“Liveblogging” World Cup 2006: Opening Ceremony

Eeeks. The opening ceremony has been terribly boring so far (unless you happen to like looking at old men parading around the stadium), but that’s to be expected I guess. How many opening ceremonies are actually worth watching anyway?

So, let’s just jump to the background of this year’s host. For the history buffs, if Germany manages to somehow win this year, and thus win at home for the second time, it’ll be a thing for the history books. No country has ever won the World Cup at home twice.

Of course, they’re definitely not favourites (for winning the WC) now. But then, when they won at home for the first time in 1974, they weren’t exactly favourites either. Good yes, but a mere sideshow to what was called the Dutch masterclass then.

Tonight, they’ll start their first match against Costa Rica - a country which they’ve never had an senior international match against ever. This shouldn’t mean nuts since Germany should cruise past this match (heck, this is only Costa Rica’s third appearance in the WC, and its players have admitted that they’d be happy to get past the first round), but then… opening matches in the World Cup rarely go according to plan.

Note: Post will be updated as the ceremony progresses. If you’re not watching the ceremony yet, catch it on Channel 83, ASTRO. If you want to skip straight to Germany vs. Costa Rica, wait till 11.50pm. Or, you could catch the 3am match.

Note 2: Post has ended, but the WC2006 blogging continues over at the next post on Germany vs. Costa Rica.