Kudos

to South Africa for coming up such a great and astonishing show. As I had already mentioned in my previous post, I know nothing about football. But since I watched a few matches I am now in a position to appreciate the effort that the people of South Africa have put in to come up with an extra-ordinary show. Many, including me, have mostly associated SA with a nation with poverty and under development and also with a lot of diseases. However, today they have made us all look up to them as a nation that can host such a show.

Everything about this whole FIFA world cup has been astounding and I am so happy for SA. Right from the venue to the energy of people, the passion of the players, the scenic beauty, everything has been mind blowing and I have vowed to myself that once in my lifetime I shall surely visit the nation.

And finally, Heartiest congratulations to Spain for winning this world cup!! :)

Football fever!!

Let me clarify my state here. Though I like sports, I am clueless about this game--football. Probably because, the nation which I belong to doesn't play this game at the world level (As though I follow Hockey ;-). I don't either) . So, I never had any interest to follow this game. Only saw it as a game where some 22 men chasing and kicking a mere football. I know that it is a ridiculous on my part to have had such a presumption. Wonder what a football fan would think. He/She must be hurt deeply looking at people like me. I presume that they might think that instead of talking to morons like me, they could either talk to a wall or a tree.

Now, I am mentioning about this because, I am surrounded by people who are ardent fans of this game. As I am currently residing in a country which is famous for the premier league, I cant but help talking about this now. I am talking about England which has this EPL(English premier league). They talk about Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and what not. And if you are like me, then, these are some of the teams here. I only understand that it is a football version of IPL. Or should I be mentioning that IPL was inspired by EPL and other leagues across the globe?

Until recently, I never bothered to watch this game as my perception about this game has always been game full of arrogance and fight, instead of sportsmanship . But, I guess I have been wrong in being ignorant and forming my own views without even watching a single game. This 2010 World cup has been an eye opener. All this happened when I was forced to watch a match when England played USA. We all sat with pizzas, burgers, fries, crisps, etc. in front of the TV.People were talking about the fouls, the marking, off side, corner kick, penalty kick. And I understood none of these terms rather I should say I was keen on the junkies' spread in front of me. But when I started to watch the game for the sake of it(I had no other go), something fascinated me to keenly follow that day's game. The intensity with which each player was running from one corner to another to possess the ball and strike a goal was very instigating.

The passion with which each player played and covering the players in order not to let the opponent to hit a goal and the never give up attitude, were all evident. When people were calling names like Rooney, Lampard, Gerrald, Cole, Green, etc,  They said that "Wow, Rooney has been marked so well that he  is not able to attempt to put a goal". I could see the passion in the audience as well. The passion and the love for the game was infectious. I was slowly getting involved in cheering up. Though, I could not map the faces with the names, I could understand that England and USA were playing a good game and that USA's goal was a give away from  Green,  England's goal-keeper. 

This was just a beginning. Later when I saw a match where Argentina was playing, I could instantly get into the mood of the match. I saw the match had a mixture of emotions from anger to joy, from kissing to abusing and what not. I had seen Maradona for the first time on TV. I had learnt about his career peaks and  how it hit rock bottom and how he has come out as a coach inspiring every player, it was a joy watching him emoting :). A short guy jumping in joy and running here and there.. Wow, that was treat.  I am just half way through learning about this game though :). I am smitten by this bug already. Looking forward to Argentina's victory.

In all this, I learnt that perseverance and passion will help you hit the right target.  This game, "Football" is a very good example to show it practically in just 90 minutes. It holds good in every walk of life. Good lesson to learn.