WORLD CUP FEVER 2014
world cup fever 2014...
The much awaited football world cup
2014 has begun with a fantastic response from fans all over the world, some
unwanted controversies, and tons of shocks and surprises. The 2014 FIFA World
Cup is the 20th FIFA World Cup, a tournament for the men's football world championship
that is currently taking place in Brazil. The arrival in Brazil this year of
more than 200,000 Spanish-speaking fans, for the FIFA World Cup, from large
nations like Mexico and Colombia and smaller ones like Costa Rica and Uruguay
exemplifies one of Latin America's most profound shifts since the start of the
century: the rise of the middle class. As per news reports, fans are sleeping
on buses, staying in hotels or on cruise ships, or simply bedding down in
vehicles near Rio de Janeiro's beaches. But whether they are inside Brazil's
new stadiums or simply at the celebrations on the streets, many of the
Brazilians and their neighbors visiting here for the World Cup are displaying
the craze and frenzy each football world cup brings to the lakhs of football
lovers.
It began on 12 June 2014, with the group
stage, 32 teams fighting it out for the last 16 and is scheduled to conclude on
13 July with the final. It is the second time that Brazil has hosted the
competition, the first being in 1950. The South American nations seem to be
capitalizing on the home advantage and are giving a tough fight to their
contemporaries. Besides the all time favourites, Brazil and Germany, two teams
which are showing promise and are in great form this year are Netherlands and
Chile. After the second set of matches,
six teams had easily guaranteed their progress into the knockout stages after
winning both of their games: Netherlands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Argentina and Belgium. On the other hand, the title holders, Spain, having
defeated the Netherlands 1–0 in the 2010 final to win their first World Cup ,were
mathematically eliminated after two consecutive losses in what has been
regarded as one of the shocks of the competition. The 1966 champions, England, having
the likes of Rooney, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, Chris Smalling, Cahill
etc were also eliminated at the group stage, the first time since 1958. Cameroon,
Australia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina have also eliminated after two
consecutive losses.
More surprise has come with teams like Italy and Portugal
having big names in their pool also facing early exit after a rather dismal
performance this time. On the other hand, underdogs like Costa Rica, Iran,
Algeria and Australia have shown promise and resilience. According to
statistics, there have been 117 goals so far at the time of writing this
article, 108 yellow cards and 7 red cards, with Brazilian captain Neymar and
Dutch players Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie being the top performers so
far.
The world cup frenzy is spreading over
the world and one can see the craze in India as well. Even though the matches
are telecast in india as late as 12.30am or 3.30am till wee hours in the
morning, but the excitement is keeping us Indians glued to our tv sets like
never before. The U.S , which is all about basketball and American football
also seems to be enjoying this world cup. According to Nielson, Holdings N.V.
an American global information and measurement company, Sunday night's face-off
between the U.S. and Portugal drew 18.2 million people on ESPN, the network
said, more than the total audience for all but one of the World Series games on
Fox last year and more watched than any of the NBA Finals games on ABC this year.
Mexico's success at this World Cup has come with an added perk. Their
manager, Miguel Herrea, just happens to be the most likable personality of
whole tournament.
Forecasts on the eve of the
tournament estimate the cost to the Brazilian government will be $14 billion,
making it the most expensive World Cup to date. FIFA is expected to spend $2
billion on staging the finals, with its greatest single expense being the $576
million prize money pot. However, it remains to be seen whether the host
country can pull off an emphatic win and
bring its country their 6th world cup or whether it will be the
Dutch which has been in its best form
which snatches away the most coveted title.
As for me, my heart is always for the
Germans…! Go Deutchland..!
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