Time to pause for breath
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- Written by Donald Ramsay
The group stages of this summer’s world cup are done and dusted – effectively marking the halfway point of the greatest show on earth –and 16 teams remain for the knock-out stages.
The perceived wisdom among the football fraternity is that, so far, the extravaganza in Brazil has been highly (and perhaps refreshingly) entertaining.
By and large, the games have been relatively open affairs, with chances created and goals aplenty. (We currently stand at a fraction shy of an average of three goals per game, which is clearly testament to the attacking philosophy applied by most of the combatants.
he real World Cup experience can’t be found in Brazil, there I said it. Brazil seems to be hosting a fantastic tournament, don’t get me wrong. But this is just for a lucky minority. The real experience can be found in living rooms up and down the country and that is what I will be having this evening. 
It’s a funny old game indeed. Less than a week ago, according to reports, Roy Keane was on the verge of becoming Celtic manager. Martin O’Neill, Keane’s current boss at the Republic of Ireland and a man who enjoyed success at Parkhead a decade ago, did little to contradict that notion publicly, but a few days on, Keane is going nowhere, and Celtic have plumped for an unknown Norwegian instead.