The World Cup: 5 Players to Watch
The World Cup, which begins June 11, will make stars and break them. It will bring some names to households and have others become curse words.
So here is an entirely unscientific prognostication of five players who will come out with their names emblazoned in lights and enveloped in the songs of angels.
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Here's what these World Cup finals will reveal about the undisputed best player in the world: How Argentinean is he? Messi has lived in Spain since he was 13, and plays for Barcelona. The whispers in Argentina are that he doesn't feel all that much of an Argentine citizen any more. And that he isn't terribly fond of coach Diego Maradona. Maradona's hand is most famous for having directed the ball (at the behest, it is said, of God) into the net during the 1986 World Cup against England. His head, however, has never proved to be all that adept at, well coaching. Indeed, he'd never been a head coach until Argentina put him in charge in 2008.
The World Cup needs Messi to inspire a whole new generation. And Messi needs to show that the brilliantly negative tactics used by Inter-Milan-- they pressed him so hard that it seemed like he was playing in a cupboard-- to snuff him out of the European Champions League don't always work.
2. Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)
There is one step Sneijder has yet to take. The one that suggests he can take control of a game.
He has the skill and, it appears, the temperament. And yet he struggled to establish himself in the madhouse that is Real Madrid. There again, Phil Spector might not even appreciate the madhouse that is Real Madrid. Sneijder's time, now that he is with Inter-Milan, may well have come. Just as music master Spector's has gone.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Oh, he's a poser, a preener, a legend of the body hair removal industry. He has recently been seen almost perpetually in underwear. First modeling Emporio Armani's very tight briefs and then on the front cover of Vanity Fair. But Real Madrid's striker can turn a game just as he turns the heads of sophisticated women like Kim Kardashian.
Some say that his stepover moves have now become predictable. But if he can cut out the diving and conniving, he can establish himself as more than just a pretty, well, you insert the noun.
4. Fernando Torres (Spain)
It was impossible to take David Beckham seriously after he wore a skirt on an evening out with his wife in the mid-1990s. However, it was almost equally difficult to take Torres seriously when he kept playing in a headband to keep his blond locks from getting into his eyes.
Still, despite his slight build, Torres enjoys the body control of Lady Gaga and can score with a will not seen since Heather Mills muscled her way into Paul McCartney's life. It's not that he is the very quickest, but his speed of thought often turns defenders into mannequins. Torres has the kind of players around him who can make him look even better than Madonna's bicep machine. Torres, who has been hobbled by a knee injury, is expected to play Tuesday in a warm-up game against Poland.
5. Maicon (Brazil)
Why on earth would you want to watch a defender? Well, Maicon isn't your normal defender.
He wafts forward, as if he understands that it's only by wafting forward that people will notice him. In this, he follows in the great Brazilian tradition of Carlos Alberto and Roberto Carlos. Yes, Maicon doesn't seem to have a Carlos in his name. In fact, his real name is Douglas. Douglas Sisenando, to be precise. But, in a squad built for effectiveness rather than beauty, he might be the most creative Brazilian on the field.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing, and an avid sports fan. He is also the author of the popular CNET blog Technically Incorrect.