Stepping it up
When it comes to stars who have illuminated a competition, invariably it is an established master who has taken the competition by the scruff of the neck and stamped on it their own authority. The 1986 edition was undeniably the Maradona World Cup; no sooner had he been regaled for his ‘Hand of God’ than he went on to score, a few minutes later, what is regarded as the best-ever World Cup goal. The little man was a genius — and unstoppable.

Fast-forward to 2010 and he has someone who he has described as even better than himself, in Lionel Messi.

This little wizard, though, has flattered to impress in an Argentine short. If he gets it right, then, in his manager, he has the prefect example to try and emulate.


The same can be said of Cristiano Ronaldo; another super-talent who has yet to translate his glittering array of skills into a championship victory when donning national colours. Again, he has a compatriot for a reference.

Eusebio was the star of the 1996 tournament as Portugal lost out at the semi-final stage against to eventual winner, England. Even if Ronaldo were to click, would he be just be another Johan Cryuff or Hristo Stoichkov; driving his team forward but falling short, like Eusebio, when it mattered?

Cryuff, and his Dutch teammates, almost gatecrashed the German party in 1974, with their brand of ‘total football’.

Who knows that would have happened four years later when Holland again reached the final; Cryuff had stayed at home in protest against the military junta at the time ruling Argentina. Stoichkov was the man-in-form in 1994.

Rooney, like Messi and Ronaldo, is another megastar who has got the ability to set the World Cup alight. He’s more than capable of producing the sort of moment that Michael Owen delivered in 1998 against Argentina, to launch — quite literally with his speed — his career. Behind him is probably a better team than that enjoyed by Eusebio, Stoichkov or even Ronaldo.

In the search for a star, though, one team — and the only team to have played in every single World Cup — has consistently delivered the flair the viewing public adores. The star names just reel off the tongue; Pele, Jairzinho, Zico, Falcao, Socrates and the three ‘Rs’ — Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Romario. The main man for the South American giants in 2010 is Kaka. But like Messi and the Portuguese Ronaldo he’s yet to step up when in matters, in a Brazil shirt and at the World Cup.

He’s obviously got Pele as a source of inspiration; his performances in 1958 and 1970 driving the ‘Samba Kings’ to the ultimate prize. Inside Brazil, they’d also point to another player who, many acknowledge, won the World Cup single-handedly for his country in 1962, and rated just a good a player as Pele.

Known as the ‘little bird’, Manuel Francisco dos Santos — or Garrincha — required an operation as a child to allow him to walk. It still left him with ‘bow’ legs; one shorter than the other by a couple of inches. Perhaps this resulted in his carefree attitude to life that brought about an early death, at 49, from alcohol.

What he did, however, on a football pitch was the stuff of dreams. He only lost a game once during his 60 caps for Brazil; that was his last match at the 1966 World Cup when his team failed to progress beyond the stage. Even more remarkable is that, in 40 matches in which Pele and Garrincha were on the pitch, Brazil did not lose.

So, will it be Kaka, Messi, Ronaldo or Rooney who is capable of rising above the hype to produce a truly majestic display in South Africa? Or will it be a front man such as Drogba or an unknown, as Owen was in 1998, to bring the tournament to life? What’s for sure is we, the viewing public, want to be inspired and not treated to the star-less World Cups of 2002 and 2006.


Fashion Villains
The World Cup has always been an opportunity for brooding stars to be kitted out in the latest fashion trends. It can, though, go horribly wrong. Take 1986, for instance, when the shortest of shorts were all the rage; the Scottish team rated as the worst of the worst.

If any team, however, desires the prize for fashion villains it has to Mexico. They turned up in 1998 with a kit, supposed, designed to celebrate their Inca culture, on their shirts — not a good idea!

The king of bad taste, however, has to be Jorge Campos, the Mexican goalkeeper. Even for the rainbow nation of South Africa, his outfit in 1986 was a kaleidoscope disaster.