Surprise us

When the World Cup kicks off in South Africa today,the only safe wager is that the fanhood of football will grow yet more. Football effortlessly conquers new territories,and they who do not have a national or local club to call their own eagerly embrace players and teams of countries that otherwise count for little in their lives. In fact,there is something to be said about the romance of going into a World Cup without the partisan considerations of having a team in the fray and instead looking to adopt one,or more.

For many that team will be Brazil. For all the opprobrium being heaped on their coach Dunga,captain of the 1994 squad that lifted the Cup,for discarding the extravagances of Samba football for the quicker passes of the European game,the bookmakers favourites will also be the worlds. But on who the individual hero of World Cup 2010 will be,the jury had better be out. Favourites like Didier Drogba are out,but it is a way with the Cup that the man of tournament comes unannounced. Remember Toto Schillaci? Whod heard of him before Italy 1990? Or after?

In their book Soccernomics,Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski tell the amazing story of Marcos,goalkeeper in the Brazil squad that won the 2002 title. Marcos turned down a big club contract right after,saying hed been carrying a wrist injury for a couple of years. When he was suddenly inducted into the World Cup team,he kept thinking hed tell his coach that he was in too much pain to play. But hed keep putting off the revelation,till it transpired that he had defended goal right through for the champions. Thats what the World Cup does to some folks.