06 January 2014, 05:20 PM IST
The countdown is on. On July 13, two teams will kick off in the World Cup football final at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. But before that, all the other teams which qualified for the finale of this quadrennial event would have given them a run for their money.
The road to Rio is tough and demanding. For fans, hopefully, it'll be something to look forward to, and will give them enduring memories to dredge up and cherish many years later.
To digress a bit, I've been on this road for a while now. On a lazy afternoon and slow news day, two colleagues and I tossed the ball around on which sporting events we'd like to see at least once in our lifetime. It was around the run-up to the Euro 2004 in Portugal, so that was an obvious choice, but too close to rustle up the finances and organize the trip. So, we thought of the World Cups in 2006 in Germany, failing which the 2010 one in South Africa. We threw in a couple of Olympics for good measure.
Almost ten years later, we have missed all our dates with football's finest moment and I, at least, have virtually given up on Brazil 2014 and almost shifted the goalpost to Russia 2018. If not there, it'll have to be Qatar 2022. Goals are good to set, and if they're football goals, they're that much more fun.
Anyway, back to the real game. The camps are already forming. Some feel Brazil is destined to win on home turf. And then there's the Argentine camp which believes Lionel Messi will be The One to show all others how the game should be played, as he has done with such élan. And then are the staunch supporters of the rough-and-tough Spaniards, the machine-precision Germans, the flamboyant Italians and the moody French.
Some of Bangalore's sizeable population of hardcore football supporters are, in fact, booking their tickets and locking their itineraries. Most others, of course, will catch the match from homes, clubs and pubs, but they'll be there in spirit. A new generation of football widows will be created and the old one will patiently sit out the month-long madness.
The memories of Waka-Waka and South Africa will gave way to the Brazilian beat. When the ball gets rolling on June 12, the loyalties are clear, the bets already placed and we prepare for bleary-eyed days and sleepless nights.
The countdown to Maracana is well and truly under way.
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