because the England Match starts at 9pm. And there's no way I could shop and reach home by 9pm.

So plans to shop were ditched and I literally spent my entire weekend watching soccer matches.

Germany vs Costa Rica
England vs Paraguay
Sweden vs Trinidad (and something)
Argentina vs Ivory Coast (though I think the name was in fancy French) - I watched only the repeat though, I just couldn't stay up any longer for the Live match.

After catching 4 matches, I need to give my very expert analysis of the World Cup.

1. The boys
Ljungberg, Beckham, Owen, Lampard, and the entire Swedish team.. Do I really need to go on with this list? The girls will get my point.
This World Cup is all about the boys.
Right, I know how when girls mention they like watching soccer, the boys will immediately think of us as bimbos.
Let's be realistic here.
As much as we do not play the game, that doesn't mean we do not know how to appreciate the game. Afterall, sports are just about the same. Once you play a sport, you jolly well understand the fundamentals of it.
Well, I am presuming girls play at least one sport, and I am not talking about those sun-fearing types la.

The World Cup, like any other major tournament is really a showcase of talents, and passion for the country. To the boys, it's about the nifty footwork, the amazing free kicks and curls which they can only dream of achieving. For the girls, it is also the same. They enjoy being entertained by nifty footworks, passionate sprints up to the penalty box, amazing free kicks that curl more beautifully than our perms.
What I'm trying to say is, we do really appreciate the game and the passion of the sport. Just because we are female, (and the players) are cute, doesn't mean we know nothing of the game, nor are we incapable of appreciating it. It just happens the boys are cute, and it serves as an added motivation to catch the game. Really.
The same can't be said for guys who watch Maria Sharpranova in tennis though, because half the time they are craning their necks to catch what is underneath that short skirt.

2. The Referee
I realise, regardless the match something has to be said about the referee of every game. Regardless of the teams playing in the game, the referee is bound to make a stupid judgement call during every single match. At NO one time, is the referee perfect.
The referee's stupidity ranges from how well-liked the team is to each individual.
Say, you are an ardent fan of England, the match's referee is bound to be very stupid and highly biased. However, if it's like Argentina vs Ivory Coast, and you support none of the 2 teams, then the referee is just passable. Nothing much can be said of the referee, and he is only stupid when he sports a very ugly hairdo (like the Mexican ref in the England match)

So I conclude, that during the World Cup, stupidity is relative to the support you have for the team/s playing.
(boys will be boys)

3. The commentator.
In my personal opinion, a commentator is THE MOST important person in the World Cup. Because the group of commentators (there are definitely a great many of different languages at the world cup) are the most crucial factor to the game. They either make your game very enjoyable or very boring.
Imagine if the commentator hardly breaks a nail when either side of the team scores, would you be as riled up as you are during the goal?
It's the influencing factor really, you feel compelled to yell "GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLL" along with the commentator when the side you support scores. Likewise, you feel the need to shout "WHAT THE F*CKKKKK??!!" again when your team concedes a goal and the commentator is so freaking high about it.

No game would be interesting without the commentator's comments.
Even though you are not really concentrating on his irritating analysis, or his take on the weather, you subconsciously take in what is said and repeat that to your friends later without conscious knowledge of it and pass it off as your own, seemingly intelligent move except that in Singapore, you'd probably all be making the same comments because we only have one service provider for cabletv, and that means a common commentator for all of Singapore.
Try harder lads.

A commentator with humor also provides added advantage for the girls. When the match gets a tad bit boring (read: when the cameras ain't focusing on any single hot dude), listening to the commentator's dry jokes can be quite entertaining as well.
This I realise is something that only the girls are capable of. Because when it comes to soccer, boys loses all humor and finds nothing funny. Especially not when they are poking fun at their favourite player/side.
Either that or, they are too engrossed checking out the tackles, passing, bla bla bla.
So much so, repeating the joke passed by the comentator only draw blank stares.

4. The fans
World Cup will not be so highly anticipated without the very colorful fans. All that silly stunts they pull, their hair colors, their grosteque face paints (that really reminds me of the hungry ghost festival), their dance steps, their flags and sometimes their glee when they catch themselves in front of the camera is really memorable.
It makes me wonder what it would be like if Singapore really qualifies for the World Cup finals. What would the fans in Singapore do?
Dress up as Singa the Lion and roar?

Come to think of it, how many of us would take that long vacation (say 2 weeks) to travel to the host nation to catch the match? Especially so when our entire nation is so uptight about loosening it for a game, and everyone's busy worrying about the money?

Would Singaporeans honestly flood the match in red and white and paint their face? I would love to see PM Lee in a Singa suit supporting our side at the World Cup finals.
That would seriously bring a smile to every one of us Singaporeans, and do us proud.

Then again, would we want to go support a side that claims to be a Singaporean side, when half the team are PRs from China/Malaysia/and some African country?
I don't think so.

I would honestly consider taking that long vacation on the pretext of supporting my nation in the finals but don the England jersey and paint my face white and red.
Call me a traitor. But at least I feel more passion coming from the lads who are born and bred for their country and proud of it.