As club football came to an extremely entertaining halt, with the conclusion of our favourite annual competition, the Champions League.

 

The ref blows the whistle. Real Madrid have just won their third consecutive Champions League. Crushing Liverpool in the final 3-1.

A result which may paint an ignorant picture of yet another predictable season, but how far from that it actually was.

From Man City’s unbeaten run only to fall hard to a team they smashed 6-0 at the beginning of the season. To Real Madrid’s absolutely terrible start to the season after comprehensively beating Barca over 2 clasico’s. Man Utd being embarrassingly dumped out of the UCL by Sevilla. Roma’s unforgettable and almost impossible comeback against Barca in the UCL. And Juventus almost doing the same to Real. 

 

This season was unlike any season before. This season had a completely different energy to anything we’ve ever experienced. Absolutely nothing was predictable the entire season. 

 

Who ever thought Real would come through that terrible start and win?! Who ever thought a humble Egyptian would outclass nearly every player on the planet including the 2 gods who haven’t been challenged in years?! 

Who ever thought Guardiola, genius as he may be, would win the premier league by just about 20 points?!

 

Anyway, as this insanely turbulent season came to a halt. We all swapped our crests for flags. Flags of countries most of us haven’t even been to, but all by force as Bafana so predictably let us down again. 

Regardless of that though, nothing would change the fact that we were about to watch the best football competition on the planet. 

Many people would argue against this due to the often proved gulf in quality football compared to the UCL. 

But the World Cup is more than football. 

The World Cup is the spiritual battleground of great nations. The winner is not just celebrating a sporting achievement, they’re celebrating the effective triumph of a world war. A world war that makes us feel alive rather than dead. 

 

The unpredictability of the club season followed through seamlessly into the World Cup. And what a World Cup it created! 

 

Symbolised truly by the first final appearance by Croatia. That, amazon as it was, is half the story. Germany the World Cup & Confed Champions, and favourites to take the cup again were humbled in their group, suffering 2 massive defeats which left them dumped out in the first stage. 

 

There were upset after upset. Betting on games became an impossible task as nobody knew what would happen. All our genius and expertise on this beautiful game had become irrelevant. Who could predict what would happen next. 

 

A favourite though, in France, did manage to win the World Cup. Just about the only predictable thing to happen the entire season. 

 

This is what the makes the beautiful game so beautiful. We never know what to expect even though we all claim to know. 

 

Here’s to next season. Let’s hope the underdogs continue to revel in the face of falling giants.