Another post about football. I know, I know. But bear with me.

In a few days’ time, the World Cup is coming. The FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world, by attendance, take and area of interest. It beats every other sporting event, Olympics included.

It’s spectacular, it includes the highest paid sportsmen in the world, and oh, I wish I could go!

In the next few weeks, cars, houses, food and beverages are going all red and white. We have a huge England flag (not the Union Jack) to put outside our house and we’re getting flags and banners for the car, which, satisfyingly, is red. England’s team is third favorites this year. It’s not the best team we’ve ever fielded, but it’s world class and we’re in a good group, so we have a decent chance. But I’ll be watching it all.

The USA has a good team this year, and also has a fair chance of making it through. US players tend to work for European teams, as this is where they get the kind of match play that will sharpen and hone them to play at this level. But guys, it’s a great team and they need your support. You have two world class goalkeepers, for instance, Tim Howard and Marcus Hahnemann. You have DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey. Get the strip, buy some flags, get some beer and a big TV. It’s going to be fun.

And here’s the guide to the World Cup, without the esoteric stuff.

Teams from all over the world (not an exaggeration) have spent the last four years playing qualifiers, which entitles them to play at the World Cup. Teams are seeded, according to their performance, and the top seeds plus the home nation head the groups in the first stage. There are eight groups, with four teams in each group. Every team plays everyone else in their group, and the top two go through to the next stage, the knockout stage. From then on, winner takes all. The USA is in England’s group, as are Algeria and Slovenia and they have a great chance of going through. Then it’s all brackets (sports brackets).

England’s great blow was losing David Beckham. He’s still worth a goal or two, because of his accuracy at place-kicking but injury has ruled him out. He paid out of his own pocket to terminate his contract at LA Galaxy and join AC Milan, so that he could get matchplay at the required level, and the injury must have devastated him. But he’s coming along as mascot and ambassador, and hopefully, to wave his scarf and sing.

Why is football (soccer) so popular? Get two people, a ball and you have a game of football. In essence, that’s why. The poorest nations can play it, and all the big teams have academies where they’ll take and train youngsters to play the game, so you can come from the back streets of Brazil and end up the next Pele. It’s universal, doesn’t need elaborate equipment and is easy to learn. Two teams of eleven who are going for one of the two goals set either end of the pitch. That’s it. There’s lots of fancy stuff, notably the notorious offside rule. Ask any two soccer fans about the offside rule and you’ll end up coming to blows, because nobody really knows, although everybody thinks they do.

Hearts have been broken by football. When Manchester United (richest and biggest team in the world, any sport, anywhere) won the treble in 1999 (great big achievement) they expected around 100,000 people to turn up to the victory parade in Manchester town center, when the team would ride in an open-topped bus with their trophies. Over a million turned up, and everybody had a great time. One of the biggest parties on the planet, and I’m here to tell you that it was one of the greatest times ever.

The last time England won the World Cup was in 1966, when one of the most famous commentaries ever was coined. “They think it’s all over…” oh well, here it is:

We’ve come close since, but never made it. The World Cup belongs to Brazil, or at least the first one does. They won it three times and took it home. They might well win this one, too. An astonishing team, who play with a flair and elaboration rarely seen elsewhere. European football tends to be a tad more brutal than that. And yes, it can be very brutal.

I really hope that USA TV provides decent coverage and you can join us in celebrating the biggest sporting event on the planet. Don’t like sport? There are a few other compensations!

And it’s not all about the goals, either:

So that’s where we’ll all be for a while—stuck in front of our TV’s, or the lucky ones actually there watching it, in South Africa. A month of the hottest action in the world.

So what’s in it for a romance reader, or writer? For the writer it’s the drama. Every game is a drama, played over 90 minutes, with ups and downs, romances and conflict. Watch it as a narrative, listen to one of the best commentators describing the action (I’ll sometimes turn the TV sound down and listen to the match on the radio for that reason) and you have your story right there. I mean it. For the reader—listen, I could get all esoteric and fancy about it, but let’s face it, there are some amazing hotties out there. You could do a lot worse if you happened on a bar where all the heroes of Harlequin Presents congregate. These guys are fit, hot and loaded.