Day 14: Raining on my Parade

A night of high drama…and some deeply irritating 'feck-arsery' from RTÉ.

The drama centred chiefly on the Australia v Croatia match, which appeared (from what I saw) a ferocious example of what my Da called “Raw Football�?. I hadn’t actually planned on watching any of that particular game – largely because I haven’t missed a Brazil World Cup match in over 20 years (sad, I know) – but the vagaries of RTÉ sport ensured that I had no choice but to watch the last 20 minutes.¹

I would have understood it if RTÉ had decided, from the off, to skip a Brazil v Japan match that was (realistically) of little importance in the overall scheme of things…but having made the decision to show Brazil they should (surely) have stuck to their guns and allowed us to enjoy the full 90 minutes.

When they did say farewell to George Hamilton, Ray Houghton, Brazil & Japan on 70 minutes, my mind went back to the rather odd question Bill O’Herlihy had asked of the panel before kick-off. If you didn’t see it, he very conspicuously asked Giles, Souness, and Denis Irwin which match they would rather have watched. There followed a few minutes of strained (and downright odd) chatter about the merits and demerits of the evening’s two games which (in hindsight) might have been an acknowledgment of complaints the channel had received from aggrieved Australian viewers. I’m merely speculating, of course, but there was something undeniably strange about the whole tone…

Anyway…not only did they not show the full 90 minutes of their scheduled match, but we also had to endure some real misery-guts stuff from the panellists RE: Brazil’s performance. I’m all for constructive criticism and incisive punditry (RTÉ are usually pretty good at both) but tonight I felt that a line was crossed. The boys (Giles in particular) had clearly made up their minds about this Brazil team in advance (lots of flashy touches but no end product) and were in no mood to start whistling a different tune…regardless of the evidence.

Thus, at half time – and, indeed, full time – all we heard was a series of relentlessly negative comments about the (allegedly) shambolic Brazilian defence. Brief (and grudging) mention was made of an improved Ronaldo, but nobody had anything to say about the often delightful zest and movement of the rest of Brazil’s attack. We heard not a word about (a very impressive) Ronaldinho who, while not doing anything too spectacular tonight, was involved in practically all of Brazil’s finer moments.

There’s a slightly paradoxical attitude at play when it comes to some of the Brazil nay-saying one gets from pundits. On the one hand they want Brazil to work hard, track back, be committed etc., while on the other they demand that the team abandon all caution and play like a football version of the Harlem Globetrotters. Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t…

Czech Republic 0 Italy 2

Ghana 2 USA 1

Brazil 4 Japan 1

Australia 2 Croatia 2

Footnotes