HANGZHOU, 27 September 2007
He’s not the top man in international football for nothing. Responding to questions at an official press conference in Hangzhou ahead of the USA vs Brazil semi-final, Sepp Blatter said of the host team’s performances:
“The Chinese team did well, but some of the other teams did better. Otherwise China would be in the semi-final now.”
He refused to be questioned further on whether the Pope was a Catholic or where bears did their business…
SHANGHAI, 17 September 2007
A wife, a baby and other work commitments in Shanghai meant that I was unable to go to Chengdu to see England’s final Group match against Argentina. Never mind, I thought, I am sure it will be on television. There are a few different regional and national sports channels, and one of them will carry it.
I settled down after dinner – notebook and official, bright orange World Cup 2007 pen at the ready. I switched to Shanghai Great Sports Channel to find the Germany vs Japan game all set to kick off. Not to worry, I said to myself, CCTV 5 (the national sports channel) must be showing the England-Argentina game and so that’s why Shanghai have gone with this one. Flicking through the channels (I can never remember which one is which) I finally made it to CCTV 5 only to find exactly the same pictures or Germany vs Japan.
As is the 21st century default action in the case of confusion, I rushed for the internet to give me the information I needed. Checking the listings, it said Shanghai TV was set to show 阿another Women’s World Cup game (no specifics) later that evening. Aha, I thought, so I will watch the Germany-Japan match, stay away from the online updates and then watch the England-Argentina game as though it were live, with the excitement as genuine as possible.
The next thing I saw was a split-screen of England celebrating their first goal. As an Englishman, I’m not sorry to say I was very happy to know “we” were winning, but the thought of watching one game whilst all the time wondering when the next update from the other game was going to come was frustrating. But there I was, stuck with it. Every flash away, I wondered what news was coming. Thanks to the emphatic margin of England’s victory, updates were frequent and mostly happy, so it was not so bad after all. I wouldn’t like to have been an Argentinian in that situation, though…
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