Quintessential Mutterings In The Sonosphere

We in the UK have been in the midst of a heatwave; supposedly, this June was the warmest June on record, and every day I have been sweating in areas that have never sweated before. I’m not going to go into graphic detail, of course. You may be eating a sandwich or having some soup while reading this blog, but all I will say is that my body has been like an inflated paddling pool with a puncture. Now, in hot weather, people may venture to the pub to get themselves more dehydrated with beer and cider. I do like a beer, I like many a beer when the night is right, but it has felt too hot to drink, and when I try to have a drink, I end up having a couple of sips, I actually enjoy, and everything afterwards is just dismay and regret. Another thing people like to do in hot weather is go to watch a band play or go to a music festival, like what many a champagne socialist did last week at Glastonbury. Of course, it isn’t my intention to get overtly political on this blog, but if I were a musical artist, I would rather want a crowd to remember my performance for the music and not for a chant demanding the death of someone or a group. I understand Glastonbury is one of those festivals where artists have the freedom to express themselves, but express yourself with the music you play. Don’t turn it into a political rally for the left or the right, just play some good fucking music.

So, rant over, back to the point of this blog. I decided not to go and watch any bands or live music, which left me with the third option I had to pass the time, which was to watch the football. I have been following the newly revamped FIFA Club World Cup, and in all honesty, I have enjoyed it. I was sceptical at first, with the mindset that most Europeans came into the tournament with that it was a pointless tournament that no one would take seriously, and it only exists for FIFA to line their pockets. While yes, I still believe that this tournament was created as a cash grab, which has severely backfired by the look of things with FIFA probably going to take a loss on the tournament barring the DAZN *cough* Saudi *cough* brodcasting investment, this tournament has actually been quite intresting mainly due to the Brazilian teams doing quite well in the tournement and some real shocks. Botofogo beat PSG, Flammengo beat Chelsea and gave Bayern Munich a tough game, and they are the two Brazilian teams who have been knocked out; the other two are in the quarter finals. There is also Al Hilal drawing with Real Madrid and knocking out Man City out of the tournament, despite Man City being touted as one of the favourites. And all these shocks are happening despite the European teams, who have been playing against strong teams in most games. With all these shocks, I was trying to find a reason why all these shocks were happening. Is it just luck, or is it just that these teams are more suited to the climate of an American Summer?

One of the main talking points of this tournament has been the weather. Most of, if not all, of the games have been played in temperatures over 30°C, which, for a sport where most of the players are running around for 90 minutes, just isn’t healthy, even if you are a professional athlete. And instead of playing most of the games at night, which would be more sensible and what all the MLS teams are doing in their league matches at the moment, games are being played during the afternoon, which is the hottest part of the day, mainly due to making the tournament more accessible to a prime time European audience. And then, of course, there is the lightning. America is a hotbed for thunderstorms, and at least half a dozen games have been suspended due to nearby lightning strikes. The worst example was the Chelsea-Benfica match, which was suspended for 2 hours with the match clock at 86 minutes (I know Benfica-Auckland City was a longer delay, but the game wasn’t as deep in the latter stages as this one was). Now is this foreshadowing what will happen next year when the national teams play their World Cup in the USA next year which will be played around the whole of America and its variety of different time zones, and not predominantly on the East Coast, which has been the case this year.

Now, this won’t be the first time the World Cup is played in North America. The 1994 World Cup in the USA is the most recent example, while Mexico hosted the World Cup twice, in 1970 and 1986. In 1994, there was a heatwave and temperatures in some games reached 40 degrees, and games were still being played during the daytime to suit the European audience, and it was the same with both of the Mexican tournaments. Do I believe America should not be hosting the World Cup? Well, in my belief, they can, but they would never do it during the winter months because of the snow threat and the American Football season taking up all the best stadiums and FIFA will not allow them to have games at night as that would affect European viewing figures and it will not maximise revenue. If this Club World Cup is anything to go by, I am now incredibly sceptical of next year’s World Cup and believe that FIFA need to put the welfare of the players and teams before they line their pockets, otherwise things might reach a boiling point.

This Sunday, I will be releasing chapter 2 of Rocky Beach, where we will meet Ebenezer Goode and get to understand why this Bloodless group want to destroy him. Until then, I would like to thank you for reading this blog, and I hope you have a great rest of the week.