Warning: the daily grind could seriously damage your enjoyment of
World Cup 2002. To make sure that none of you miss out, Mark Lewis
offers this essential guide to keeping up with the action while
shackled to your desk.
When the 2002 World Cup begins on 31 May there will be no excuse
for confusing your Beckhams with your Batistutas, or your Keanes
with your Kanus. Where once we had to rely on TV and radio to keep
up with the action, now we can surf the Internet - and pull off a
passable impression of being hard at work as we do so.
Watching live online scorecards ticking over can never match the
thrill of watching a game on television with a beer in your hand
and the dulcet tones of Motty in your ears. That said,
soccer-related Internet offerings are becoming ever more
sophisticated, informative and imaginative. Come June, you will be
able to follow every diving save, every scything tackle and every
blinding goal as it happens half a world away.
Technology doom-mongers are predicting that corporate networks
across the UK will buckle as users start to log on to football
sites in droves. But, hey, that's something for your network team
and its telecoms supplier to worry about. This is World Cup year,
after all, and one has to get one's priorities right.
We have pulled together a selection of amusing and informative Web
sites that will guide you through the action. So sit back, log on
and enjoy the spectacle of the world's greatest sporting event from
the comfort of your ergonomically designed chair - but remember to
adopt the furrowed brow of a workaholic when the boss walks by.
Wallpaper and wallcharts
www.worldcupwallchart.com
Download the excellent Fibonacci World Cup wall chart, and you can
organise an office sweepstake through your intranet.
www.soccer-desktop.com/frontpage.asp
Offers a wide choice of football-related screensavers, wallpaper
and hotbars.
www.worldstadiums.com
Wallpaper your desktop with images of Seoul's Sang-Am WC Stadium,
the Dome Stadium in Sapporo and other match venues.
A taste of the Orient
If you cannot be in Japan or
Korea, at least you can see what you are missing by visiting these
sites:
www.jnto.go.jp/eng
Tour the Japanese tourist board's site for long enough and you will
swear you can smell cherry blossom and taste sushi.
http://zish.tour2korea.com
The Hahoe Mask Dance Drama explained in more detail than is
healthy, plus great images of Korea.
www.sumo.or.jp/eng/index.php
What could make for better onscreen wallpaper than a fat bloke in a
nappy?
www.asahibeer.co.uk
Japanese food, philosophy and fun, along with UK stockists of the
nation's finest brew.
One-nil to the Eng-erlund!
Short of rousing the whole
IT department into a chorus of "here we go, here we go here we
go!", the following sites could prove your only means of generating
some aural atmosphere come the start of the tournament.
www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/football606_topten.shtml
Features the Anfield Rap and other footie-related musical
atrocities.
www.mobiletones.com/soccertonessonglist.php3?team=0
When someone calls you, your phone plays the Match of the Day theme
tune. Magic!
www.the-fa.org
Wow your colleagues with the downloadable preview of Ant and Dec's
official World Cup song.
Fancy a flutter?
No need to traipse down to the
bookies - get the form online. At the time of writing, bet365.com
was offering 12/1 on an England win, and 66/1 for a Republic of
Ireland victory. Totalbet.com, meanwhile, was offering 11/1 for
Michael Owen to be the competition's top scorer.
www.ws1.willhill.comwww.ladbrokes.comwww.totalbet.comwww.sportingodds.comwww.paddypower.comwww.bluesq.comwww.bet365.comIt's a funny old game
Humour can be a great antidote
to pre-match nerves. The following sites are guaranteed to raise a
smile.
www.footballjokes.co.uk
Check out the anagrams of famous players such as "A livid gonad"
(David Ginola) and "He'd shag dirty men" (Teddy Sheringham).
www.sports-quotes.com/soccer
"Our fans have been branded with the same brush," "Football's
football, if that weren't the case it wouldn't be the game that it
is," and other gigglesome Colemanballs.
www.uglyfootballers.com
Cruel but funny rogues' gallery of mullets, injuries, streakers and
downright ugly blokes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/funny_old_game/default.stm
The World Cup bra and other tales from football's Far Side.
www.laughfc.co.uk
An Aladdin's cave of jokes, quotes and chants.
Glory, glory hallelujah!
Should your interest in the
competition dwindle long before cup final night, there are always
past glories to fall back on.
www.the-english-football-archivecom/england/world_cup_1966.htm
The story and the stats of the 1966 World Cup.
www.bobbymooreonline.co.uk
Make a beeline for the "1966 and all that" section.
They think it's all over
But there's always the next
World Cup! Check out
www.dfb2006.de
to see how preparations are progressing for Germany 2006.
Football facts at your fingertips
Most of the following
sites will offer SMS and e-mail alerts plus team news and live
scorecards.
www.fai.ie
The Republic of Ireland's official site. The Fan Diary could make
interesting reading.
www.the-fa.org
Exclusive video coverage from the England camp on this, the
official FA site.
www.fifaworldcup.com
The official site of the 2002 tournament. It will be hard to beat
for real-time information, and will offer video highlights.
http://bunkoff.umbro.com
A "Boss Alert" function could be a job-saver.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002
Plans to stream Match of the Day punditry.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2002
Authoritative and big on bandwidth.
www.football365.com
Danny Kelly rants and much, much more.
www.soccernet.com/worldcup
The World Cup countdown on the homepage alone is enough to get
footie fans salivating.
www.sportinglife.com
The daddy of UK sports journalism.
Television and radio coverage via your PC
There will be
no live streaming of this year's World Cup, so fans wanting to
watch the 2002 tournament online will have to make do with
four-minute paid-for highlights packages that will be posted on the
Fifa site several hours after each match's final whistle. A flat
fee of $19.95 (£14) will buy fans access to highlights of all
matches in the tournament.
Meanwhile, the BBC will stream its in-studio Match of the Day
experts after every England and Republic of Ireland match.
On radio over the Internet, Radio 5 Live will be covering some of
the games and bringing match reports and news throughout the World
Cup.
Alternatively, TalkSport will not only have match reports but also
has a betting section where you can have a flutter on your
favourites.
Further information
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/pr/spl.htmlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002bsp/tv_and_radio/default.stmwww.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/worldcupwww.talksport.net