Corps news – Embassy 26 – June 2010

Corps picks World Cup winners

Like Paul the octopus, London’s diplomats got it right, overwhelmingly predicting Spain to raise the Football World Cup trophy on 11 July.

In a tournament that has caused more upsets than George Osborne’s budget, 31 per cent of diplomats favoured Spain to win the cup.

Diplomats also showed loyalty to their host country, with 25 per cent rooting for England to win. As one diplomat said: “I don’t expect them to win, but as a neutral I would love to be here in London to witness the celebrations if England won.”

Sadly England’s 4-1 hammering by Germany in Round Two means there were no open-top bus celebrations in London. The young and exciting German side, who weren’t much fancied by the diplomatic corps, went on to win bronze.

Latin Americans were also tipped to win, with Argentina and Brazil each attracting 12.5 per cent of the vote, but Uruguay turned out to be the best team from the continent, making it to the play-offs against Germany.

Fiercely patriotic Claudio Rojo, Argentina’s Consul General, naturally predicted his home side to win, but when he was pressed to reveal the biggest threat to Argentina, he smiled, replying: “Argentina! We are our own worst enemy!”

Diplomats have talked about little else on the circuit and productivity plummeted as embassies hosted football parties with their rivals on Belgrave Square.

Prior to the tournament, the Slovenes and Serbs hosted a warm-up ‘friendly’ against the Foreign Office, in which diplomats from both embassies including the Ambassadors, pitted their skills against FCO Minister Alistair Burt and FCO Director for the EU Matthew Rycroft. The diplomats acquitted themselves well but were beaten by the FCO 4-3, a sign of things to come...

Kicking off the proceedings on the big opening day was South African High Commissioner Zola Skweyiya, who joined local school children and London Mayor Boris Johnson on Trafalgar Square to blow the vuvuzela. The Korean Cultural Centre followed suit with a huge party for their enthusiastic supporters on the famous square.

The US-UK special relationship was put to one side as US Ambassador Louis Susman and UK Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald entered a transatlantic ‘high-steaks’ wager: the loser of their match would treat the winner to a steak dinner.

In an email exchange, US Press Secretary Phil Breeden warned his counterpart Martin Longden of the previous Anglo-American clash in 1950, in which England came off second best. Mr Longden retorted: “You should know that the Ambassador takes his steak like American soccer victories — somewhat rare.”

It ended in a draw, and so the US and UK Ambassadors agreed to “go Dutch” at a later date.

Of course the draw meant England needed to beat relative minnows Slovenia, who celebrated their National Day on the very day of the much-hyped match.

Helena Jarc, wife of the Slovene Ambassador, found herself in the spotlight on GMTV: “That match did so much to put Slovenia on the map!” she told Embassy. For good luck the Embassy baked a football cake in the colours of the national football strip. It nearly did the trick, until the US scored in the 92nd minute of their game.

The US were ousted by Ghana’s Black Stars and all of Africa’s hopes rested with them. They made it to the quarter finals before being cruelly ousted by Uruguay’s infamous ‘hand of God’.

The final between dark horses Holland and favourites Spain was not a classic, but all diplomats agreed with one African High Commissioner, who concluded: “South Africa – and the rest of Africa – are the real winners of the 2010 World Cup.”