23rd Mar - The Greatest World Cup?



Today marks the day that World Cup tickets go on sale to the general public for those wishing to attend the 2022 event in Qatar. I've, luckily, already managed to secure a pass to the opening day of the tournament, partly due to a former colleague, who now resides in Doha. Despite the controversy surrounding this particular tournament, you can guarantee that when the football itself kicks off, the world will watch with bated breath as another unmissable month of action returns to screens across the globe. So with that in mind, I thought I'd take this opportunity to rank the World Cup tournaments of my lifetime (at a point where I was old enough to actually remember them in detail, apologies USA '94!), so far. I'm not expecting you to enjoy this one Jade! Apologies.





6. SOUTH AFRICA 2010
When we think of 'South Africa', we unfortunately think of the awful drone of the vuvuzelas, with each 90 minutes soundtracked by the score of a dying wasp in the final stages of agony. On the pitch, there was mass crisis in the French camp, the Brazilians underwhelmed, Luis Suarez' handball robbed Ghana of a first-ever African Semi-Finalist, and England limped through a dismal group stage, before receiving a thoroughly deserved drubbing at the hands of a youthful Germany. All in all, a fairly depressing tournament, only pierced by moments of wonder from the likes of Diego Forlan, and this Gio van Bronckhorst thunderbolt. 




5. RUSSIA 2018
Despite the euphoria of 'It's Coming Home' fever... If you weren't English, then the Summer of 2018 may have been somewhat unbearable. As the Three Lions marched towards the final four, the tournament itself was littered by the introduction of VAR, with an eye-watering 28 penalties awarded across 64 matches, an average of almost 1 in every 2 games. Despite a range of dull 1-0 results in the group stage, the knockout stages proved somewhat more entertaining, with the highlight arriving during the Round of 16 match between Argentina - desperate to cement Messi's place alongside Maradona - and champions-elect France, led by the electrifying Kylian Mbappe, and this Benjamin Pavard stunner.




4. GERMANY 2006
The Summer of superstars! 2006 was the culminating peak of a golden era as the likes of Ronaldinho, Totti, Kaka, Figo, Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo, Ballack, Henry, Riquelme, Del Piero, Adriano, Drogba, Crespo, and many more faced off for footballing immortality. In the end, the English - led by their own 'golden generation' of Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard etc, were undone by a Cristiano wink and a Rooney stamp, and Zinedine Zidane bowed of a sensational career by leaving his hairline imprinted on the chest of Marco Materazzi. The Italian had the last laugh, however, as the Azurri, led by inspirational captain Fabio Cannavaro, lifted the Jules Rimet. 




3. JAPAN/SOUTH KOREA 2002
They say the FA Cup is the tournament of 'giant killing', but that's nothing compared to what occurred in the Far East during the Summer of 2002. When World Cup debutants Senegal shocked reigning champs France on the opening day, the result set the tone for a wildly unpredictable tournament, in which South Korea controversially eliminated Italy, and then, Spain. Meanwhile, Turkey reached the Semi-Finals, whilst Portugal and Argentina exited during the Group Stage. The Dutch, clad with a star-studded squad, failed to even qualify. Whilst the Three Lions, spurred on by the goals of Michael Owen, were found wanting in the heat of Shizouka against the genius of Rivaldo, and a revitalised R9. 




2. BRAZIL 2014
A tournament held in the spritual home of the game was never set to disappoint, but few could have imagined how brilliantly this golden Summer in Rio would dazzle so brightly. Inspired by Neymar, the Selecao were backed by a raucous home-crowd, surging to the Semis where they were infamously humbled by a 7-1 hammering at the hands of Germany. This was also the tournament which gave us the iconic shot of a forlorn Lionel Messi walking past the World Cup trophy, that incredible James Rodriguez volley, and the Robin van Persie 'flying header'. Surprise package Costa Rica battled admirably to a Quarter-Final, and England... Well, the less said about that, the better.






1. FRANCE 1998
Oh the nostalgia! The impeccable anthems from Dario G and Jean Michel Jarre were soaked in that traditionally Parisian flavour. We saw a peak Ronaldo terrorising defences up until the controversy of his pre-match seizure in the Final. A youthful David Beckham saw red for that act of petulance on Diego Simeone, but the Argentinians were met with karma in the following round via that iconic Dutch commentary of the 'DENNIS BERGKAAAAMP' moment. The Nigerians made a splash by shocking Spain, Blanco did the 'bunny-hop', Laudrup and Schmeichel inspired the Danes to the Quarter-Finals, and Batigol was ousted for the Golden Boot by Davor Suker as Croatia marched to a historic 3rd place.



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