Early Thoughts on the World Cup

I'm immersing myself in the South African World Cup.  After three days and eight matches, we're starting to get rolling.  Too many draws to start off, but Germany knocked the stuffing out of Australia 4-0 on Sunday, easily showing themselves to be the class of the tournament to date.

The coverage on ESPN/ABC has been excellent.  For the last few World Cups, the network has handled the event as they do with the Olympics, by using stand-in US announcers who don't know the sport (and assume the audience is likewise unfamiliar with the game).  After years of complaints, however, they finally wised up and hired some actual football commentators from Sky Sports and other British outlets.  The 'mercuns are still present on the useless pre- and post-game shows, but who cares?

One high point of the Cup has been the refereeing.  With the exception of an absurd red card to Australia's Tim Cahill, they've really done a fine job throughout.

But there is one thing that bothers me a lot: the "host stadium," the Soccer City facility outside Johannesburg.  We get to see lots of it through the windows of the television studios during the pre- and post-game telecasts -- a large brown lump on the plains outside of the city.  I call it "the turd on the prairie."  It's really dreadful.