For the past few nights, several million eyeballs have been glued to the Internet and streaming devices to watch the ongoing World Cup 2022 in Qatar, the most widely viewed single sporting event in the world. I for one struggled mightily to stay awake to witness my favorite, the flashy Brazilians led by Neymar, fall to the ice-cold mechanical style of Croatia during a knockout quarter-finals match.
After Neymar rifled in what all thought was already the game-winning goal late in the game during extra time, Brazilians went wild with joy on the prospect of moving into the semi-finals with a 1-0 lead. But with barely three minutes to go, Croatia's substitute striker Bruno Petkovic coolly drilled in an equalizer to send the game to a nerve-wracking penalty shootout. Alas, with Croatian goalie Livakovic steadfastly standing guard, it was not to be for pre-tournament favorite Brazil again as they went down in defeat 4-2. They now have lost 4 of their last 5 World Cup quarter-final appearances but are distinguished with the prestige of having won so far the most number of World Cups, a total of 5 with Germany and Italy following closely with 4 championships each.
I must admit that I am not into football as much as I am into basketball. But with quite a few of my family into the game, I have wholeheartedly joined in the fun. To prep myself for the World Cup, I took in a Netflix movie to learn more about the Brazilian legend Pele, the only 3-time World Cup winner and found myself fascinated by the Brazilians' "Ginga" football swaying style as they deftly feint, dribble and juggle the ball akin to dancing the samba so much so that after winning their first World Cup against Sweden in 1958, the phrase, "the beautiful game" coined by Pele, has now become synonymous with their football brand of playing and emulated by other wanna-be countries.
The crowning glory of this beautiful game happens every four years when the World Cup which started in 1930 is held after three preceding years of qualifying tournaments by countries all over the world to determine the best 32 teams who will compete for the honor of being crowned the world champion.
The last four teams standing for the 2022 title are the defending 2018 champs, two-time winner France; 2018 runner-up Croatia which has never won a World Cup before; Morocco, the first-ever African team in the Final Four which upended the mighty Ronaldo-led Portugal in the quarter-finals; and football legend Maradona's Argentina, a previous 2-time winner, which still scraped through despite an opening loss shocker to Saudi Arabia.
The next few nights will be sleepless again for millions of football fans including yours truly.
Unfortunately, like any imperfect man-made creation particularly when money is involved, the beautiful game apparently also has an ugly, dark side to it marked by corruption at the highest levels of FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football, the governing organization that rules the world of football. Check out another Netflix documentary, "FIFA Uncovered" for a vivid retelling of what bedevils the beautiful game.
With hundreds of millions of avid football followers and about 200 nations participating, the World Cup is a marketing and financial boon to sponsors and host countries alike. History is replete with examples of countries keen on whitewashing their images like Hitler's Germany during the 1936 Berlin Olympics or Chile's military regime hosting the 1962 World Cup using popular sporting events for propaganda. In 2015, before the selection of the host countries for 2018 and 2022, no less than the US Department of Justice indicted for bribery, fraud, and money laundering and eventually arrested several FIFA executive committee members and senior officials for allegedly accepting bribes from marketing companies and nations angling to become exclusive marketing agents and host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup. The arrests led to a management shake-up and the eventual resignation of FIFA's longtime President Sepp Blatter.
Russia and Qatar were eventually designated as host countries. We all know of course Russia's unmitigated incursions into Ukraine which started in 2014 while Qatar continues to be plagued with accusations of migrant workers' rights abuses and criminalization of LGBTQ acts.
It's such a shame for this beautiful game.
Until next week… OBF!!!
***
For comments, email bing_matoto@yahoo.com.