Thursday, August 21, 2014

One world one fight and yeah one global sport - FOOTBALL

So the unthinkable for me has happened as far as sport is concerned. I never thought would come a day when I would extol the virtues of a FIFA football game more than that of a Cricketing contest. But it is not entirely my doing friends. With Dravid, Ponting, Lara, Sachin and Warnie gone and all the other greats of the 90s, what choice do I have to watch. And the performance that the team displayed in England this summer only reminds me as to why I have virtually stooped following cricket after Dravid retired back in 2012. But the point here is football.
                     I have never really followed club football but did view the world cups and the Euro matches regularly. But this WC it was different. I suddenly realized that it was a truly global sport. For starters, the name of the players rang a different bell every now and again. Ii mean if it is cricket, it is either a watSON or a jonSON, a PieterSeN or an anderSON. It is really the commonwealth so there is not enough variety in the names to begin with. OK there is every once in a while a DeVilliers or a Kallis who may be of continental european ancestory. But those are really few and far in between. Now compare it to this galaxy - Suarez, Van Persie, Diouf, Rodriguez, Neymar (that sounds way too cool man), Di Maria, Honda and a lot of more Asian and African names. It suddenly makes you realize the diversity of our globe. The fans are sometimes called a little bit on the Hhooligan side but they know the merits of a team game. No? You ever saw a placard that read "Mmessi"? It is always "go Azzuri" or "Tiki Taka". My cousin pointed that right. I am no expert on Football by a long shot. I liked the excitement of the Dutch-Columbia encounter much more than any Cricketing fixture I had witnessed. Ok I did overstate it there. But yea, you get the point. So I want to know more about football now. More than I ever did and I am happy about that. So Never say never.