Kevin KILBANE
AS THE final (and many) touches are being put to the stadium, opening ceremony and first game of Brazil 2014 in Sao Paulo, I will be landing in South America for the start of my World Cup adventure.
There are tens of thousands of miles to cover, from the east coast to the edge of the Amazon (twice) and five games in five different cities in the first 10 days. It promises to be hectic, joyous, maddening and slightly mad.
And I can’t wait to be a part of the biggest football party of them all.
My World Cup proper with the BBC starts with a return trip to Belo Horizonte on Saturday and the Estadio Mineirao, one of the oldest stadiums being used in Brazil.
This was one of the venues for the Confederations Cup last summer, and one of the first to be ready for the finals after extensive redevelopment and rebuilding. It has escaped many of the difficulties experienced across the country, particularly at the Sao Paulo Arena which is in a race against time to be ready for Thursday’s kick-off.
The opening game is next to the old stadium where England lost to the United States in 1950. It is a part of football history and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. The new one didn’t need much more work.
My first match is Colombia versus Greece. Even with Colombia’s star man Falcao missing, it is hard to see the Greeks pulling off a shock here.
His absence creates an opportunity for others to shine and two players in particular have the talent to take Colombia into the second round. And Colombia have been ranked in the top six FIFA rankings for the last two seasons, so they are no mugs, with or without the main man.
Falcao’s Monaco teammates James Rodriguez – or Hames to the locals – is a playmaker who can create the chances for Carlos Bacca. And Bacca has credentials. He was very impressive in Sevilla’s run to the Europa League and could be the man to step into Falcao’s boots.
Greece have not changed the blueprint which won them Euro 2004. They grind out results and rely on counter attacking and rigid defending.
Fernando Santos’s side scored just 12 goals but conceded only four in finishing second to Bosnia and Herzegovina and they will not change for these finals. I’m not sure the team spirit and lack of quality will see them through to the knock-outs.
From the south east of Brazil, we set off immediately for the IranNigeria game in Curitiba two days later.
The Arena de Baixada is one of three privately-owned stadiums and increasing the capacity to more than 42,000 has been hassle-free. It is an impressive looking sight in a modern and bustling city.
Iran v Nigeria is hardly a fixture to get the pulses racing so it is going to be fascinating to see how the locals take to the game, and the two teams.
My credentials for this particular job go back to my experiences playing against Iran twice, even if it was 12 years ago. They are not an easy team to research, as I discovered in the last fortnight.
Although we’ve seen glimpses of Fulham’s Ashkan Dejagah, there is little footage of qualifiers or even friendlies.
But they are the top team in Asia, with some stiff competition in these finals, and with former Manchester United assistant Carlos Queiroz in charge they will be extremely well organised.
Like Ivory Coast, Nigeria will have high hopes of reaching the quarterfinals. They have a very strong and experienced squad including Shola Ameobi, John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses. Emmanuel Emenike is a real threat in front of goal.
We travel north and inland to the capital Brasilia after that to catch Colombia’s second game, a showdown with Ivory Coast which is likely to decide the winners of Group C – and who will face Spain or Holland in the last 16.
This will be the second game at the Mane Garrincha Stadium. You’d imagine it will be slightly livelier than the Switzerland v Ecuador match which opens Brasilia’s tournament.
Two days later, we’ll be in Cuiaba after a long journey west to the point at the exact centre of South America. It looks about a finger’s length on most maps I’ve seen on World Cup wallcharts. It is an six-hour flight from Brasilia in reality to the edge of the Amazon.
On the face of it, Nigeria v Bosnia and Herzegovina is not the most exciting tie of the competition, but it will be decisive, assuming Argentina romp home in Group F. And if they do hit the ground running, Messi and Aguero could finish the group games with four or five goals. Each.
THE game in Cuiaba should be to decide the runners-up, and the possibility of meeting the winners of France’s group in the first knock-out round. I’ve just got a sneaking feeling that Bosnia will clinch second place.
My final group game is another three days later on June 24 when I will be in the infamous Arena Amazonia in Manaus.
Of all the destinations, this is the one I’m really looking forward to.
It is somewhere I am unlikely to visit again, and as well as experiencing the Amazon, I want to get an understanding of the controversy surrounding the stadium, which is unlikely to be used at its full capacity once we’ve all left. It might also justify all the injections and rabies shots I’ve had over the last year.
The game is Switzerland-Honduras – again my background with former Wigan team-mates Wilson Palacios and Maynor Figueroa will be invaluable – and it might not whet the appetite in comparison to the other final matches, but it could be a decisive one in deciding who will play Argentina.
After that, then I’m scheduled for a Last 16 game in Belo Horizonte. Group A winners versus Group B runners-up.
To Brazil . . .