The Ball 2002

It is now.

The Ball has now returned back to England, but we’re not done with it quite yet – this site will continue to develop even though there’s no more Cup. As well as the continuing saga on video, there will be flashbacks to times we didn’t manage to write about, more on the real story of how football left home, and some extra eyecandy for you all. With a bit of luck, we’ll keep this site growing and changing until The Ball 2006 leaves for Germany in just under four years time.

World Cup 2002 RIP.

World Cup 2006 here we come: a new blog and another plan for a trip.

Roll on 2006!

Well, we eventually touched down in Paris, where we were met by a driver from Kirker Travel, who kindly donated Eurostar tickets for the two of us to get back to Ashford (where we’re to be picked up by Ben and hopefully driven straight to the nearest pub for a pint of proper ale). Rather sweetly, the driver was waiting with the following sign as we walked out of the arrivals gate…

Wake / Wach

How bright his star is shining

I was trying to think up tabloid headlines like ‘Kahn you believe it?’, ‘Ronaldo the Kahnivore’ to title this entry, but decided to keep it simple instead. Indeed, I’m only going to burden the world with another two points of game analysis. But before getting on to that, I have to say:

Congratulations to Brazil… commiserations to Germany… what a game that was…

So, The Boy Noble signs off at the end of a fantastic World Cup, from every perspective. The amazing results, the wonderful Japanese – who can’t be praised highly enough, and the fans from all round the world who were nothing but friendly, and from a personal point of view, it’s been absolutely fantastic – seeing my first England game is a moment I’ll never forget (even if the game might be)….