Soccer: At last, kickoffs in prime time

Herald footy fan WARREN GAMBLE relives his greatest sporting moment - the non-stop party around the world that was Italia 90 - and gears up for the rematch.

If you want to see the world in a month, everyone should go to at least one World Cup. My around-the-world-in-30-days experience came three World Cups ago at Italia 90. Based in a backstreet Milan hotel with a Turkish couple next door who played lambada music and yelled at each other with equal volume, the whole planet was at my feet.

The fountain in the Milan city centre was in turn occupied by Dutch fans in Fanta-orange shirts and Germans who planted their flag at the top like they were kings of the castle (it turned out they were).

Green-shirted Irishmen would buy you a beer whether they won or lost, Colombian women in bird costumes chattered excitedly, and the locals turned the city into a round-the-clock, car-honking red, green and white party zone.

If you can't get to this year's tournament, watching all 64 games on television will be the next best thing.

And after 72 years in captivity in Europe and the Americas, for this World Cup you will be able to give it a decent shot without resorting to four weeks' annual leave or chemical help.

The first World Cup in Asia means a prime-time viewing schedule for New Zealand fans (the Americans are grumbling but come on, we have had decades of sleepless dedication).

It means you can settle down in front of the fire after work, watch up to four games until just after 1am and then dream contentedly of coming on as a shock substitute in the final and scoring from 30m.

No more staggering into the lounge in the wee small hours to watch Bulgaria v Paraguay, falling asleep at halftime and missing the match you really wanted to see (last time I woke too late to see Dennis Bergkamp's stunning winner for Holland against Argentina in the quarter-final).

No more having to invent rare sudden-onset diseases, fictitious funerals or sick pets to explain morning absences from the office.

No more coffee and toast. Sit back instead with sophisticated evening snacks such as chips and those little squares of cheese with pickled onions, washed down with grown-up drinks.

You can even go to various licensed premises to watch games on the big screen.

It will take the whole event in New Zealand out of the early morning shadows and into mainstream culture. World Cup parties with country themes such as Spanish night, samba evenings and Slovenian soirees will be the flavour of the month.

Of course there could be some minor clouds over the otherwise brightly lit fields of green.

The first thing is to make sure you get an iron-clad grip on the remote so that your rugby-loving, Big Brother-watching girlfriend cannot interrupt (it's only for a month and I have faithfully watched Sex in the City for ages).

The next thing is not to peak too early, although I am in two minds about this. The minnows in the first round can provide some of the most memorable moments.

In Italy in 1990 the opening match between holders Argentina, complete with Maradona in his prima donna stage, and the unheralded boys from Cameroon, complete with witch-doctor backing, was a deserved 1-0 upset for the Africans.

This time the opening game has holders France, with a master class of stylish players like Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry, against another African nation, Senegal, making their first World Cup appearance.

The clash has extra spice because France are the former colonial power in this West African country, and Senegal are coached by a Frenchman.

Ecuador, the small South American country better known for its bananas, are also on debut and likely to upset at least one of their first-round opponents, Italy, Croatia and Mexico.

The first finals appearance by China, the return of Russia, the continued presence of the United States, the African challenge (Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia are also there), the usual European and South American contenders, and the Asian hosts give the tournament a dimension other sports cannot match.

France and Argentina are legitimate favourites, oozing style and guile. Brazil are a shadow of their former selves, but if the two Os, Ronaldo and Rivaldo, get going, anything could happen.

Of the Europeans, Italy and Spain - my personal favourites because they have to come good some time - are contenders, while there is always hope, if not glory, for England.

Off the field there is always the morbid fascination of media conferences with an under-fire English manager, even for the glacial-cool Sven Goran Eriksson.

After the last-minute quarter-final win over Belgium in 1990, the first question to then English manager Bobby Robson was: "What would you have done if you lost, Mr Robson?"

Dark horses? There is a herd of them, but Cameroon, Denmark, Poland and Japan are in the frame.

Besides the star power of David Beckham, Zidane and Luis Figo, there is also a colourful array of support players, including whacky character actors such as Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert.

The remarkable joint top-scorer in Paraguay's qualifying campaign, his biggest aim is to get on the scoresheet at the finals - if he can stay out of trouble.

He will miss the first match against South Africa after spitting at Brazil's Roberto Carlos last year. "I would do it again because Roberto Carlos showed me his testicles and insulted my country."

The odds are I will have to buy more beer this time and, unlike Italia 90, I will not be watching Ireland with superstar rock group U2 seated a couple of rows away.

Still, it is going to be some spectacle.

So pull up a chair, keep that remote secure and watch the world go by.

nzherald.co.nz/fifaworldcup

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