紫曦雨

我又寫了一篇關於世界盃的文章，可是這次被City News投籃了。

就直接po在我部落格好了。

After a month long football marathon where 64 matches are played and 145 goals are scored, not quite a goal feast we have come to expect, but nonetheless, it’s a World Cup full of drama and action. At the end of the final game, the World Cup saw a new winner, lofting the coveted statue for the first time. Spain, after beating overwhelming favorite Germany in the semi-finals, became everybody’s favourite for the World Cup, and they duly delivered.

Now that the World Cup is over, what now for all the World Cup fanatics who had lasted the month long marathon? In the immediate aftermath of the Spanish triumph, many suffered a serious bout of World Cup hangover. It was almost 5 in the morning if they had stayed on and watched the presentation of the World Cup trophy. When reality finally sank in after the euphoria of seeing their favorite team lift the World Cup subsided, it's the dreaded Monday morning blues compounded by a serious lack of sleep at work which they had to face a couple of hours later.

Zombified human beings are a common sight on the buses and trains early Monday morning, these are probably the people who had resisted the urge to call in sick as they trudged out of their homes with a splitting headache. The World Cup final match was a culmination of a month long journey of late nights matches for many but what an anti climax it had been after the high of witnessing the presentation of the trophy to the low of struggling to stay awake at office even for less than 5 minutes.

The month long World Cup has changed many people’s lives, or rather turned many people’s lives upside down. They tried to sync their body clock with South African time, which is 6 hours before Singapore time while keeping a unchanged daily schedule. The body is just waiting to break down.

On match days, the World Cup took centrestage, everything and everybody else fell down the priority list, appointments and dates were rescheduled to accommodate watching the live games. When that has to happen, the WAGs (Wives And Girlfriends) are like ticking time bombs waiting to explode anytime and anywhere. They would not take this demotion in priorities lying down and the boys don’t had better not try to suggest watching the game together when they were supposed to be out somewhere on a date.

It is a strange game to them, with 20 men running after the Jabulani ball, 2 men desperate to join in but never dare move far out from their goal post and one man in the field trying to avoid touching the ball at all cost. Some will try to watch and understand the game but incessant question asking had them outstay their welcome.

It is a strange game when a football field is probably the only place you will find big men crying openly and publicly notwithstanding the thousands in the stadium and millions behind the TV screen watching. Heart breaks for those on the losing side and some wept uncontrollably after the game has ended.

It is a strange game when you find players on the field trying to take each other out with their tackling, shirt pulling and even elbowing when at the end of the game, handshakes, hugs and jerseys were exchanged among the players.

It is a strange game when strangers in a pub exchanged hi-fives and hugs when somebody scored a goal and when friends refused to sit together and started rubbishing each other during the game. It is a camaraderie spirit shared only among supporters of the same team and you only find hostility among friends who support different teams.

It is indeed a strange game when grown men do inexplicable things every time the World Cup comes around once every four years. But that is the charm of the World Cup, and millions revel in the ecstasy and excitement of it. But now that the World Cup is over, the big void it has left in us will have to wait another four years to be filled.

See y’all in Brazil in four years time.