The media is filling up with all sorts of stories about the World Cup and are going fanatical. The event only happens once every four years so the newspapers cover most of the pages with all of the gossip. The newspapers are supporting England the whole way and list puns for the opposing sides; an example is the goal from David Beckham that sent Argentina crashing out of the world Cup the papers put ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina, the truth is we never loved you.’ Now with the upcoming Nigeria game the papers have branded Beckham as England’s saviour and have published voodoo masks in the papers to curse Nigeria.
This is a multi millionaire business with the all important FIFA running most of it and they are making more money than they can count. This is all from the different football shirts that they have sold and all of the flags and different merchandise.
On match analysis with Gary Linekar all of the propaganda is through England but on the show they try and bring in different people from different countries so it’s not totally biased but the commentators tend to be biased.
The whole class were excited about this match on Wednesday and we decided that it would be appropriate to have a day off or come in late to school. Instead of one of us going to the head teacher and arguing the point to him, we started a partition and all of the students in the class signed it. We then took it to him but he said if he gave us this day off then people will be asking for more days off to view the future games for England if they got any further in the world cup. He was proud of us to see that all of the students had an interest in football and were supporting their country but his final word was no and he wasn’t going to change that.
The match finally arrived and the limelight was on Sven Goran Eriksson to see if he really was the Coach that England are looking for. The match was resting on his shoulders and after the 90 minutes he could be a hero to the nation, or the most hated person in Britain. Beckham was also the player who everyone had high expectations over. Everyone depended on him to take England through the world cup and to land that goal in the net this match.
The whole nation were up at the crack of dawn, some rising at 6:00am. Many people phoned in sick and some tried to get days off work. The streets were deserted at 7:30am kick off time. I was up at 7:20am and I had butterflies in my stomach so I couldn’t imagine how the England players felt also with the added pressures of being live on T.V in front of millions of people and the whole nation depending on them. I was still at home for kick off and managed to see the first 15 minutes of the game before I had to leave for school. The media on the other hand had a whole morning routine for the viewers and said have the full English breakfast on at half time.
I got to school at 8:00am and I was determined to find a T.V somewhere in the school. I found one in the Music hut so I started watching. It was then 35 minutes into the game and I watched it to the 60th minute. I was already late for registration. England managed to scrape through with a draw.
England v Denmark
We had Denmark for lunch on Saturday. A 3-0 win over the Danes, which put England into the quarter-finals, and by this time people had hope in Sven and saw the magnificent team England going all the way. Brazil go the better of Belgium in a 2-0 win which meant we would face them next. This game was going to be the biggest test for the England side and from the results of the Denmark game this meant that a loss would knock England straight out of the World Cup.
Saturday was the deadly game against Denmark and what brilliant timing; just positioned itself just in time for brunch at 12:30pm. During this time the streets were empty and people were either in a pub or in the comfort of their own homes, it seemed like the nation at been caught in a time warp and froze for 90 minutes. People were cheering and chanting in the pubs before the match was even underway and the adrenaline was flowing highly through everyone’s bodies.
The match finally kicked off and had a fast tempo with England misplacing passes and playing a long ball game. England had many chances but the first goal came from a corner. It was Beckham who swung the ball in towards the back post and all it needed was for one man to plop the ball straight into the net. That man was Rio Ferdinand, who gave and accurate but hard header towards the keeper. It should’ve been an easy catch for the keeper but it slipped out of his hands and went straight over the line. The England players were frantic and the supporters were not far behind them. It was a brilliant moment. Knowing good old England they were going to lose the lead but to our surprise, they doubled it.
Beckham the creator again of the magnificent goal gave a hard pass through to Nicky Butt who then gave a skilful single touch through two defenders. The ball was scrambled across the ground but then found its way to the feet of England’s forward, Michael Owen who with one sharp turn thrashed the ball into the bottom corner. It was 2-0. The pubs went absolutely ballistic and they had a gut feeling that there were more to come. They were right. When the second goal went in they knew England were through to the last eight.
Then the third goal found its way into the back of the net for England. Once again it was Beckham who was the source of it all as he sped through the middle of two midfielders. He kept up with his run and saw Heskey make a run in front of him so he fed the ball to him and Heskey sent the ball crashing through the net. 3-0 was the final score and England were well on there way to the top. It was a brilliant day and the whole nation partied all week until Friday.
We were up against the favourites, Brazil, on Friday and we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match but I thought after we killed Denmark we could easily beat Brazil. This game was going to be England’s Biggest and toughest game yet. The players realised that there was no turning back now and that they had to play there best to win victory and to claim the cup.
Judgement day finally arrived and all the celebrations over the Denmark win were over. Everyone was fixed on the Brazil match. For this game the school allowed us to have the day off because this was a very, very important game for England and decided whether they win the World Cup or not.
It was a nice, bright, sunny start and the commentators were over the moon of England’s recent success in the previous games. The match was underway and the tempo was unbelievable as the Brazilians sped up and down the pitch, England knew that Brazil had world-class players all over but that didn’t stop them.
England found the net first as Owen put the only Brazilian defender under pressure. Lucio gave a poor back pass which Owen intercepted and fired the ball into the back of the net. I was going berserk over the score and nobody could believe England were 1-0 up against Brazil. The streets of London were deserted once again for the British were hoping for more goals. We knew that England were famous for gaining a lead then falling asleep on the pitch and losing the lead. There was no exception in this game that’s exactly what happened.
Ronaldhinio picked up the ball from his own half and dribbled so fast with spins and turns. He ran straight through the heart of England’s defence and laid the ball straight off to an unmarked Rivaldo who placed it passed Seaman’s leg and it was 1-1 at half time. England fans were losing their faith and thought that England would lose. Even the players had doubts. With a goal on half time Brazil were going to come back strong and they did without letting any England players have possession.
Seaman during the second half received a very painful injury to his back after falling on it awkwardly. Everyone was praying that he stayed on and he did. Big mistake. With the injury still affecting Seamen, Brazil had received a free kick and Ronaldhinio was to take it. Ronaldhinio curled the ball magnificently towards the goal and plopped it straight over Seamen’s head. There were only a few inches in it and maybe if Seaman hadn’t picked up that injury beforehand he might have just made it. Seaman was absolutely devastated and felt that his time of playing football was up. He was then summoned by a few players and Alex Ferguson had a chat with him and he carried on in the game. With the score 2-1 England had to chase the game which would be hard against Brazil. A bit of pressure was taken off in the 57th minute when Ronaldhinio was sent off. This gave England the chance to score in over 30 minutes and against 10 men. Brazil kept up the great play and it looked like England were the team with the man down. The whistle blew and England had lost 2-1 and were on their way home. Brazil were in the final 4.
Conclusion
The success of the Media coverage was good because all of the matches were done brilliantly. All of the coverage was great with the analysis and highlights. The studio presenters such as Gary Linekar were very witty and gave their different opinions and points of view. FIFA made a tremendous amount of money out of it but managed to mess up wit the ticket sales by not all of the stadiums were full. The commentators were quite interesting but droned on a bit and got quite boring.
The newspapers had the best media with their puns and pullouts, gossip and detailed team talk. I think that the nation did try to bring the nation together in this event and succeeded. I think that people who didn’t like football in the past now have a positive attitude towards it and were pleased with England’s Performance. The state of the media will down as the final draws near because England aren’t involved and it won’t be as exciting. It has been a great World Cup while it has lasted and I am thoroughly pleased with England’s Performance throughout the event.
Alex Richards 10P
