"Nessun Dorma'': In England, None Shall Sleep

I’m quite partial to a good game of soccer.

And I really began to appreciate and enjoy the sport when I lived in London. It was 2006, the year of the last World Cup and I was surrounded by soccer mad fans at work and all around. You could not help but get caught up in the frenzy of it all.

There are a number of teams I love and will root for (including the All Whites of course), but there is one team, I’ve always had a soft sport in my heart for that is England. Even when they have been the underdog, I’ve cheered them on in the hope that they would triumph.

But there is one thing that truly disappoints me when it comes to English Soccer. And it’s not the sport.

I hate to see, the “S” in Soccer being replaced by Sandal, Slappers, Spin Doctors and Sensationalism all lacing the pockets of people to who really have no place on the playing field of the sport.

WAGS, Ex-WAGS and Wandering Willies and Wise PR Owls seem to have gained more prominence in "Fleet Street" reporting machine than what an actual good game of footie deserves.

I won’t comment on whose right or wrong in the whole John Terry scandal (though admittedly, it would be rude not to think of his wife). But I will say that the only ones benefiting from it all are the PR artillery and Fleet Street brigade who are probably laughing all the way to the bank.

And their good fortune is England’s demise.

Once again it appears like England’s hopes of resurrecting the glory and passion of the 1966 World Cup are fragile - crumbling under the pressure of scandal.

John Terry may have displayed fine form playing for Chelsea against Arsenal in the English Premier League on the weekend, but scandal has sealed his fate. He’s not just wearing the hat of shame now, but the hat of blame. And blamed he will be, particularly if England does badly in the cup.

The real shame of course is that this big distraction is spelling doom. And the first ball hasn’t even been kicked in South Africa.

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