"Diary From The 2022 FIFA World Cup" - An Introduction

Today's book under discussion was my first ever self-published book in April 2023 and here's a link to the paperback version:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C2SG69L3

The following is taken directly from the book and from part of the excerpt read here on this video:

"With the Premier League now closed until it re-opens again with the festive cheers of Boxing Day I am in somewhat of a quandary. I am in need of putting pen to parchment on all matters football and so I’m going to cover the coming World Cup, and all being well, in my own inimitable way.
I’ll start as I mean to go on by stating I won’t be covering any England games, unless they face France or the team that defeats Les Bleus or the team that defeats the team that defeats the team from the European continent.

I’ll explain why and how shortly. But as an Englishman you’d be forgiven for thinking that I’d be cheering on Gareth Southgate’s “Three Lions” (Trademark) but I haven’t cheered on an England football team in earnest since the sun kissed days of watching the 2002 Japan World Cup on the beautiful Greek island of Zakynthos (otherwise known as Zante) and mainly from the “Flamingo Bar”.

It may have been called “The Pink Flamingo Bar”, the memory is either excellent, failing or dropping me into a cinematic sex club, but we don’t have time for such matters of lurid discussion here, we have a French football team to report on.

Editor’s Note: Stephen has a faraway look in his eye whenever he recounts the events of that Greek holiday in the sun. It was a bar. It was a tedious 0–0 draw with Nigeria to qualify for the ignominy of *that* Ronaldinho goal for Brazil in the Quarter-Finals. It was watching South Korea astounding the world at 7am in a poolside bar next to the apartment. It was the Blue Caves. It was the evenings playing pool with the most beautiful lady in all the world. It was the spotting of turtles. It was the meeting of the two Manchester City fans whose names are lost to the mists of time. It was the drunken evenings and the avoidance of karaoke. It was an even more drunken evening as I tried to watch the US Open golf from the other side of the world. In a bar named The Flamingo or possibly The Pink Flamingo.

It was the evenings playing pool with the most beautiful lady in all the world.

So to rid myself from my albeit self imposed quandary, I requested a random number between 1 and 32 from my beautiful son and he plumped, at random, and knowing zero as to the meaning of the choosing of this random number, the number 13, and that’s why I’m reporting on France this winter in the ludicrously timed Qatar World Cup.

The rationale was simple:
Taking Group A, Team A to be  Qatar, they were allocated Number 1 and Group A, Team B Number 2  which was Ecuador, and so with England being Number 5 (Group B, Team A) and South Korea (Group H, Team D) being Number 32, hence from 8 Groups of 4 we have 32 numbers and purely at random and with my son picking Number 13, this became Group D, Team A and so, completely at random, I’m following and reporting on France this winter".

From the dedication, thanks and introduction covered in Part 1 here, 3 further "Parts" will follow in future videos that cover the rest days in the tournament between the Round of 16 and the Quarter-Finals, then between the end of the Quarter-Finals and the beginning of the Semi-Finals before Part 4 ends with my detailed appreciation of a quite incredible World Cup Final on 18th December 2022 between Argentina and France.

All of which is to come!

As you would expect I'm incredibly proud of this self-published book and following over a decade of writing many hundreds of blog articles on many and varied themes, I've finally found my calling!

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