The famous football writer from Uruguay (the only nation to win both the finals it appeared in 1930 and 1950) Eduardo Galeona once said “A man in his life time changes his wives, party affiliations, even religion but never his favourite soccer team. This couldnt be away from the truth. It is that time of the year when the whole planet shuts shop and all eyes were turned towards Qatar with the greatest sporting spectacle waiting to unfold and the most skilful of players getting set to paint the field with their renowned artistry and deft dribbling skills. Even when there is some hue and cry about dress codes and some banned substances and behaviour , Qatar can keep its head high and say “My country and my rules”. I simply loved their attitude and Qatar is the country with the lowest population ever for a host nation in world cup history. The closest distance ever for Indians to catch their icons in flesh and blood too. Sports according to me is the only thing which unites the entire humanity and we can witness spectators of different nationalities come together in unison to celebrate sport and in fact life itself in all its glory, splendour and delirium.
Arguably the greatest right winger and dribbler in the history of the game, Garrincha the Brazilian star’s epitaph reads.. “Here lies the man in peace who gave immense joy to the people when he lived”. People painted the walls all over in Brazil. “Thank you Garrincha that you just lived.” The only man in the history of the game to have won the golden ball, the golden boot and the world cup in 1962 . Can anyone ever beat this record. My salutations to this nearly forgotten legend. May be he was a flawed genius with his eccentric way of living but I have not seen or read about any dribbler who beats more than five defenders of a nation leaving them stunned as he gets past the goal with such finesse and mastery like he did against the Soviet Union in 1962. Read a funny incident about him as to how he kept the entire bonus he received from the world cup victory under his mattress only to find it soiled and rotten later due to bed wetting of his children. An example may be as to how little he cared for monetary benefits. His slightly deformed body not withstanding he left the entire footballing world stunned with his extraordinary fleet foot and dribbling skills and in a remarkable incident he literally gave his one hand to lift the defender and then got past him after that to score a goal in one of the world cup matches. There are innumerable incidents like this about several legends of the game.
Cant think of any other game when wars were stopped to witness it or had triggered it or games were played to avenge wars. The civil war between Nigeria and Biafra was actually stopped for two days just to watch Pele and players from his santos club play in 1969. The world cup qualifying match between El salvador and Honduras in 1969 was one of the reasons which actually triggered a 100 day war between the two nations. It was said when the mesmerising genius Maradona’s team defeated England in 1986, Maradona said he took revenge against a nation and not a team for their defeat in Falklands war against the British in 1982. Dont know when the game will produce another Diego Armando Maradona despite his flaws because the world simply loved him for the sheer joy he gave to millions when he dribbled past the Belgian and England defense and created several such finest moments of bliss in world cup footballing history. Sure we can excuse his infamous hand of God goal. I cannot think of any single player dominate the entire tournament like he did in Mexico in 1986. Just like a Pele who was methodical in his approach and conducted his life both on and off the field with immaculate precision and perfection the game gave us several flawed genuises who equally mesmerised millions with their sheer magic with the ball.
Since an Indian team in the world cup is still an elusive dream millions of Indians who have actually travelled and those who would be glued within the comfortable confines of their homes clad in their team jerseys and their frenzied support will not be an iota less than the citizens from that particular footballing nation. Indians truly know the game and have the data and statistics at their finger tips. Sure we can discuss at length about how we get awe struck about the total football of Johan Kruff from Netherlands, why George Best from wales was still indeed the best despite not lifting the world cup and go on and on about the greatest saves of the legendary goal keepers Gordon Banks, Lev Yashin, Peter Shilton and many more. Despite many of us seeing so many club and league matches which has penetrated our drawing rooms almost every other day the World Cup is still very special and the gamut of emotions we experience when our favourite team wins or loses is something indescribable. Such is the attachment for fans that we actually shed tears and go into depression when our favourite team loses .
Football as they say in Portugese is definitely Jogo Bonito (translated beautiful game) and has created several immortal sporting heroes and mystical moments for the fans. Football is definitely a pleasure which hurts deeply when your team loses. So my heart truly belongs to Argentina from the days of Maradona and after some nerve wracking moments in the finals glad that Messi finally lifted the trophy.
The beauty of the game lies in the fact that there would be decades of strict and devoted life long allegiance to a particular nation and team and I vividly remember my son’s lament right from his fourth standard till date even after a hopeful and disappointing two decades that “Football is coming home” with all earnestness and sincere belief while his actual home is in the south of India and definitely not England. But in his mental space his home is always Liverpool and England. Such is the affinity and affection I guess for fans around the globe . Football is sometimes more than a mere emotion for them….it is what they breathe and live for.
