I remember the day (8th July) when my father woke my brother and me at the middle of the night to watch the 1990 world cup finals between West Germany and Argentina played at Rome, Italy. We were very happy that our favourite teams (and previous finalists) had reached the finals this time too. My brother’s favourite team was W.Germany and mine was (and is) Argentina. It was the night my favourite team ended up on the losing side, and Maradona and I ended up crying!
Football has always fascinated me and I have been an avid fan of football all throughout my life. I have followed Argentina through their qualifications and I also follow Argentine footballers who play at many clubs all around the world. Maradona, Batistuta and now Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi are my favourite Argentine footballers. I hope, as many have hoped this would be Messi’s world cup and I strongly expect Argentina to win this world cup with the able support and guidance of coach Maradona.
World Cup always evokes a lot of enthusiasm in me and this time around too the enthusiasm has been no less. I’m desperately waiting for June 11th to come. More than for Argentina, this time I’m happy that the world cup is being played on African soil for the first time and that too in South Africa. I don’t know what exactly the reason is but I have always liked African teams as much as I have loved Argentina. And I somehow hate the European teams and their club championships (including the English Premier League). I have a feeling that the clubs have taken away the fun out of representing the nations. I was sad when Cameroon beat Argentina in 1990 but I was really feeling comforted as an African team had achieved such success. I’m extremely happy in situations where an African team beats a higher ranked European team (example. 2002, when Senegal beat France), especially in World cups.
Eto’o, Drogba, Essien and many African players who have reached the heights of football competitiveness are sure to be inspirations for millions of African kids who want to get out of poverty. Football is to Africa, in the same way as gymnastics is to Romania. Many many kids in Romania have jumped into the rigorous training routines of gymnastics to earn some money for their families and in a similar way African kids are sacrificing their childhood for football, and yes it is better than sacrificing their lives toiling in the diamond mines and terrorist gangs. I also follow Nigerian footballers (like Opara, Edeh, Yusuf Ibrahim) who play in Indian clubs. They all have a story to tell us.
Indian football scenario is not very different from the African football scene.Many Indian kids get into football just because it leads them into better opportunities for their future. Again it was a real pleasure to see Sunil Chhetri go to Kansas City to play club football.
But the real heroes for this world cup are the South Africans who are coming out of their still looming apartheid status even after so many years of apparent cordiality between the races. It is a great opportunity for the South Africans to demonstrate to the world their unity, which I’m sure they will utilise it to the fullest! I wish all the luck to the South Africans and all the teams.
On July 11th I expect Africa and Argentina to be declared joint winners, of course Africa for their unity and Argentina for their football!
