THE WORLD CUP ENCHANTMENT
By: Lubnah Abdulhalim
 |
| Photo Courtesy: mydailynews.com |
While Vera Sidika has become the new sensation amongst many
ladies after having done the fifty million worth bleach to remove ‘her tint’ as
they call it nowadays, men have a better thing to talk about. Yes, world cup it
is! All eyes have been focused to Brazil who considers this as the end of their
64-year wait for the World Cup to return to the country of Pele. The excitement
is all over the world and the enchantment can be felt with the million of posts
on social media about and even in the team jerseys that can be seen all over the
streets.
Despite the protests in five host cities and chants against
President Dilma Rousseff, the anxiety and joy could never be tampered with.
After a funky opening ceremony featuring J-Lo in low-cut sparkling green and
dancers dressed as trees, all eyes were on the opening match between Brazil and
Croatia. The pressure from the Brazilian fans at their own home ground to the
players and referee was so vivid and it eventually brought up the heated debate
on whether Brazil team really deserved a penalty or not. Whether they deserved
it or not, whether the referee was biased or not, we just have to understand
that Brazil was never going to accept defeat in an opening game of world cup in
their own ground!
 |
| Photo Courtesy: fifa.com |
World cup would never miss to have those interesting non
football stories to strike in the media like how Leo Messi was captured in the
cameras when he left a little kid’s hand hanging, who had come to give a
handshake to the big world football star. Messi was clearly so preoccupied as
it was just before the Argentina game. What is even more hilarious is how the
media explains the situation of this poor kid and I quote ‘If you go to the
Maracana right now, that poor little kid is still standing in the same spot in
the dark, with his hand outstretched and a single tear rolling down his face.’
Well, no one could blame him for his busy mind for he was and still is the
biggest hope of the Argentina team.
No one could ignore the awful defeat of the Spain team by
the Dutch and all Spain fans have been chanting ‘itSpainful’ for many had big
expectations from Casillas and players like Ramos and Iniesta. And for the
haters of Spain couldn’t get a better way to enjoy Spain’s defeat than to ask
the fans ‘how many letters does the word Spain have’ to refer to the incredible
five goals beaten by the Netherlands team. Without ignoring, Van Persie’s
flying hit that has become viral in the media and everyone is amazed by the
awesome shoot. A shot to be told in ages!
Now this is very interesting! After the tough loss of the
Japan team to Ivory Coast by 2-1, the Japanese fans in attendance at the Arena
Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil still made time after the final whistle to clean
up after themselves. As the stadium emptied, some Blue Samurai supporters
walked up and down the aisles filling trash bags. Though this is a customary
practice at Japanese sporting events that has been carried over to previous
World Cups, it's still something most fans from other parts of the world
wouldn't even consider doing. Before the clean-up began, the Japanese players
lined up and bowed to their loyal supporters. These are noble customs worth
being practiced by more countries and I just can’t help but admire the Japanese
especially after their loss! Fact is, majority of us, even if it were our
custom, we wouldn’t bother do it after a defeat!
After losing their opening match of the 2014 World Cup to Brazil, all Croatia's players decided
to relax at their hotel pool while nude. However, their relaxation party was
interrupted their privacy after two Croatian photographers took pictures of
them in nude and published them online. Coach Niko Kovac was furious about the
press intrusion on his players' personal naked reflection time, and has
announced that none of them will be available to comment to the press for the
foreseeable future.
Yet still, we always never miss the sad or heartbreaking
moments in such an event. I was able to come across a picture whereby a large
crowd of Brazilian fans head to watch the world cup opening and in that same
path is a young small girl searching in trash bins for food. Rape cases have
also been reported while land lords hosting visitors are enjoying the double
and triple rents payments. Well, what can we do than pray for all those
unfortunate people suffering in Brazil?
As the awesome season of world cup goes on, let’s come back
to our country and we are all wondering when Harambee stars would finally
qualify to play in the world cup or even, when it will be economically and
politically stable to host the world cup. Well this just seems like a very long
dream yet to come true; probably five generations from the present one! While
some citizens criticize the action of our honourable president of taking the
Harambee stars team to Brazil to watch the world cup live for being wastage of
money in the present crisis we are in, the players would definitely have
something different to say! They consider this action as a great way of
motivation and inspire them to work harder to get there as players and not just
viewers.
To the ladies…please…however clueless you are, don’t start
screaming ‘yeeey! Huurraah! We wooon!’ while it’s just half time! And to all the
fans of football and world cup in general, enjoy while it lasts!
