Soccer

The fever is back. 22 pair of feet moving. Thousands of people exploding in the gallery. Millions across the world shouting/dancing/praying/eating glued to television. Its world cup time again. I am no football freak. I can easily define the game as 22 madmen chasing a stupid ball and NOT feel guilty about it. But I do love the game. Yesterday while watching the game between Argentina (of course my all time favorite) and Mexico, I was wondering what glues people to this beautiful game. Well here are some of the points that make me love this game

1. A good football game is pretty fast and keeps us rooted to our seat for 90 minutes like a thrilling movie with an unpredictable climax.
2. There are no stupid breaks (like for each over in cricket), which takes away your attention from the game.
3. It’s an absolute team gain. The coherence of team mates when they advance passing the ball from one to other is simply amazing. They have to know and control the position of the ball, and at the same time know the exact location where the team mate is or will appear at the next second. All this has to happen in split second time.
4. Even though Man of the Match is decided for each game, there is no way that one man show alone can take any team to victory.
5. I love the way they celebrate once a goal is scored (This is common in my liking for all games :))
6. There are not many complications in the rules involved in the game. Don’t touch the ball with hand. Don’t hit/bite/pull/push/hurt opposite team member while wrestling for ball. Simple enough :) (Of course a few more additions for offside/corners/free kicks/penalties etc.)
7. I love the way people in my native (Malappuram – of course a place where football is a sacred religion) holds the international teams as their own. We did get Brazil biriyani when Brazil won in 2002; for them argentina is “mmda kuttikal”. You can see all the flags flying in malappuram soil, once the football season begins. Each and every move of the game is celebrated with a vigor that spreads even to non football fans like a warm smile.
8. Finally it’s never a subtracting factor to view 22 well built men, without even a trace of extra fat, in action [Especially handsome one’s like Casillas, Villa, Forlan, Klose , Totti (Miss u :( ), Ronaldo (Christiano), Figo (He retired :( ), and the list goes on :D :D :D]

I am a little late in publishing this post :). My all time favorite goofed up this time too, that too in a very big way to Germany :(. Never mind, they will definitely catch up next time. Spain has done a splendid job and deserved the cup. But more than Spain’s cup winning streak, I liked Uruguay’s long run to semi final. It’s a pity that everyone can’t win :(

“The fact that my team-mates and a lot of people back home in Uruguay pinned their hopes on me, and I was able to repay that faith out on the pitch while being just another member of the team, makes me feel very happy.” – Forlan’s words after winning the golden ball beautifully summarize the game. You are just another team member, but when you do the right things at the right time, and when that replicates to each team member, the game is taken to that wonderful level which keeps the spectators speech less :)

Bye Bye Baffana… Will meet you next time in your own land of Samba :D