His legend was only increased by his habit of drinking and smoking during tournaments, and his volatile personality, which resulted in his many altercations, even on the table, although I’m not sure if he ever went through a non 12 step therapy program to try deal with his demons.

Started on snooker at 11, by 16 (in 1965) he had scored his first maximum break (147) and turned pro at 22, becoming World Snooker Champion in his first attempt in 1972.

His greatest achievement must be that classic 1982 World Professional Snooker Championship semifinal against another snooker genius in Jimmy White.

Higgins was 0-59 down in this frame, and one mistake would see him defeated. Yet, he, with his unorthodox style, came back from the dead and scored a break of 69, probably the greatest ever break made under pressure: an incredibly difficult clearance during which he was barely managed good positions until it was time for the colours.

Former world champion Dennis Taylor was quoted to have said:

…a three-quarter-ball pot on a blue into the green pocket especially memorable, not only for its extreme degree of difficulty but for enabling Higgins to continue the break and keep White off the table and unable to clinch victory at that moment.

In successfully potting that blue, the Hurricane “screwed the cue-ball on to the side cushion to bring it back towards the black/pink area with extreme left-hand sidespin,” which Taylor himself believes “could be played 100 times without coming close to the position Higgins reached with cue-ball.”

Even Steve Davis, one of snooker’s greatest ever players said in Clive Everton’s TV documentary The Story of Snooker (2002): “Higgins is the one true genius that snooker has produced.”

Video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

That year Higgins went on to be world champion for the second time in his career, defeating one of the most successful players of that era, Ray Reardon 18–15, with a clearance of 135 in the final frame.

He died 24th July 2010 of throat cancer aged 61.

Danish defender Simon Kjaer kicked an unbelieveably pintpoint long ball that went almost the entire length of the field to midfielder Dennis Rommedahl, who then passed to forward Nicklas Bendtner who slid the ball home. Simply world class delivery, even Iniesta or Xavi would’ve appreciated the quality.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The match ended 2-1 in favour of Denmark.

Actor: Kader Keita (Ivory Coast)

Pushed lightly in the chest by Brazilian superstar Kaka, Keita dropped to the ground, while pretending to be in extreme agony by clutching his face.

The result? Red card for Kaka.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The general consensus of the goal of the 2010 World Cup seems to be Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s 40m stunner that went in the top corner of Uruguay’s goal.

Fantastic, unstoppable.

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For example…

Match: Nigeria v South Korea, 1st round

Nigeria’s Everton striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni missed probably the easiest shot in the 2010 World Cup. It was a tap-in from a mere 2 metres. This could very well be the most embarrassing moment in World Cup history. Even former England striker, Alan Shearer said “I reckon that’s the worst miss I’ve ever seen.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

He later made up for it by scoring a penalty. The match ended 2-2.

In the following, Hitler is none too pleased when he finds out that Germany would be facing England in the last 16. Quotable quote: “Robert Green … if only he held on to that ball, none of this would be happening!”

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In the following, Hitler gets angry because FIFA failed to ban the vuvuzela.

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Hmm, the Fuhrer seems to be losing his top to anything and everything – who knows what’s next to incur his wrath – perhaps even his riding boots won’t be spared.

Cases included:

Carlos Batres of Guatemala who apparently committed so many errors in one game: Paraguay v Spain (quarterfinals):
(i) disallowed Paraguay’s legitimate 1st goal;
(ii) the saved Paraguay penalty by Oscar Cardozo should’ve been retaken due to several Spanish players encroaching the area before the ball was kicked;
(iii) Spain should’ve been awarded another penalty for the foul on David Villa right after Xabi Alonso’s saved penalty.

Koman Coulibaly of Mali refereed the USA – Slovenia match in the group stage, then controversially denied the Americans a goal. The match ended 2-2.

Jorge Larrionda of Uruguay, who made what could be the most high-profile mistake of the tournament, when he didn’t count England’s goal against Germany, even though video replays showed the ball definitely went in.

Stephane Lannoy of France, who sent off Brazil’s Kaka for a harmless challenge during the group match with Ivory Coast.

Roberto Rosetti of Italy, who allowed Argentina’s disputed first goal against Mexico in the second round.

Will the best eye cream make them see better? Compare those with the worst ever refereeing mistakes ever committed during the World Cup finals.

World Cup 1986: The infamous Hand of God incident: it was the quarterfinals in Mexico City: England against Argentina. For Maradona’s second goal, he jumped up for a header and punched the ball over Peter Shilton. The referee, Ali Bennaceur of Tunisia failed to spot the crime and the goal stood. Maradona’s remembered most for this incident, even more than the fabulous first goal which he also scored.

World Cup 1982: France vs Germany semifinal. Michel Platini’s through ball cleared striker Patrick Battiston goalbound. Then German goalie Harald Schumacher crashed into his face, knocking him unconscious and breaking a tooth. Amazingly, the referee, Charles Corver of Holland not only not issued a booking nor a penalty, he awarded a goal kick instead! Germany went on to win the match.

