World Cup Curses: If Nike Asks You To Write The Future, Just Don’t Do It

Ollie Irish

30th, June 2010

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By Ollie Irish

Much fanfare was made of Nike’s big-budget ‘Write The Future’ ad campaign…

… And whilst it’s clearly a superb piece of work, it appears to have done no favours for the majority of its stars:

Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast – Broke arm in pre-tournament friendly against Japan. His team didn’t qualify for the knockout stages.

Fabio Cannavaro, Italy – ‘Led’ his team, the reigning world champs, to the bottom of arguably the weakest group (Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand) in the tournament. No dancing girls for Fabio.

Wayne Rooney, England – As I said in England’s World Cup reports, Rooney has been the undoubted flop of the tournament, scoring no goals and looking way below his best form. Perhaps he may yet end up living in a caravan park…

Franck Ribery, France – Part of a French team that hated its head coach and hardly broke a sweat in finishing bottom of Group A.

Tim Howard and Landon Donovan, USA – Out in the Round of 16, short of their expectations.

Ronaldinho, Brazil – Not even picked for the World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal – Out in the Round of 16. C-Ron was another Nike star way below his best in South Africa. Hit the headlines for the wrong reasons for spitting in the direction of a cameraman after his side’s defeat by Spain.

So, ironically, not one Nike star in the campaign has even made it to the last eight in South Africa. Cursed? Well, no, but it’s an interesting set of coincidences.

And don’t forget the cameo by tennis legend Roger Federer, who today lost at Wimbledon for the first time in ages.

Nike. Just Don’t Do It. It Will Hurt Your Career.

UPDATE: Just to add, yes, lots of other websites have also noticed the ‘curse’. Of course they have – it is fairly obvious, after all.