I hereby declare I will boycott the FIFA World Cup 2006 held in Germany which ends on 9 July.
For one main reason: My 2 favourite teams, England and Brazil, have been ousted out of the tournament yesterday.
Yes, I know England has not been playing well, but I think one person to blame is Sven-Goran Erickson.
He has a talented pool of players, but does not know how to optimise their potential.
Contrast it with Germany's Jurgen Klinsmann. He has a team of very young players, but he dares to take risks and try things out. Erickson, on the other hand, is the "play-safe" type, who will never take risks and is very stubborn. How to get an edge in the competition like that???
I remembered reading in one sports article before the World Cup season that Beckham said that England will win the World Cup. Think those appaulled by his overconfidence are making their last laugh now...
Back to the effects of the different coaching styles. I see a parallel between this and the influence of the school's top management on the whole school (or the influence of the top management on any organisation, for that matter). I know some people disagree with this, and others think I'm too bold in drawing this parallel. But still it got me thinking.
As for Brazil, their Samba didn't quite cut it in this World Cup. My favourite player, Ronaldo, wasn't threatening at all. In fact, during the 2nd half of yesterday's game against France, I hardly see him touch the ball! France deserved to win last night, but I just felt sorry for the defending champions to bow out of the competition after the Quarter-Finals.
Now that Germany, Italy, France and Portugal are left in the World Cup, the logical side of me says France will win, but I'll be rooting for Klinsmann's Germany team. GO, TEAM GERMANY!!!