A triumphant hand will brandish the World Cup against an African sky on July 11. There is a thrill simply in imagining the scene on a continent that has already given so much to football that this tournament is the very least it could have been granted in return. Still, no one can be sure of the competition entering a new phase on the field.
The usual gang of countries will be convinced they can stamp out romance and the bookies agree. Ivory Coast is the most favoured of the African nations, yet it is quoted at 60-1 to take the trophy. Although the World Cup can pound preconceptions to dust, not all the major powers will falter.
The event is sure to intrigue regardless because the leading squads differ over how they propose to dominate. Brazil has undergone a personality change. The country has shed its 2006 identity as the self-congratulatory group that was eliminated 1-0 by France in a quarterfinal. That was galling enough for puritanism to be adopted.
The present manager, Dunga, might favour a sackcloth-and-ashes strip if only he could get the idea past Nike . His appointment was a reversion to another Brazilian tradition, since the country has never been short of hard-bitten characters who know how to conduct themselves in adversity.
Dunga himself was an unglamorous holding midfielder in the 1994 World Cup-winning side. Nonetheless, it would be laughable to suppose that durability and order are the sole virtues. In the 2009 Confederations Cup final it was 2-0 down to the USA yet Brazil replied with three goals and did not even need extra time. Figures such as the right-back Maicon and centre-half Lucio are intimidating, yet Dunga must fret about Kaka because he needs the complementary smoothness of a midfielder often sidelined by injury at Real Madrid.
Riposte
Other La Liga stars will make up a Spain side that cannot help but think of itself as the riposte to Brazil's dourness. It is the European Championship holder and Vicente del Bosque has such depth of resources that fresh fitness doubts over even Fernando Torres would distress the forward far more than the manager. Even so, Spain could flag as club commitments take their toll. The USA eliminated it from the Confederations Cup last year and the defender Gerard Pique felt then that a long season had depleted the side.
There is nothing preordained about this World Cup and Argentina is particularly enigmatic. Everyone knows of its 6-1 drubbing in Bolivia, yet it had earlier taken a goalless draw in Brazil. Maradona is not always an erratic leader and he has as counsellor Carlos Bilardo, his manager when the 1986 World Cup was won. More than that, he is privileged to have glorious players, even if it is also rash to assume that opponents will not shut down a 35-year-old Juan Sebastine Veron, who is critical to structuring the build-up.
Flaws, of course, exist everywhere and while Holland, like Spain, won every qualifier, its back four does not have men with a status to match the rest of the side. Elsewhere in Europe we are yet to discover whether Samir Khedira can take over satisfactorily from the injured Michael Ballack. At least the 23-year-old Stuttgart player was poised when insisting that he must be German, despite having a Tunisian father, because he is always punctual.
A concern
Italy, too, has the odd youngster, but the core of the World Cup holder's group is unaltered and while Marcello Lippi must be exasperated by the constant airing of the topic it is unsettling that the focal point continues to be a 36-year-old captain, Fabio Cannavaro. An injured Andrea Pirlo will miss group games and that is a concern.
A gnarled England has lost Rio Ferdinand and could be handicapped by a lack of youth, with the exception of Aaron Lennon, in midfield.
No Premier League club got past the quarterfinals of the Champions League and the national side clinched its place at the World Cup with two matches to spare, yet several players seem drained and Fabio Capello's preparations had better have revitalised them. An encounter with Nemanja Vidic and the rest of the Serbia squad in a likely last-16 tie would make physical demands on England.
Before that hypothetical match, the team meets on Saturday an improving USA side which is fresh. There is potential trouble everywhere for everyone.
Ivory Coast ought to be vigorous, but it is hard to expect much of Didier Drogba after the fracture to his right arm. Ghana is hindered by the loss of Michael Essien and Nigeria's John Obi Mikel has withdrawn after knee surgery.
Cameroon leans too heavily on the turbulent Samuel Eto'o and Algeria may have peaked by reaching the tournament ahead of Egypt. While South Africa is now steadier under Carlos Alberto Parreira, it starts a gruelling programme on Friday against Mexico in a group that also contains Uruguay and a France squad of far more merit than it has yet revealed.
There are bound to be sides that, at the minimum, are awkward and Denmark may come into that category even if it is astonishing that the wingers could still be Martin Jorgensen and Dennis Rommedahl, aged 34 and 31 respectively. A World Cup is a wonderful, sprawling spectacle with room for all sorts of people and surprises. At last it begins. — ©Guardian News and Media 2010
