Ole…ole…ole…ole!!! Ole!!! Ole!!! (Until now, I still don’t get why and how this ‘ole’ sound is so closely associated to football). Anybody knows why?
From tonight onward for a duration of a month, mamak stalls (with television) everywhere would see increase of customers at night. Or to be exact, at midnight hours just before dawn. Great business for mamak operators. Why? FIFA World Cup is starting tonight with the opening ceremony and also the first match between Brazil (the host country) and Croatia. The match will only starts at 4am (time in Malaysia). How many of you are going to sacrifice your sleep for this first match of the world’s most watched sport tournament?
Me…no. I won’t purposely wake up just to watch that. I’m not interested into football, while most boys out there love this sport so much. I wonder why. And let me say it honestly here that sometimes while I’m watching a football match, I don’t even know the rules of the game. I only know players are assigned to their respective roles or regions on the football field. And of course, I knew what are yellow or red cards used for! But that’s it only. No idea on further details. I also sometime find it awkward for a whole bunch of people chasing a single ball on a huge field while surrounded by over thousands of spectators. For me, I can’t even locate where the ball is in such a wide open area.
But still, since FIFA World Cup only happened once in four years (just like Olympics or any other major sporting events), there would be some interest from me too. It is something that we cannot ignore since it is globally popular and would be the hot topics on this coming month for sure. I would be called ‘outdated’ if I didn’t follow at least the progress of the tournament. But my attention would be mostly on the last few matches only when everything is going to be very exciting as more and more countries would be eliminated and will leave only the final eight for quarterfinal, the last four for semifinal, and lastly, the two finalists for the Grand Final. I will definitely watch the final (a month to go).
(Image source: http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1382212/fifa-world-cup-2014.jpg)
This 2014’s World Cup is the 20th edition in the history of the tournament and it will be held from 12 June till 13 July 2014 at 12 cities in Brazil. This is the second time the country is hosting FIFA World Cup (their first time was back in 1950). I remembered that in the previous 2010 World Cup held in South Africa, there is an octopus named Paul that became a sensation when it predicted well on the result of the matches. You remember that? I wonder whether Paul will guess the outcomes correctly this time, or maybe it’s time for some other animals to become superstars! I also remembered the theme song for that year’s World Cup which is sang by Shakira. Quite a nice song and better than this edition’s one. Okay…few more hours (while I’m enjoying my sleep), the FIFA World Cup 2014 will commence, and there goes the start of football fever around the world.
Vincent Loy's Online Journal 