World Cup Rambling Matthew Okot

This month we’ve got the second set of group games, which produced some notable matches and moments.  Team USA triggering a soccer boom with a victory that will have fatal consequences elsewhere, Roy Hodgson’s swaggering Swiss putting the skids under Romania, a touchline explosion involving Jack Charlton and John Aldridge, Bulgaria ending one of the most embarrassing streaks in World Cup history, Arrigo Sacchi gambling his
career with a brave substitution, Diego Maradona equalling the all-time World Cup appearances record, and much more.



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This month we’ll look at the opening pair of matches in each group at USA 94.  There was a raft of new laws on tackling, offside and the back pass, which FIFA hoped would liven up the show, after the stodginess of Italia 90.  The gaudy opening ceremony, and Diana Ross’s penalty miss (which foreshadowed the climax of the tournament), fuelled the scepticism about taking the World Cup to a country that knew nothing of soccer but everything of crass hype and empty razzmatazz.  Yet once the actual football got under way, all the fears fell away.  A memorable first set of games saw dark horses Romania stun the much-hyped Colombians, Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland enjoy their finest hour, the rise of new forces from Asia, Nigeria’s Super Eagles swooping down in style, Diego Maradona returning in typically exuberant fashion, and much more.



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Series 4 of World Cup Rambling and it's time to get in the DeLorean and go back thirty years for a mammoth odyssey through USA 94 - a very underrated tournament. We start the series by looking at why football (or "soccer") failed to take a hold in the United States, then having a look at the rise and fall of the North American Soccer League, America's failed bid to host the 1986 World Cup and, ultimately, the successful bid to host the 1994 World Cup, with the pitfalls on the path as the American organisers tried to deliver on the promises they made to FIFA. There will also be the customary whistle-stop tour through the 24 finalists.

Thanks to https://nationalanthems.info for the national anthems.

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A snippet of what you have to look forward to in Series 4 of World Cup Rambling, which starts on 2nd March 2024.



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It's time for something very special.  We have World Cup Rambling’s first-ever guest.  In this episode, I talk to Gary Thacker.  Gary is an author and journalist, who has contributed most prominently to These Football Times, but also to other publications. Gary has written numerous books, including “Beautiful Bridesmaids Dressed in Oranje: The Unfulfilled Glory of Dutch Football”, “Out of the Blue: Chelsea’s Unlikely Champions League Triumph” and “Dutch Masters: When Ajax’s
Totaalvoetbal Conquered Europe”. 

Here we discuss his upcoming book “O Jogo Bonito – Brazil’s 1970 World Cup Samba Party”, which will be released on 12th February 2024.  The book looks at Brazil’s iconic World Cup triumph in 1970, as they rebuilt from the ashes of 1966 to become the most famous World Cup winners of all-time, with a beautiful style of play that Brazil have never been able to recapture, despite further World Cup wins in 1994 and 2002.

You can find some of Gary’s excellent work at:

https://allbluedaze.com/

https://thesefootballtimes.co/author/allbluedaze/



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In the final episode of series three, we look at one of the strangest tales in World Cup history – the theft of the Jules Rimet Cup from a stamp exhibition in London in 1966. The holy grail of football has a storied history, carried on an ocean liner to the first World Cup in Uruguay, stashed in a shoebox under a bed during World War Two, before being stolen in London and found by a dog in 1966, then stolen again in Rio de Janeiro in 1983.  The story of the London theft resembles an Ealing comedy, a barely believable plot of institutional incompetence, gangland activity, alleged deals, fake names, ransom demands, sting operations, replica trophies, and a heroic dog, all against the backdrop of the UK General Election. 



Thank you for all your listening support in 2023. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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