futbol

My love of futbol has been lifelong, but there was a moment when I came closer than ever before to the awesome of futbol. The year was 1998. Amidst the the first round the World Cup matches, one match stood out on everyone's calendar, one match was the most anticipated match throughout the world. USA vs. Iran. A boombastic, fantastic match-up that promised fireworks from start to finish. Everyone connected with Fifa was trying to play it down, but the excitement was everywhere. Especially in Qatar, I mean this is the Middle East and no matter how much oil they buy from us, we love to hate the Americans in any competition. Hell, we were rooting against them to even host the 1994 World Cup, what did they expect when they actually started playing in the World Cup?

The match..? Well, I remember it as an ok match. Neither team was playing for anything since they had both lost the chance to move on to the next round, but they were playing for so much more in another sense. Iran won 2-1 with a man name Daeii (wearing orange cleats, which were so popular for so long afterwar that) scoring the winning goal for Iran. Asia went wild I tell you. Flags being burnt in residential areas, people honking as if anti-honking laws were to be imposed teh next day, people buying Iranian casettes just so they couyld blast Iranian music from their cars, resturants full of people and grown men learning to say Irani words just so they could be coool too.

My father, who has never ever been a sports fan, sported the most idiotic, goofy smile for the next five days- basking in the glory of an Iranian win. Right after the game, he packed me into the car along with my protesting mother, and we drove to the sea side of Doha, only to find ourselves there with thousands of other cars. My dad turned off the ignition realising that we were in a perma-traffic jam. While my mom sat and grimaced in the car, my dad and I went and danced next to the sea, along with hundreds of others from every country you could imagine - Iranians, Qataris, Lebanese, Syrians, Indians, Bengalis, Afghanis and God knows what else. We were brought together by two things.. one, our love for the beautiful game and two, the loss of our so-called enemy. It was glorious. People brought out swords and danced the traditional dance of Qatar, music blared from somewhere, it was a once in a lifetime moment that taught me a few things. This game brought people together- from everywhere. And that, I loved this game, for how it was played and what it stood for.

I remember playing futbol ever since I was young kid. Twice I fractured my own leg in my house while trying to kick a plastic ball in the corridor (something which my mom stressed I never do) and missing the ball completely, only to smash my toes into the wall. Both times I worsened the injury by playing soon after with the cast still on my foot. I remember five hour long games at parties. The families would eat, watch tv and play games while us boys would be outside, shirts off, sweating profusely in the humid heat and drinking bottles of pepsi while we swore in God's name that no! It did pass the stones before the goali touched it. It was a goal!

We played football every chance we got - barefoot, with a crushed coke can or a taped tennis ball, amidst sand and stones, on grass, on roads all the while tearing holes at our knees into our nice trousers when we tripped and fell. I remember those times well. I remember watching Roberto Baggio missed that final penalty kick in '94. I remember Senegal beating France in '02. I remember Maradona scoring that goal down the left side after he had crossed the whole field having tackled six defenders. I even remember when that Brazilian player celebrated his goal by paying homage to his wife who had just given birth to a son. Its a beautiful game indeed.

Yessir.. Futbol mania is on. Time to lock up a few hundred more memories. As my friend Eye would say, I am geek over this game. I absolutely love it. Hence, the Fifa World Cup website has been a hotspot for me for the last two weeks, I have already purchased new jerseys of three teams that I love and always wills love.. Argentina, Germany and Croatia. I hope to buy some more once some of the African teams' jerseys make it into the stores in Qatar. I told you I'm geek yo, I'm serious about this stuff.