Initially, with every other person doing their World Cup 2010 column/running diary/report, I wanted to keep away from it. But when I was delighted with the news of Italy biting the dust in the group stages, I was lured towards the dark-side. However, it was not until Argentina had went down four-nil against Germany, that I was finally pushed to write this. Keeping my word, this is not going to be a full-blown WC10 column, but a little story of how I encountered football in my life and why I think it is the greatest game every played. (well, apart from tennis, because it kicks ass and golf; because it is the official greatest game ever played - disney even made a movie based on it).
But before that, lemme quickly give my views on WC10 heading into the last week of the WCfinals. First off, it was no surprise Italy got their ass handed to them on a plate; because not only was their game-plan without a finish but also I believe in Divine Retribution for what Materazzi did. No matter what; bottomline is, Zidane will always be remembered as the guy who won the French their '98 WC. Materazzi would be just the guy who Zizou planted on the grass. In the teams that I liked, France and England both looked off-color. One man cannot win a match. Blaming Rooney is absurd. Or Domenech. And let's face it, blaming the ball is going to take them only so far. That many South American teams looked good makes me happy but I was happiest for Japan and Ghana; for the former looked good until the last minute it went under and Ghana had a great run with an equal balance of luck and talent. Brazil's knockout does nothing to me; I am neither disappointed, nor happy. Their entire team did very little for me this time. They looked like a champion side in 2002. But after that, they were never in the zone carrying too much baggage of both expectations and unncessary stars. The Germans have proved so many wrong; I always like their team - but not as much as the one that went into the finals of 2002 - that team, I worshipped. Tonight, in black and gold, they looked like a champion side and it felt great for another personal (KKR related) reasons. Usually, I back two teams for each WC; a big name and an absolute outsider. Senegal/South Korea were my picks which made me proud. At times, my picks like England let me down. However, this time, Ghana crashed in the round of 16s but Netherlands are looking good. Scratch what I said about one man not winning a match; Arjen Robben is looking like a god out there. More Oranje!
Now, after that not so short note about World-Cup football, let me quickly trace my fascination with the football. The year was 1994. I don't remember why, but I was at my grandma's place that couple of weeks. Perhaps a vacation or something (it WAS the month of June but I don't know; back then we went there almost every weekend). My grandfather was a worker in the Eveready company and he worked in shifts. The World Cup 94 was happening in the US of A; and my grandfather would walk in quietly and switch on the TV. I would get up and he would make facial expressions that warned me to go back to sleep. I was eight years old. I pretended to go to sleep but stay up and watch those matches with him. All I knew back then was that the guys wearing yellow and blue were the good guys. To show off that I shared a secret with my grandfather that he knew nothing about, I would rant off names of footballers to my brother. Bebeto, Romario, Baggio, Pele, Maradona. And one more German guy whose name I understood not. The Brazillians lifted the World cup for a record fourth time. Ever since, I started being fond of that sport where twenty two men ran after a single ball.
Over the years, I always wanted a football and one of my family friends gifted one to me and my brother. Back then, I had to go for evening walks to practice my walking. I hated it like anything because it came in the way of anything that I wanted to do. The one thing that did spice things up for me was playing with the football while walking. I made reluctant opponents out of my father and my mother and my grandfather was the most enthusiastic and the one who gave me inside info of how to play the game. As a kid, he had gone to St. Paul's school where he played both hockey and football. All those stories amazed me and influenced me to be partial to be this great game. The 1998 World Cup did not make me very happy because this time I was following the matches on my own. I tried to get completely behind Brazil like my grandfather. But I lost interest when he said that it looked like the Brazillians took a dive for money.
Four more years had passed when the world cup came to this side of the world. By this time, I was more aware about world football happenings thanks to my friends at school who religiously played some game with the football (I would not call the game they played football due to their reluctance to run and their single-minded strategy of mobbing behind the ball. We once lost famously 17 to nothing. Good times!). I followed the English premier league and was not the only one in my class to be taken over by the Beckhamania. The first Asian hosts, South Korea and Japan impressed the world with their great opening ceremonies. Though I favored the English team, I liked the fairy-tales written by Park Ji Sung and Papa Bouppa Diop for SKorea and Senegal respectively. One man altered my perception of the game totally. The greatest goal-keeper I have ever seen at play at any level. Oliver Kahn. Having concede just three goals in the entire WCFinals, (two in the championship match), he was the winner of the Lev Yashin award that year, he is also the only goal-keeper to have won the Golden Ball. He also inspired me to write one of my most favorite short-stories. New stars were made in Ballack, Klose and Schweinsteiger. But Brazil was fated to lift their fifth.
By the time the 2006 World Cup took place in Germany, my interests in sports had shifted to another excellent game (about which I will write at length some other day) called Tennis. But I did sparingly follow that one. A hero proved why he was the most valuable player in the world almost a decade after his first rise to prominence. He never apologized and for that reason he remains, tied with Kahn, as my most favorite footballer of all time. He also showed how effective a head-butt can be in a real-life scenario.
That brings us to this World Cup! This one is still underway. But I have seen very little exceptional football. I must admit that I ahve not seen all the matches this season; however, there seems too little happening. So let us wait for the final week to surprise us. We have the big six matches to wonder about. Yesterday, when Brazil got knocked out, I read in the papers that half of Kolkata was in tears. Today, when Argentina got their behinds kicked, I expected the rest of the city to be gloomy. But surprise, surprise; there was a long bout of fireworks. I figured it out a little later; only one thing is possible. That was the Brazil supporters expressing their joy.
Like little Tim said, God bless us everyone.
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