Graecii

In the histories of the world, apart from the besotted tales of the English and Romans (two world empires claiming the blessings of a third), it's interesting to see how much glory is given to Greece. The Greeks invented little, but parlayed what they did into the highest order of logic and literature.

And that is all we can remember them for, apart from a third thing: lying. They were very good at it, even proverbially so. Paradoxes, prevarication, and public relations were their strengths; Alexander, their prodigal heir, named at least a dozen cities after himself — look for all the places named 'Alexandria'. While running monarchies, dictatorships, tyrannies and all kinds of pseudo-republics, they gave a name to freedom (eleutheria) and the will of the people (demokratia).

They preferred to call themselves the Hellenes (and still do to this day), but the Romans called them the Grey Ones and their enemies called them worse. After 300 years of high achievement, they have left us only with Sophocles, Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Homer, Plato and a handful of others — and that only because of the aforementioned capacity for public relations. After all, Plato gave us his master Socrates and we know little else about him from other sources; Aristotle followed, and gave us his disciple Alexander of Macedon.

Why should we remember the Greeks? Ah, let us rememember the silver mines of Laureion outside Athens. Thus it was that Athens invented the central bank, and look where they are right now.

Whose World? What Cup? (Day 12a)

And here we go, into one of the World Cup groups with the least tension ever... we all know Argentina will qualify unless Greece stage a great upset and beat them heavily, but who will be runner-up in that group? If Nigeria beat South Korea and Greece lose (as currently expected), the West Africans will go through to the next round, there to meet Uruguay.

Can Greece win, though? It certainly looks beyond them. On a fortunate occasion, Greece could beat either of the other sides (and actually have, in Nigeria's case). But against an in-form Argentina, it looks unlikely; Argentina have been effective enough so far, and look to be getting more so.

Can Greece even qualify? Yes, if they do better than South Korea; that is, they have to win if South Korea draw, draw if South Korea lose, and not lose themselves.

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At half-time, the scores are 0-0 between Argentina and Greece, 1-1 between Nigeria and South Korea. In the latter game, the Asians are using their lower centre of gravity to good effect, physically out-manoeuvring the taller Africans by changing direction and nipping into space faster. Nigeria scored first, though — they are faster in straight lines given time to accelerate, and a direct cross into the box resulted in a goal.

Meanwhile, I think Argentina is displaying a certain lack of cohesion; they have many options and much talent, and aren't being very accurate or responsive to each other. Greece, on the other hand, has one simple strategy — get the ball behind the two isolated central defenders, break the offside trap and score. It might work, since it doesn't seem to require so much brain power.

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Well, Nigeria and South Korea redoubled their efforts, with predictable results: 2-2 at full time. South Korea go through because Argentina found their extra gear and strolled out 2-0 winners over Greece in the last 10 minutes of their game. And Messi still hasn't scored!

Whose World? What Cup? (Day 07)

Watching Argentina demolish South Korea 4-1 wasn't really the triumph of guile over graft, as some might simplify it. Rather, it was the sudden understanding that the Korean goalkeeper could not shift attention from one side to the other quickly (how many can?) and neither could his defenders. Kudos to Higuain for scoring a hattrick; it was awful to watch him miss so many chances in the previous game.

Greece against Nigeria next. Most people will see this as a clash of European against African. But most people forget that Greece was last dominant in the time of Alexander the Great, about 300 years before the Christian era. Nigeria's kingdom of Benin held sway from the 15th to 19th centuries in West Africa; it was only defeated in 1897 by the British. Nigeria's last kingdom fell in 1911.

Today, Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation, and continues to be the most powerful nation in West Africa; its projected economic growth approaches 9% per annum, and its influence level within Africa is one of the highest. Greece is a backwater third-world state which can only squat in the ruins of the glorious past (17 UNESCO World Heritage sites) and dream of a blind poet named Homer; its projected economic growth is negative, and it no longer has any positive influence in its continent.

Maybe France vs Mexico will inspire more.