Sport

The Confederations Cup is just too sexy

RIGHT Said Fred's 1992 number one hit Deeply Dippy - which shines a light on hard-hitting issues such as setting sail for seas of passion, and legs that go on for miiiiiiiilllees and miiiiiiiilllees - concludes with the Richard Fairbrass (right) uttering the immortal line: 'I'm taking a hike to Tahiti'.

What relevance has that to the sporting week, I hear you ask. Well, that reference to Tahiti is literally the last time I have heard mention of French Polynesia's largest island (thanks Wikipedia, the donation's in the post) - and I haven't listened to that song in easily, like, a week.

Until, that is, the Confederations Cup kicked off in Brazil on Saturday evening. Then it was Tahiti this, Tahiti that.

The Pacific Islanders are currently ranked 138th in the world and, if we're being even more pacific, 22 places behind Norn Iron (hang your head in shame, Tahiti). Crucially though, they are 12 places ahead of Aruba, who I hadn't heard of since John Fashanu used to give them a shout out at the end of Gladiators every week.

At the start of their coverage of the Confederations Cup, generously described as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, RTE showed some of the greatest moments from all of the participating countries - Nigeria's exploits in 1994, Andres Iniesta's World Cup-winning goal for Spain in 2010, Fabio Grosso's Tardelli impersonation in 2006.

Then there was Tahiti, whose highlight reel looked like a shaky Nokia 6310 recording taken at some dilapidated council pitches on a Saturday morning. But hey, it's the done thing to say they deserve to be there as much as everybody else, so who am I to argue, eh?

While the Tahitians begin their campaign with a just-as-much-right-to-be-there-as-everybody-else thrashing at the hands of Nigeria today, Saturday night's fare was all about the hosts, Brazil, as they took on Japan at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia.

RTE showed deferred coverage of the whole game, with Richie Sadlier and a distracted looking Ronnie Whelan providing the analysis. Maybe Ronnie was thinking about that goal against Russia, scored 25 years ago to the day? Remember, that goal that came off his shin? That was only a joke Ronnie.

But I prefer my analysis pedestrian and uninformative, so I opted for the highlights programme on BBC later in the evening and the company of bland leader Alan Shearer and Robbie Savage, with Martin Keown in the commentary box alongside Steve Wilson an added bonus.

It wasn't long until the crowd got what they wanted either, as Brazilian golden boy Neymar opened the scoring with a screamer three minutes in after a nice knockdown from Right Said Fred (or 'Freddy' as Keown called him).

The 'pinged' ball into Freddy from Marcelosy was drawing particular acclaim. To me, it looked like the kind of cross that would have reddened the chest before bouncing 20 yards away, prompting you to unleash a volley of abuse at the winger for trying to put a hole in you.

Back in the studio, though, big Al was loving it "don't give it me feet, give it me head all day long pet" the general point made by the Geordie bor.. scoring sensation.

Goals from Paulinho and Jo (yes, that Jo) wrapped up an easy victory for the hosts to get the Confederations Cup up and running, with the likes of Spain, Uruguay and Mexico still to come.

Never mind that, though. For now, I'm taking a hike to watch Tahiti.