WORLD CUP

"I think it's probably the worst moment of my life. I've lost other matches. When you lose 4-0 or 5-0, it's basically the same thing.

"Naturally, if I were to think of my life as a player, as a coach, as a teacher, this was the worst day of my life. But life goes on.

"I'll be remembered probably because I lost 7-1, the worst defeat Brazil have ever had, but that was a risk I knew I was running when I accepted this position. Life goes on. That's what I'll do”, said Luiz Felipe Scolari, the 2014 Brazil’s head coach.

Germany triumphed 7-1 on an evening of record-breaking in Belo Horizonte: the highest score in a World Cup semi-final, Brazil's biggest defeat after their 1920 6-0 loss to Uruguay.

This is one example of an article that appeared in a local newspaper, concerning one of the world’s greatest event, the FIFA World Cup. In my own opinion, FIFA World Cup can be compared to the 1972 American crime film, The Godfather. Why? Because both are legendary, full of action and rich with drama. Heck, even some of the players can become an actor, they like to ‘dive’ a lot (dive in football’s term means to act or to feign injury)

So, what is FIFA World Cup? The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men’s national teams of the members of Federation International de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War.

The World Cup is the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games; the cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the final match, a ninth of the entire population of the planet.

What makes the World Cup great? The answer is simple, the feeling, the adrenaline rush, the action, and the most important one, THE ATMOSPHERE. Thunderous roar can be heard if one team get a goal. Celebration can be seen if one team wins the match. Tears started to fall if one team bow down from their match. Jubilation can be felt if one team wins the great iconic trophy.

This 'mania' is what makes the World Cup great, what makes the Cup the Cup. As a metaphor, World Cup is a collision of national pride and the planet's most popular sport, yeah, you guess it, football, compressed together into an artillery and when fired into the sky, beautiful dancing firework can be seen. It’s so intoxicating in so many ways. Simple, but beautiful. Crazy, but still beautiful.

Don’t believe me? You can go and see it on your own. Just go to the more modern-fast food restaurant such as McDonald or you can just go to an old-a bit dirty ‘mamak’ restaurant. When the venue is set, great nations started to collide, I can be sure that there will be a lot of people wearing t-shirt or jersey bearing their favorite team’s flag or logo, shouting, humming, clapping and many more ways to show their support. Provided that the restaurant have a television and Astro sport channel of course.

A lot of major sporting events like to claim they're the center of the sports universe. This feels like the center of the sports universe. There's nothing like a World Cup. Even a newcomer can detect that. So, for now, FIFA World Cup will still remain as the king.

  

A LITTLE BIT OF TRIVIA 

o          Did you know that South American and European countries have won the World Cup 9 times and 10 times respectively. There has been no other continent which has produced a World Cup Champion.

o          Who says there is no such thing as home advantage? Out of the 19 World Cups so far, six have been won by the host country.

o          Because of World War II, the World Cup was not held between 1938 and 1950. As a result, Italy were the reigning World Cup Champions for a record 16 years (from 1932 until 1950).

o          Six teams have been unbeaten but not the champions in the same finals. Those unbeaten teams are: Scotland in 1974 (1 win, 2 draws), Brazil in 1978 (4 wins, 3 draws), England in 1982 (3 wins, 2 draws), Cameroon in 1982 (3 draws), Belgium in 1998 (3 draws) and New and New Zealand 2010 (3 draws).