Footcall 2014 is go, Go, GO...
13/06/14 03:06
Well here we are, the World Cup 2014 in Brazil is finally underway and that can only mean one thing... the return of FOOTCALL! It's into the breach once more and with the spirit of our heroic D-Day veterans still fresh in our memory, 32 nations will fight it out on the football field to claim the greatest team prize in sport.
When Christine and I started this little competition back in 2000 (only 24 entries that year) little did we know how it would grow year on year and after the record field of 138 in 2012 I thought it was going to be "a big ask" (probably not the last time you see that expression) to top that. In typical Footcall style we had all the good boys and girls get their entry in nice and early but then with a little prompting we edged closer to the record and eventually we reached our target on Tuesday. In the last couple of days we had over 60 more players join the party and finally we closed the doors on an amazing 182. It brings a tear to my eye to see all the names in one big list, not because I'm overwhelmed that you all want to take part more at the prospect of the late night report writing and how on earth I'm going to divvy you all up into separate divisions!
For those of you know me you'll know that I tend to lead a slightly nocturnal life and maybe some of the late kickoffs might be right up my street. However I am thinking the Ivory Coast v Japan match which starts at 2am might get their report done the following day! I know many of you taking part have been railroaded by me or maybe somebody else to take part and you might not give tuppence for the action on the field, all I can hope is you get swept up in the Brazilliant fever of the biggest competition on the planet and maybe Footcall will just add to the fun. I know for a fact that if you see your name up near the top of the table and a little mention in one of my reports your interest might go from "not bovvered" to "hey this Footcall lark is the dogs!" For those of you that might not be performing well on the Footcall league table I shall try my best to keep you entertained in my reports, it would be wrong to say they were Pulitzer Prize winning prose... but it would be nice to be nominated!
This year we are supporting such an amazing cause as we are donating 25p for every entry to the Angus Rowland ForgetMeNot Fund in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Angus tragically lost his fight to Leukaemia at just 14 years old. He was the nephew of our good friends James and Rachel Rowland and the son of Elizabeth Mailey (all of whom are taking part) and although I never met Angus we had similar musical tastes and I gave him some music to listen to in his last days. What his friends and family have done to raise a huge amount of money for LLR is nothing short of magnificent and we are only too happy to make a donation to support such a great cause. You can find out more about Angus' story here... http://www.justgiving.com/Angus-Mailey-Rowland
At this point, I'd like to credit the Footcall backroom staff, Christine's involvement in the running of the competition and promotion is still invaluable even if she doesn't have to read out to me all the score predictions as I type them in like we did in the old days. Andy Kirchell, Neil White, Matt Clark, Chris Amos, Rob Pearson and Dan Schroeck have been tremendous ambassadors for the tournament with their invaluable advice and promoting the good word through social media and word of mouth is much appreciated. Countless other regular Footcallers, sorry if I haven't mentioned you here but you know at some point over the next four weeks you will get some comps from me. Finally I have to thank Spencer Collins for all his invaluable time and dedication making sure the Footcall engine (the all important database that powers the site) runs smoothly, it's astonishing to see how refined the website has become and it's been a tireless task at times between me and Spence to develop it so well but every Footcall it just gets better!
So that's enough off-field waffle from me, let's get to the action! The World Cup started as ever with the opening ceremony, now us Brits know how to "do it right" as proven at the last Olympics but those South Americans have different slant on things. There was a copious amount of crazily dressed actors dancing in a multitude of styles very few of which you would see on Strictly! There was a little boy rowing a canoe (with a seatbelt on), people dressed as trees, grass and flowers and to top it off Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull and Claudia Leitte appeared from inside a giant globe only for the platform they were on not to lift them all the way up. Mr Pitbull very kindly assisted Ms Lopez up which had all the hallmarks of turning into a Morecambe and Wise sketch. They sung and waved their arms furiously like they were trying to guide a jumbo jet into to land but it was Mr Pitbull's attire that stole the show as it looked for all the world as if he had borrowed his little brother's high waisted trousers. We haven't had a ceremony as memorable as this since Diana Ross missed an open goal from six yards in the 1994 World Cup in USA.
So with all those shenanigans out of the way we were all set for the opening game of the tournament, Brazil v Croatia. The host nation go into this WC as one of the strong favourites to go all the way and lift the trophy and they are blessed with a host of talented players many of whom play in European teams. But for the home grown talent within the squad their season is only a few weeks old and as such are quite fresh whereas the European players have just finished their season and would probably be sunning themselves on a Brazilian beach rather than training for a gruelling month of more football. None of the pundits were giving Croatia much of a shout when it kicked but they were determined to prove the doubters wrong and as they pushed forward then Olic crossed the ball in the 11th minute only for the Brazilian defender Marcelo to poke it in his own net by mistake. This was not going according to the script! Fortunately Brazil had plenty of time and "the boy Neymar" started to pull some strings and in the 29th minute he slotted the ball right in the corner of the Croatian net to equalise. Now the South Americans started to push on but it was an element of controversy in the second half that proved decisive as frontman Fred went down with barely the faintest of touches from Lovren in the 71st only to be awarded a penalty. The Croats went crazy go nuts at the Japanese ref but he pointed to the spot and it just left that man Neymar to step up and blast it in from 12 yards, the keeper got his hands on it but couldn't stop spinning through into the net. At this point all Footcallers as one exhaled as a huge percentage had Brazil to win. As Croatia tried to get an equaliser the game opened up and in the 90th minute Oscar made a sweet little run through the middle to toe poke it just wide of the outstretched Pletikosa's gloves to make it 3-1 and no way back for Croatia. An exciting opening game proving that there although it was a comfortable win in the end there is no safe bet in any match.
And so to the Footcall league...
As mentioned, loads of you had Brazil to win all picking up one point but an astonishing 42 players had picked 3-1 and they all collect three points and nice little red square on the league table. Let's give a few mentions to some of you who enjoying the giddy heights of the top of the table after one game. Ric Robinson leads the way by stint of his numerical team name (apparently it is the hex code colour for international blue) but alongside him are Harry Hitch, Tat Wah Liu, George Relf, Nick Rowland, Clare Hawkins, Ian Barker, Anne Herring, Darren Alldritt, John Trent and the reigning champion Mr Paul Wakefield carrying on where he left off from Footcall VIII the Olympics football tournament. Keith Reynolds hung out the proverbial bunting on Facebook as he scored a perfect three as did Russ Morris, Greg Church and Bruce Wilson (I'm sure Matt will be overjoyed to hear that news). Jonathan Reeves, Toyah Wood and Simons Dudson and Dyson scooped a red square along with the man who knows nothing about football Clive Gigney.
This is all very exciting, I haven't got time to list everyone and hopefully some of you will score a three pointer when there are less correct predictions. One side effect of the expansion of Footcall is that I don't personally know many of the competitors, maybe I could ask you to join the Facebook group and introduce yourselves, it would be useful for any newcomers to let us know who else they know are taking part so we have some connections to make.
As for the aforementioned Divisions, they are all in place to populated. The Footcall board will be meeting to decide how to divide us into the respective groups. There will be ten divisions of around 18 teams and the titles of the Divisions are a tribute to the names of the official ball of the World Cup since 1970. I urge you all to login to your account and fill in the details of who you know is also taking part which will help us where possible to put you in a league with other people you know. Having said that, for sake of time it's quite possible we will randomly assign everyone.
That's Day One over and done with, good luck for the rest of the tournament, tomorrow we see reigning World Cup holders Spain enter the fray.
Until then...
David
PS. We now have the facility to post comments on this blog, but keep it clean folks the moderators will be in force!