The egos have landed, the hair gel and hair ties have been
meticulously put into place and tonight two of the world’s greatest players go
up against each other to decide who’ll be taking centre stage in next year’s
Nike ambush marketing campaign, and who’ll be ITV’s number one target for the
job of pretending Adrian Chiles isn’t a total moron at the World Cup next summer.
Yes it’s Zlatan versus
Cristiano, Ibrahimovic against Ronaldo, or to give the match its proper
title Portugal v Sweden. This match represents more though than two men and
their mediocre teams’ Freudian journey from Lisbon to the Copacabana.
It represents the divide in our culture between rock and
pop, between the desire to see the talents of the wanton libertine and the
pretty boy superstar, between the difficult unpredictable artist and the
ultimate artisan.
