World Cup Rambling

Time to wander off the beaten track to have a brief look at the European Championship Final.  I could hardly let England's first appearance in a major final since 1966 go by without giving you guys the benefit of my irrelevant opinions.  What went right for Italy?  What went wrong for England?  Is Gareth Southgate the man to take the Three Lions to a major trophy in the future?...

It’s time to look at a more modern World Cup – 2006, and the epic semi-final between Germany and Italy. Germany initially struggled under the stewardship of Italia 90 hero Jurgen Klinsmann.  A sceptical German public feared the worst.  What they got, however, was a dynamic, attacking team, packed with younger players (such as future World Cup winners, Lahm, Podolski and Schweinsteiger) a...

The summer of 1970 – England, the reigning World Champions, are off to Mexico, in an attempt to win the Jules Rimet Trophy again.  It’s a whole different challenge for England, as they have to cope with the Mexican heat and altitude, as well as being tagged as the villains, owing to Latin American conspiracy theories about 1966. The drama begins off the field as England’s catering arrangement...

This episode is a look at the Zambian national team’s attempt to qualify for USA ’94. From the team’s emergence on the world stage at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, with a sensational 4-0 win over Italy to the tragic air disaster in April 1993, that claimed the lives of eighteen players – a devastating event that plunged a nation into mourning and robbed Zambia of its golden generation – and the sens...

This episode is a short tribute to the World Cup career of the late Paolo Rossi, who died on 9th December 2020. There is a look at his contribution to Italy’s 1978 World Cup campaign, when he emerged as one of the most promising young strikers in world football. Following that, we move forward to 1982, where Rossi emerged from the shadows of scandal, overcame a desperately poor start to the tourna...

Having won the World Cup in 1958 and 1962, Brazil were favourites to complete the hat-trick, by winning the 1966 World Cup in England. Instead, they crashed out at the group stage, a humiliating comedown for a team that was starting to think of the Jules Rimet Trophy as its personal property. From haphazard preparations to Pelé’s rough treatment, Joao Havelange’s hubris to bizarre team selections,...

Something a bit different here. In this episode, I will be reminiscing about my history of following the World Cup from 1990 to 2018. It’s not a retrospective of those tournaments. It’s my memories of watching them, be it my mum opening my eyes to the majesty of Maradona at Italia 90, sneaking around to catch snippets of the late kick-offs at USA 94, dragging myself out of bed to watch Japan/Korea...

Down to the last four where West Germany show themselves to be the ultimate Turniermannschaft by breaking French hearts yet again. The French are left with the mere consolation of the bronze medal after a win against the Belgians, who were condemned to the third place match by a sparkling Maradona performance. The field is left clear for Argentina to claim the ultimate prize but the West Germans,...

With the wheat separated from the chaff (some of it anyway), it’s time for the knockout stages, starting with the Round of 16. We have a seven-goal thriller as Belgium derail the Soviet juggernaut. Elsewhere, France topple Italy in the battle of the champions and the Danish summer romance ends in bitter heartbreak. Forward to the quarter-finals, where France and Brazil meet in a scintillating enco...

Happy New Year.  New Year, New Podcast.  As the world lost the legendary Diego Maradona on 25th November 2020, this is a three-part special, looking back at the 1986 World Cup, the tournament which Maradona made his own. In this first episode, there is a look at how the tournament came to be held in Mexico in the first place, before an examination of the runners and riders for world foot...

It's the World Cup podcast you never knew you needed.  Join me (Matthew Okot) as I ramble my way through different stories from the Greatest Show on Earth.   Follow me on Twitter @MatthewOkot