It’s funny, every fourth year everyone suddenly seems to become a sports fan. OK, maybe not everyone, but certainly people seem to discuss sport a great deal more than usual during this time.

I rarely watch Olympic events but do make an exception for sports I might watch anyway. The exception to my exception so far has been brief but has included the table tennis final (mostly because it’s the Chinese Olympics, and China was in it, and it was on after something I was already watching) as well as the tennis final.

Other sports I’ve watched, and watch every now and then include boxing and cycling. Track and field, gymnastics and the even more obscure “sports” (dressage, I’m looking at you) are right out.

For me, though, the Olympics has really been another football (futbol, soccer, whatever) World Cup. The aforementioned viewing comes to maybe a couple of hours but I’ve watched at least three or four football matches. Mens, womens, whatever.

This evening, Argentina and Brazil play in a semi-final with the winner playing one of Nigeria and Belgium (who are playing this very moment; I suspect Nigeria will win). The Argentina/Brazil match will be, I expect, the highlight of tournament and probably more interesting than the likely Argentina/Nigeria final which will probably result in Argentina winning (again).

So, bring on the 2012 British Olympics World Cup!

When Australia played Uruguay in November, I watched the last 20 minutes. It ended up being the most exciting 20 minutes to watch, if one were to catch a 20 minute span of the soccer. A mere qualification is cause for Australian soccer to celebrate, since we’re hardly a world player at soccer.

When Australia played Japan on the 12th I, watched the whole thing, and expected Australia would lose to the superior Japanese team. Obviously I was wrong.

When Australia played Brazil on Sunday, I slept. It was probably a good thing too, because we’re crap and Brazil aren’t. Did anyone really think Australia — who hadn’t even been in a World Cup for 32 years — stood a chance against five-time champions Brazil?

I’m getting to the point, hang on.

What’s interesting is that the whole country seems caught up in the whole thing. Well, maybe not the whole country, but a lot of people are flying Australian flags on their cars, or talking about soccer, or wearing green and gold… things.

I wonder why, though. People didn’t seem to be as caught up with Australian-ness during the recent Commonwealth Games (yes, I realise the image in that linked post is missing; no, I can’t be bothered to fix it), or the Olympic Games, though they were obviously enamoured with the event as a whole.

It doesn’t happen for, say, the Ashes. So why are people so excited about the World Cup? Is it because Australia’s been so crap for so long people are suddenly interested? Surely not, Australia doesn’t stand a chance. Or is it because because there are hundreds of thousands of closet soccer fans? Hardly; people I speak to think the game is boring.

Nevertheless, I will be following Australia’s progress, as long as their matches are on at a reasonable time. Why the organisers put their matches on when it’s not convenient for me is baffling. Why wasn’t I consulted?