After an opening ceremony of spectacular proportions, and infront of a crowd of 100,000, including a rare appearance by the Soccer Star 'Big man', Glynn Carey
, the World Cup finally got off to a rather drab start.
Despite huge expectancies of a thorough 'spanking' for international new boys, Allied Elite, by one of the favourites for the trophy, the Watnall Premier, the match turned out to be something of a gritty affair, with AEL doing their best to grind out a point. Their agony was confounded by the fact that they incorrectly filled out their registration forms and played 1 player short. Mr Carey was asked if they could ammend the error for the match, but his reply was 'It's their own bloody fault', as he lounged back in his chair awaiting the flood of goals.
To everybody's surprise, the goals never came. WPL battered away at the AEL defence with shot after shot, but couldn't find the back of the net. The AEL nearly surprised everyone with a breakaway move that almost produced a goal, and the final minutes were a flurry of activity as the WPL threw everyone forward in a last-ditch attempt to grab the 3 points. But the match ended goalless, and nobody was happy. WPL manager Rich Grove immediately left the stadium with furrowed brow, and AEL manager Dan Bell was last seen chasing Mr Carey out of the stadium brandishing a corner flag, clearly convinced that the AEL could have achieved a win if they'd been allowed to play with 11 men. Mr Carey hasn't been seen since.
