The hype balloon deflates

After all those months of hype, Harry Kewell played one game of Football – and was red carded 25 minutes in. It looks like that will be it for Kewell, it’s doubtful Australia will make it to the Round of 16, and even more doubtful injury prone Kewell will be around for the 2014 World Cup (if Australia even qualifies for that one).

That’s the anti climatic nature of global sport’s tournaments, we spend the lead up months reading and watching commercials about the “Super Stars” of the game, only to reach the matches and find those stars...missing from the big action moments.

The Australian media was saturated with Cahill and Kewell (instrumental in the previous Cup), who have both been red carded.

I read lengthy interviews with Michael Ballack and Rio Ferdinand – only to see those gun players injured a few weeks before first kick off.

I must have seen that NIKE ”Write the Future” commercial a dozen times now. It stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan – a veritable who’s who of players underperforming, and even benched for this World Cup tournament.

But fuck, it’s still early days and those “champions” still have time to make an impact. If anything, this tournament will make a few household names out of lesser known players, as they step out of the shadows and make a proper go of it. I read of Messi, Veron, Mascherano, and Tevez going into the Argentina Korea game – but it was a 22 year old Gonzalo Higuain and his hat trick of goals that stole the show.

It all makes me a little nervous about Australia's future - we have the oldest team in the cup, and not a single player under 25 played last night.

Time will tell.