Shotgunbagsy

Americans are beginning to make their voices heard in the world of footy. After years of convincing our over-fed cousins that Football (yes, the soccer kind) is the way forward, the reply comes in the form of ticket sales for the World Cup. The story goes that the Yanks have purchased 160,000 tickets between them, which is “more than the combined totals of such hotbeds of football fandom as German[y] and England”. With players like Tim Howard, Jonathan Spector and Clint Dempsey gracing the Premier League with (I’ve got no problem saying it) some suprising efficiency, you can see the full force of English football mania spreading West. You have to give it up for David Beckham who can be held responsible for a decent chunk of publicity for the sport, and I’m sure the Brazillians have had some part to play.

This guy’s looking a TINY bit optimistic, though.

I’m not sure if it’s because of some of the input that players like Landon Donovan have had on the game, or just because all of the American players seem to  play for friendly non-confrontational teams that are just trying to make their way in the league (cough* except for Everton, of course), but I’ve started to find a soft spot for the USA as a football team. They might be out to butcher our language, but from what I’ve seen and what I remember of the previous World Cup – they’re just out to give it a go. Good on them.

I wonder if the numbers are slightly skewed in this report, though. It is suggested that there should be no difference in the amount of tickets sold because the USA is struggling with finincial crisis as much as we are, but I can’t help but keep in mind the difference in population.

With all the talk of the World Cup in 2018 and 2022 I can’t help but pray for success athome. We’ve got ourselves into another pickle with all of the back-handed comments from particular commity members, but I won’t give up hope just yet. I would love to be one of St George’s men getting out to South Africa, but money says otherwise. No amount in my savings accounts would get me closer to our boys as they hunt for the final.

So come on, Becks. Get us the World Cup at home. Think of it as another one of your financial investments: it’ll get the lads through university, yeah?

Oh nevermind.