By Krishay Agarwal
This year’s World Cup will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest ever, containing some of the most unpredictable twists and turns, accumulating a viewership of about 3.7 billion. It showed how one can become a fan of this beautiful game, with its unpredictability, the players’ will and the passion of millions of adoring fans.
While Croatia looked bursting with young talent, nobody expected the country with the joint third-least population (4 million) to do all that much. The team was reduced to 22 men early in the competition, as Nikola Kalinić would refuse to be substituted on against Nigeria and consequently be sent home. The rest of the team would give their 100% and humble 2014 finalists Argentina, go undefeated in the group stages, and make it to the final. It epitomized the unpredictability of the beautiful game. It also proved size doesn’t matter as Iceland, a country with a population less than half of Gurgaon’s population, would tie with, Leo Messi’s disappointing Argentina. Moreover, the four most populous countries in the world (India, China, Indonesia and USA) would fail to even qualify. At the end of the day, many people can live in a country, but only 11 of them can be on the pitch. Off the pitch, however, they can show their support. The Croatian team would experience this as they landed in Zagreb after the competition to be met by 550,000 fans wearing the Croatian jersey with pride.
This World Cup would break the internet, with the two biggest stories on England and Neymar. England would beat Panama 6-1, and its fans would start a chant “It’s coming home”, referring to the World Cup trophy returning “home” i.e England. This match contributed to most of the English fans blowing it up on social media. The second phenomenon would be the crucifying of Neymar due to his methods of ‘diving’. Diving is when a player falls to the ground and fakes an injury after contact with another player. While against Switzerland, the fans defended Neymar, even Brazilians had to agree it was too much, to the point where Neymar initially won a penalty against Costa Rica, but the decision got changed because he ‘went down too easily’. This would lead to thousands of memes across the internet, mocking the player's theatrics on the field.
While speaking of trends, this World Cup followed the trend ofs defending champions underperforming to exit during the group stages. In 2010, it was Italy. In 2014, it was Spain. In 2018, it was a stacked German squad that never really looked efficient. Their legendary manager Joachim Löw won the 2014 World Cup and won the Confederations Cup with an inexperienced, experimental young squad. Interestingly enough, no team has ever followed a Confederations Cup win with a World Cup win. Perhaps if Löw had taken some of the hungrier youngsters that won the Confed Cup, who were willing to prove themselves, the result would have been different. Alas, the squad consisted of many of the 2014 winners, who just didn’t seem to have the drive to win again. It seemed like this was the second time Germany went to Russia unprepared. The World Cup embodies the essence of the beautiful game, uniting millions around the world. Great football matches take place every year. But the opportunity to play for your country on the grandest stage only comes around once every four years. So every four years, turn on this competition and watch footballers give it their all for their dreams. Bring on Qatar 2022.
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