The beautiful game and the greatest show on earth.

Football and The world cup

why do they call football 'the beautiful game'? I did not know the answer for this question before this world cup started, but now I think I know better. I have seen a fair bit of club football before but never a full tournament like a World cup or a European championship. As this world cup is one match away from ending I thought I should relive some of the things that fascinated me about this world cup and football in general.

Football is the ultimate team sport without a shadow of a doubt. A player, however talented he may be, cannot shine without the support of his teammates on the football field. Each and every player regardless of the position in which he plays (defence or attack) is so much dependent on his teammates. Even a star player can look ordinary if he is not in sync with the other players in the team. Classic example of this would be Brazil's Ronaldinho who looked a shadow of himself during this world cup. He was undoubtedly the best player in the world before the tournament started, and perhaps is still the best in the world, but his performances were ordinary in this world cup. Experts said that Ronaldinho's role was not clearly defined in the Brazilian team. For me it suggests that even the best player in the world needs to find a role in a team, get adjusted with others and work together with them. He just cannot be arrogant about his abilities and function individually. Is this not enough to justify football as the beautiful game?

There is more to football and the world cup than what I just said. For some countries football is the only way to escape reality and forget the daily troubles. Especially for the African countries just being at the world cup itself is a huge recognition. The people of these countries who are mostly the victims of poverty, civilwar and epidemic diseases there is only one thing positive about life, that is foot ball. This is why the whole African continent jumped with joy when Cameroon reached reached the quaterfinals in 1990 and Senegal did the same in 2002.In this world cup Ghana have kept the African's sprits high by defeating Checz republic and USA before bowing out to Brazil.

Also, in the real world there is no chance for a economically and politically weaker nation to compete for something against a stronger nation and win it. Sport allows escaping that reality once again. You can actually have the felling of having won a war against your political rival if you manage to defeat them in a big game. when Iran defeated USA in 1998 there was the exact feeling among the Iranians. Even among the developed nations there is this feeling of meeting the old foes in battle field .England Vs Germany matches have always been intensely fought as though it was the battle for Britain in world war II

Last but not the least football is a simple common man's sport. It can be played with anything. A card board box, pile of garbage, a heap of waste clothes or anything will do. The game is inexpensive, simple and easily accessible to all. This is what makes football the most popular sport in the world. In a event like world cup where the best
Players in the world are pitted against each other they display their full repertoire of skills to bring glory for their countries. And the fans ride an emotional rollercoaster of joy and sorrow watching their heroes play.

After going through all these feelings myself ,I just realized No wonder they call football 'the beautiful game' and the World cup ' the greatest show on earth'.