I love the World Cup. But I’ve covered it. Four of them, actually,  from Italy 1990 through Japan/Korea of 2002. Grand event.

But if we think in terms of “doing something I haven’t done before”, these are the two soccer events I would like to see, in person:

1. The Africa Cup of Nations.

2. The Asian Cup.

And I am not at the Asian Cup, this minute (though that may change), but I have watched at least part of every match so far, and every minute of many of them.

Why is this so fun?

–Everyone is into it. Even India, a cricket superpower but a soccer basket case. We are assured by our correspondents in the subcontinent that Indians actually watched their team get hammered 4-0 by Australia. It is India’s first appearance in the Asian Cup in 27 years, and they wanted to see what it looked like. (Ugly.)

–It puts a second-tier soccer-playing continent on an even footing. This is a continent with a lot of nations who take the game seriously (the Asian Confederation has 46 members), but none of them are global powers of the Brazil/Germany/Italy/Argentina sort. Of the 16 nations here, a half-dozen could think seriously about winning the Asian Cup, and another four or five could dream without being called lunatics. If any of them went to a World Cup planning to win … that would be complete self-delusion.

–Asia is such an enormous concept and encompasses so many cultures and even types of soccer that it’s fascinating to watch them interact. From the disciplined precision of South Korea and Japan to the flair of (yes) the UAE and Bahrain … from the Premier League-feel of Australia (hello, Tim Cahill) to the Soviet-style relentlessness of Uzbekistan (a breakaway republic) and a sort of muscled-up feel of Iran. Even the earnest amateurism of countries like Syria and Jordan are fun to watch, and so is the chaos that is the Chinese side, soccer being one of the few concepts that an ambitious country still hasn’t figured out. And then there’s always the weirdness of North Korea, and watching a team that is afraid — scared to death — of making a mistake because the consequences could be dire back home. (“No food for your family!”)

–Asia isn’t as random as the African Cup of Nations. This is a continent where governments are trending toward stability, whatever their form (authoritarian to monarchical to democratic to theocratic), and when Asia says matches will be played at a certain time at a certain place, they will be, and there won’t be an air of chaos around the stadiums, as there would be in many parts of Africa.

It’s the “something really weird could happen at any moment” aspect of the African continental championship that is luring me. I still want to see it, and it happens every two years — as opposed to this tournament, which is only once every four. But the predictability of events in Asia is comforting.

So far, in group play, the most impressive team has been Australia, but the Aussies’ victory came over India, so … South Korea looked good in a 2-1 victory over Bahrain. The UAE, in its 0-0 tie with North Korea, looked highly skilled on the ball, knocking it around for long stretches like Mexico playing the U.S. in Azteca … but the UAE has no one who can score, and that’s rather a problem. China has a victory and a defeat, an embarrassing 2-0 loss at the hands of the hosts, Qatar. Qatar lost to Uzbekistan and beat China. And the Uzbeks are the first team to be guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals after a pair of 2-0 victories.

Also, the idea of Qatar hosting this in intriguing. Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup by FIFA last month, and this is a sort of test-run for them, but not really, because the big event is 11 years away, still. It seems increasingly likely the 2022 World Cup will be played in January, to escape the brutal summer heat here in the Gulf.

Qatar has the trains running on time, but it can’t seem to find anyone interested in watching matches that don’t include the host country of Saudi Arabia. Empty bleachers … a big problem. But, then, it’s so much easier to sit at home and watch it on your new high-definition TV, and it seems like half of Asia has bought one in the past year.

Also, Qatar is close to the UAE. Abu Dhabi is nearer to Doha than Los Angeles is to San Francisco. It’s a 40-minute plane ride. Hmmm.

Anyway, this is must-see TV of the World Cup. Two matches a day for about two weeks, then the knockout stages, and I want to see them all.