Global Is Beautiful

The World Cup epitomises football at its very best—a unifying force in a world too often fighting against itself

- Oliver Young-Myles

YOU never forget your first World Cup. At least I never have. I can picture it now. A fresh-faced and twinkle-toed Michael Owen, dancing around a pack of Argentine defenders as if they were little more than stationary training cones, before lashing the ball into the roof of the net. Watching Owen light up the greatest tournament of them all through a thick fog of smoke in an old east London pub at the age of seven (my Mum might not be happy with my public retelling of this story) is one of the enduring memories of my childhood. Looking back now, it was at that precise moment that I fell in love with the beautiful game.

Football had entered my stream of consciousness before an 18-year-old Owen scored one of the greatest, if ultimately futile, individual goals in the history of the competition, yet it was France ’98 that seared the game onto the brain on a permanent basis. It’s not presumptuous to assume that other memorable moments at the World Cup have had a similarly transformative affect on many fans. David Beckham’s redemptive penalty kick against Argentina in 2002, Ronaldo’s glorious return in the same competition, Fabio Grosso’s eye-popping celebrations after sending Italy into the final in 2006, Siphiwe Tshabalala’s wonder-goal in the opening game for South Africa in 2010, Andres Iniesta’s poignant tribute to his friend Dani Jarque after scoring the winning goal, and James Rodriguez emerging as a world-class star in 2014 are all magical moments I can recall vividly.

There are hundreds more going further back in time: Just Fontaine’s 13 goals in one World Cup, Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick aided by a Russian linesman, Gordon Banks’s save from Pele, Carlos Alberto’s goal, Gazza’s tears, Zidane’s World Cup final goals, Zidane’s headbutt!