NIRAJ PRABHU
PANAJI
The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia is on its way towards becoming the most thrilling showdown ever in the modern era.
The domination of the former world champions does not exist any more as hardly any former winners have been able to exert their authority in the group phase of the 21st quadrennial football showpiece. In fact, the gap between the illustrious footballing nations and others, seems to have cut down admirably with all teams willing to fight till the referee blows the final whistle.
Thus one cannot take smaller nations for granted any more with the ultimate fighting spirit being showcased thereby boosting the belief of the footballers worldwide. The trend of see-saw battles and last-gasp winners more often than witnessed in the past, has attracted a whole lot of new audience to football. In general, the tournament in Russia has provided a breath of fresh air and for countries like ours, more hope than ever before that India can realistically make a strong bid to qualify for the expanded 48-team World Cup in 2026.
After over 200 FIFA member associations competed in the gruelling qualifying process lasting over two years, 32 countries including automatically-in hosts Russia, have now gone through the rigours of the World Cup Finals ‘Group phase’ lasting an incredibly-exciting forthnight-long league stage. Four-time winners and defending champions Germany have become the biggest casualty of this highly unpredictable tournament. The team with most appearances in the semi-finals in FIFA World Cup history, has tumbled out in the group stage for the first time since their unification. Their exit also carries forward the curse of defending champions crashing out in the group stage. Former champions France, Italy and Spain have seen it happening to them in the past.
Never ever before was the playing field as even as it seems in Russia, where lesser-known national teams like South Korea, Iceland, Mexico, Croatia, Japan, Morocco and Iran controlled and decided the fate of the European powerhouses Germany, Spain, Portugal; and South American giants Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia will prove a milestone tournament for footballing world as continental might of Europe and South America, is finally being genuinely challenged by Africans and Asians in particular. None of the teams outside Europe and Latin America, have yet won the most prestigious football trophy in the world.
And this could really change when the event is hosted in Asia at 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar. The self-belief of the likes of South Korea, Japan, Iran and even Australia will go up a few notches. Also in with more than a chance will be the tremendously talented but highly unlucky North African country - Morocco, who failed to win a single match in Russia more due to the inconsistent refereeing than their wastefulness in front of the rival goal and Nigeria, who despite being the youngest team at an average of 26 years almost sent two-time champions Argentina packing.
No more will the pre-tournament tag of ‘Group of death’ sound as interesting as it did in the past as the first round results in Russia, have turned most groups into death zones, purely due to the no-fear approach from all teams. The encounters have been toe-to-toe and lower-ranked teams have not been afraid to express themselves on the pitch. It is now clear that the beautiful game has well and truly spread across the world and it’s not only limited to the Brazilians or Spaniards; but the Belgians, Croatians, Moroccans and the country that gave football to the world “ England, can also display entertaining brand of soccer like never before.
On the flip side though, is the ‘war with VAR’! With the use of Video Assistant Referee for the first time in the history, there has been a spurt in the number of penalty kicks awarded at a World Cup. While the regularity of goals has resulted in just one goalless draw in the group stage ahead of the final day of the league matches, the unfortunate part remains the human inconsistency in applying the VAR. Some of the teams have felt the pain of injustice as VAR seems to have neglected seemingly blatant fouls while some of the calls by the referees seem baffling due to lack of clarity of the parameters involved in decision-making with respect to the review.
Nevertheless, 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia will certainly be remembered for dishing out the most exciting and entertaining group stage while in the past, most of the preliminary-stage encounters charted the predicted lines. Let the knock-outs begin!