World Cup 2006: Graham Poll of England is among the top 100 referees of all time according to International Federation of Football History and Statistics, and at that year’s world cup, he had been tipped to referee the final itself. His first 2 games were OK, however, in his 3rd game, which was the Croatia vs Australia match, he yellow carded Josip Šimunić of Croatia 3 times before finally realising his error and promptly sent him off. First it was in the 61st minute, then Poll carded him again for a tackle in the 90th, but failed to send him off. In the dying seconds of the game 3 minutes later, Šimunić argued with Poll, and received his “third” yellow card, this time followed by a red card. FIFA at first noted all 3 yellows in its match report, later removing the 2nd booking. As a result, Poll was removed from the knockout stage referee list. He retired from refereeing any international tournament finals after that. In his 2007 autobiography, Poll wrote that when he booked Šimunić for the second time, he had wrongly recorded him as “Australia #3″ because of Šimunić’s “Australian accent.”

So the Sacred World Cuppa Theory has gone down the drain after 48 years, or perhaps it hasn’t?

Maybe the theory need to be amended as follows:

Since 1962, European teams will triumph if the tournament is held in a time zone similar to Europe’s, otherwise, South Americans would.

So for 2010, since South Africa is in a similar time zone to Europe, a European team would lift the Cup.

————————————
5 July 2010

Uruguay has not won the World Cup for 60 years – I wonder if people who actually saw the match live are still around – if they do, they’re probably heavy users of face creams by now.

Even though they are 2-time world champions, on the face of it, Uruguay would seem to be headed for almost certain elimination in the semifinals on 6th July 2010 when they face mighty Holland.

However, there’s a thing called “The Sacred World Cuppa Theory” which had been proven right for 48 years, which says in gist:

Since 1962, Europe and South America would take turns to win the World Cup, and following along the same lines, whenever the tournament is held in Europe, a European team will win the Cup, but if anywhere else, a South American team will.

For this to be true, Uruguay will have to achieve 2 Mission Impossibles. First, it will have to defeat high-riding Netherlands in the semis. If they manage that, they’d then face off with either Germany / Spain in the final on 11th July.

One might say this will never happen, but after witnessing the several Mission Impossibles South Korea achieved in 2002, I’d say: nothing’s impossible.

Still not convinced / you’d rather ask Paul the Psychic Oberhausen Octopus?

Consider these cases:

World Cup 1994: Brazil v Italy final. It was the first ever World Cup final to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. Roberto Baggio took Italy’s fifth and last penalty, but skied his shot. To be fair to him Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro had already missed their penalties. But had he scored, Italy would’ve drawn level 3-3 and could’ve very well edged out Brazil – but as a little bird said, the Gods of World Cuppa descended from the heavens and made sure Baggio – the undisputed best Italian player during that world cup, the fourth-highest all-time top scorer for Italy, the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups – missed the most important kick of his whole career.

World Cup 2010: it was the quarterfinals and Brazil had already crashed out earlier. The Gods of World Cuppa must’ve known that Argentina and Paraguay would also follow suit the next day, and chose Uruguay to continue to be the torchbearer for South American football. So, on 2nd July 2010, at the final minute of extra time, Dominic Adiyiah’s goalbound header was stopped by Luis Suarez on the line, deliberately with his hands (hence the legend of the Second Hand of God was born). So Suarez was sent off, and Ghana awarded a surely match-winning penalty. So who’d be the best person to take it? Who else but the Black Stars’ top scorer Asamoah Gyan. As legend would have it, to be retold for generations to come, the Gods of World Cuppa descended from the heavens yet again, and lowered the goal’s crossbar by a few millimetres, resulting in Gyan’s penalty hitting it, to the utter dismay of the entire African continent.

If you’re caught by Islamist militants, you’d be lucky to escape with mere flogging in public.

Instead of watching matches, these gangs spend their time patrolling around looking for people to catch red-handed in front of a TV.

Just a few days ago, they killed 2 people caught watching a game in the privacy of their home.

Yes, their World Cup fever is slightly different.

Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aros, of Hizbul-Islam, one of the militant groups was quoted to have said:

We are warning all the youth of Somalia not to dare watch these World Cup matches. It is a waste of money and time and they will not benefit anything, not even get any experience by watching mad men jumping up and down.

Yes, folks, Mr Abdi Aros thinks Lionel Messi is a lunatic and Cristiano Ronaldo is basically a monkey in disguise.

Somali football fans are probably all squinty eyed, for they have one eye on the TV, and another on the door, while huddled under a massage table cart just in case them enforcers come crashing in.

Source
The BBC, 14 June 2010

In the 1970 final, with 5 minutes to go, Carlos Alberto scored Brazil’s fourth and final goal against Italy. Eight Brazilians in all were involved, representing The Beautiful Game at its level best. It started with Tostão from just outside Brazil’s penalty box, who then ran the entire length of the field into Italy’s penalty box, without ever touching the ball again. Meanwhile, Clodoaldo eluded 4 Italians while still in his own half, passed to Rivelino, who in turn passed to Jairzinho on the left, who then pushed inside and gave the ball to Pelé, who then did what’s been called the chess player’s move, as he waited calmly for the perfect moment before rolling it into the path of Carlos Alberto, who’d onrushed all the way from right back. His thundering shot was simply unstoppable – keeper Enrico Albertosi did not even manage to get a hand to it.

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Then, in the 1958 World Cup final, Pele, then only 17 years old, scored two goals, both in the second half. The first is probably the greatest goal ever scored in a final, where he lobbed the ball over Bengt Gustavsson, and followed that up with a pinpoint volley. And more than 50 years later, Pele’s records are still unbroken: the youngest to ever play in a World Cup final, the youngest to ever score in a World Cup final and of course the youngest to ever win a World Cup. Pele himself was quoted to have said that this was the sweetest victory of his glittering career.

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