14 World Cups and counting for journalist David Miller!

CAPE TOWN - When a young football writer named David Miller made his World Cup debut alongside 17-year-old Brazilian wonder kid Pele, little did he know it was just the beginning of a long and eventful journey.

The year was 1958 when the world saw the emergence of Pele and Brazil lifted their maiden world title in Sweden.

Miller went on to see the rise of Pele and other football greats in his long career which is still to see its twilight and, at 77, is covering is 14th World Cup with an enviable zeal.

“My World Cup journey started on a huge high with the emergence of 17-year-old Pele. In those days I was working as a junior reporter with The Times newspaper. In fact, I took a working holiday to report for the newspaper. The games were open and free and had attacking side like France, which had Just Fontaine, who scored 13 goals in the tournament,” Miller told IANS.

Miller rose to become sports editor of the Times London, and a columnist for British newspaper Daily Express. He has been also been awarded the famous Jules Rimet Centenary Award in 2004, given to journalists who have covered 11 or more World Cups.

A keen sportsman, Miller played football for Portsmouth FC (3rd XI), Charterhouse, Public Schools XIs, Cambridge University and British Universities. He was also a member of the British Olympic training squad for Melbourne 1956.

Now semi-retired in Norfolk, he loves to indulge in sailing, enjoys his golf even more and is president of Old Carthusian FC, the FA Cup winners in 1881.

Recalling his experience over the last six decades, Miller said he is unhappy that matches nowadays are not absorbing as they used to be.

“It is a pity that one doesn’t get to see entertaining stuff from the players of the quality of Kaka and Messi. It is not to say that the games are not interesting, they are, it’s just there hasn’t been a match that has been absorbing. For a person, who rarely watches football, only 50 percent of the matches were absorbing,” Miller, who has penned four books on the World Cup, told IANS in an interview here.

“The Japan and Paraguay pre-quarterfinal match was immensely tensed. Japan lost the match on penalties and neither teams deserved to lose. Penalty shoot-outs are awful and in the name of a result they create a villain. So the poor guy, who hit the bar for Japan will be remembered for the rest of life for the wrong reason.”

Asked about the most interesting incident in the World Cups he has covered, Miller said: “It was in 1998. I must say France were lucky to win the tournament as Brazil were the favourites. But the most interesting incident took place in the final, about which we will probably never know.

“There was something wrong with Ronaldo, who was at point the World’s No.1 player. The team sheet issued 40 minutes before the match showed that he was omitted and it was known that he was not fit. But strangely quarter of an hour later, another team sheet was issued that had Ronaldo’s name. And in the match Ronaldo hardly did a thing and he was not the player that we knew.

“So what happened behind the scenes in the dressing room, what kind of financial pressures were there to include him in the match will never be known,” he said.

Miller says it was interesting to see Diego Maradona in a new role.

“Maradona was not picked up in 1978 because Ceaser Menotti thought he was too young for the World Cup. The first time I saw of Maradona was in 1979 when he played his first international match in Europe, a friendly against Holland. And he was a sensation and was badly marked by Johan Neeskans.

“Some say 1986 was his World Cup, but I feel Argentina were a great team in Mexico. Surely Maradona was a great inspiration but they won in Mexico because of a team effort. However, his press conferences as a coach are a shade exhibitionist,” he said.