THE most exciting
sporting event World Cup 2018 is going to start on 14th of this
month and I am eagerly waiting to watch it on TV. With my full admiration to the Frenchman Jules
Rimet for initiating the World Cup Soccer Tournament which was first time held
in Uruguay in 1930 and won by the host country, the number of contestants was
only 13 and that too invitees. In the absence of almost 2 years of grueling qualifying
matches to reach to the ultimate final phase as it is done now, the first
participants were very lucky to get a spot in the final in Uruguay. However India was unfortunate to decline to
participate in the 1950 World Cup held in Brasil when 3 other Asian teams
withdrew, because Indian players were known to play barefooted which was not
accepted by the organizers.
From 13 teams in the
inaugural tournament to 16 to 24 and now
32 teams and still thinking to go up to 40 in the near future, FIFA is doing a
wonderful job in organising this tournament every four year. No other sporting event unites the people in
this world as this tournament does because soccer is the only language the
entire world population understands because of this it is said that “where Esperanto
failed, the game of soccer succeeded” in bringing the world together under one
medium.
When the Frenchman Just
Fontaine in 1958 scored the highest number of goals in a single tournament of
16 teams this record still remained intact till today inspite of increasing the
number of teams to 32. Came Pele, Eusebio,
Maradona, Zico, Paulo Rossi, Lato, Gerd Muller and so many others but none could
break that record created by the great Fontaine, inspite of having so many
advantages. This indicates that the
soccer is become now defensive where too much stress is put on defense to
prevent getting goals and more goals. Will anyone break the record in this
World Cup, created by Just Fontaine in 1958?
When Pele first time
played in this tournament, he was aged only 17 ½ in 1958 but in 1982 World Cup
held in Spain his record was broken by the Northern Islander Whiteside when he
played for his national team as the youngest kid. Who will break this record in Russia?
In 1966 World Cup held
in England, the captain of Argentina, Rattin
acted like a wild animal when he went to hit his own player while playing
against England and in 2006 Frenchman Zidane head butted Italian Matzerrati like a wild Rhino.
Will such nasty incidents occur again in Russia? I hope not.
No other sporting event
bringS the world to stand still as this sporting event does. Even world summits and conferences are
delayed or postponed to allow the participants to watch this tournament. Popes
and Cardinals, Kings and Monarchs, Sheiks and commoners are all show interest
in this sports.
Let this sports create
love and peace in this world.
A.Veronica Fernandes.
