Editorial
A beautiful game
Victory or defeat, football brings out the best in everyone all over the worldJapan’s exit at the hands of Belgium in 94th minute of this World Cup’s pre-quarterfinal was heart wrenching to say the least. Leading by two goals within 52 minutes of the game, Japan continued to show its attacking prowess. The use of ‘park the bus’ strategy is common these days, Yet, Japan didn’t resort to that and played its heart out to win, which backfired in the name of counter attack at the last minute. As such, dreams of any Asian countries lifting the most coveted trophy in the world football has ended with Japan. This World Cup edition will be remembered for quite a long time for some performances full of valour from Iran and Korea as well; Portugal and Germany can agree to that.
History has it that the World Cup football trophies are dominantly secured by countries belonging to European or South American continents. The highest feat ever achieved by any other country was the South Koreans finishing at the fourth position in its home soil in 2002. Perhaps football fans in Asia can expect to welcome the trophy in the future provided that the rising superpowers—China and India or a football loving country like Nepal gave some serious thought to bringing the trophy home. One can always wonder.
Despite a few major upsets in this edition of the World Cup, most of the teams expected to qualify have reached the knockout stage. England’s journey to this year’s World Cup has been a success so far. English fans can enjoy the moment while it lasts, as England’s previous performances in the knockout stages at the recent Euro Cups and the World Cup has been deemed dismal at best.
British media negatively portrayed this World Cup in Russia for fear of heightened risk of violence from the hooligans. However, not a single incident of hooliganism or vandalism has been reported so far. In fact, one can notice sights inside the stadium where enthusiasts of opposing team are merrily cheering up for their teams standing next to each other.
Nonetheless, fans of the remaining countries are in a frenzy cheering up for their teams from Kaliningrad to Volgograd and Sochi to Yekaterinburg with flags of their national teams at one hand and a glass of their favourite drink on the other. Kathmandu is also getting in cohort with those Russian cities during the live telecasting of the games and pouring their excitement in the streets as well. However, this world Cup campaign for the most popular team among Nepali fans, Argentina, is already over.
Rest assured, it is not over till the fat lady sings. We still got the game going until the 15th of July, when fans all over the world will celebrate the ultimate day of the most beautiful game. May the best team win.