48 teams, one trophy: stars old and new battle on football's grandest stage
Starting tonight, top-notch footballers will have the world at their feet. Billions of eyeballs glued to television sets, tensions flaring, friendly fights over favourite teams/ players and reporting sick for duty are some incidents that will occur with increasing frequency over the next 40-odd days. It’s the football World Cup, dubbed the greatest show on Earth, one that provides a kick to sports buffs and everyone alike.
The best 48 teams that have qualified for the top tournament being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico will slug it out to outshine others and lay their hands on the coveted trophy that weighs 6.175 kg in solid gold.
Lionel Messi’s Argentina lead the list as defending champions, while last edition’s runners-up France, are breathing down the necks of their South American rivals. They are the No. 1-ranked team too while Argentina are third on the list. Be that as it may, the focus would largely be on Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, long-time rivals for football’s top individual prizes. Both are most certainly playing their last World Cups — Messi is 38 and Ronaldo 41. Hugely popular, the two will invariably garner intense attention as they weave their magic on the world stage one last time.
The younger crop is ready too. Lamine Yamal of Spain, Brazilian prodigy Endrick and France’s Kylian Mbappe have been making headlines with their performances in various leagues and championships in the lead-up to the big one. They will surely be thrown up into a different orbit now.
With matches being played in an altogether different time zone, fans in India will have to burn midnight oil, and then wake up early morning to catch the action. That would most likely lead to a lot of absenteeism at places of work.
All's not fair play, though. The World Cup is being played with a heavy political undercurrent, thanks to chief host USA’s animosity towards Iran and its allies. The Iran football federation has already flagged tickets booked by their nationals being revoked. In another incident, a referee from Somalia has been refused entry into the US after arriving at Miami airport. If only politics could be kept out of sport, especially the beautiful game.
