The football could still be brilliant; I'm leaning against this as I don't really think the players are very well prepared or focused on it, but stranger things have happened.
However, it's very clear now that the the World Cup is about more than what happens on the pitch. Like it or not, the tournament IS a political football and on ethical, social, and humanitarian levels, the tournament is already a failure.
Was Italia '90 brilliant?
I'd put it to you that the football was awful. Apart from England doing surprisingly well, where were the good matches? On the pitch, it was a tournament of negative football, low scoring, and cynical fouls fouls from the first match until the final. I'd have it a close tie with South Africa 2010 as the worst world cup from a purely footballing perspective that I can remember.
As a kid, I loved it: the first world cup I really remember. However, almost all my memories, other than England, are of things other than football: Pavarotti, the glamorous stadia (which I've said elsewhere look really shabby by comparison now), Gazza crying, World in Motion. Normally after a tournament, I can picture a dozen or so goals in my head. Italia 90 I can recall goals in England matches, Cameroon vs Argentina, and virtually nothing else that happened on the pitch.
