For me, life is lived in four-year intervals. The first real World Cup I count for myself was in 2006. I was seventeen and a wise guy.
I don’t count 1994. I don’t remember a thing even though it was the year of Roger Miller, Cameroun and Africa’s greatest football player. The only thing I remember is the symbol that my uncle drew on our cupboard that he made. It reads “94 US World Cup.”
I don’t count 1998. I was too young to really understand it even though it was when Ronaldo made his debut on the world stage. I remember another name too: Zinedine Zidane but I won’t count that.
I only watched a single match of 2002 and I listened to bits and pieces of another on the radio. Such was our unfortunate lot in the world at the time to be the only family in the neighborhood with a TV set. The only thing that I remember from that World Cup was that it was held in Korea and Japan. And, I remember seeing a proper David Beckham corner kick for the first time.
It was 2006 that was the real deal though. I was in high school. I think this was the year that I got evidence there is somebody up there and he actually listens. I was in boarding school and although there was a single TV, none of us truly expected to get the privilege to watch the World Cup. And out of the blue, the principal announced that we could watch the games – the ones that did not cut into class time.
The joy in the assembly court was palpable. There is a famous Kenyan song that talks about crying in different languages. I think I understood its meaning. I speak three languages. I must have cried in all of them. And I think when I finished crying, I must have cried in Chinese, Hindi and Chinese again.
The 2006 World Cup was good. I watched the World Cup in 2010 as well and it was good and strange. Mostly strange because I watched it in a country where nothing came to a standstill even though the television was brimming with great matches.
The World Cups that I have watched have been good and some very good. I am still waiting for a great one. What makes a World Cup truly great? I remember reading something somewhere that has stuck with me to this very day. For a World Cup to be truly great it needs a Diego Maradona, one who completely dominates the field and single handedly wins the World Cup for his country. For a World Cup to be truly great you need to see the genius of a Pele who outshines all other geniuses.
Enough said. Brazil 2014, I wait for you and I expect great things.
