World Cup zeal reaches fever pitch

With World Cup fever raging across the globe, Bangladesh is no exception to the palpable passion.
To some extent, the craze appears to be greater than the other nations that are going to participate in the soccer extravaganza in Russia if one walks on the streets of any Bangladeshi city. From the capital to the remotest villages, millions of flags and huge banners dot the country’s skyline. Fans have even decked their vehicles with the flags of their favourite teams.
Going by the euphoria, football seems to have taken centre stage in a country where cricket is almost like a religion.
For an outsider, however, the overall situation in Bangladesh would appear to be unprecedented, considering the country is not a participant in this World Cup. What’s more, the country has never got the opportunity to play in the tournament and comes at the bottom of the list of football playing nations (currently ranked 194th). But for Bangladeshis, football is “still a better love story than twilight”.
No wonder, myriad fan groups, both physical and virtual, have ushered in a festive-like cheer across the country. And with just days away from the kick off for the World Cup, fans have already started fighting and trolling each other on social media and other platforms. But sometimes the banter goes beyond control, with tolerance and bonhomie hitting rock bottom as fans fight over their favourite stars.
Most of the time, the online “battles” are limited to the three most popular players in the world—Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr. This year, Champions League has given birth of another hero, Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian footballer has become an instant hit among Bangladeshi fans. And now, most Bangladeshi fans are divided between the four “demi gods”, rooting for their star while mocking the others.
Messi and Neymar actually carry the legacy of Maradona and Pele, who were once Bangladeshi fans’ first love. So, it’s inevitable that the names of Maradona and Pele are dragged into the brawls by the various fan groups. Sometimes, these clashes go beyond the spirit of sportsmanship with reports of violence, deaths and even suicide by supporters. But overall, a festive mood prevails in the country. And with Eid-ul-Fitr almost coinciding with the World Cup this year, the festivity seems to have doubled.
Beside the top stars, people are also divided in their support for the two major football playing nations—Argentina and Brazil—with most of the flags flying high in the country now belonging to those two South American soccer giants. A noteworthy number of people are also supporting Germany and some other participating countries in the World Cup. 
Wearing jerseys of the favourite teams has become a fashion this season, especially among the youth. With the rush for jerseys and flags, roadside vendors to big shopping complexes are also cashing in on this seasonal business, with prices depending on the quality and location of purchase. Besides, youths have showed their enthusiasm by painting the walls of houses in their areas with flags and pictures of their favourite players.
The media too has gone berserk to mark the world’s biggest sporting extravaganza. Newspapers have started competing with each other to bring out special supplementary pages and magazines on the World Cup. And poets, writers and columnists too have joined the bandwagon. Before cricket took centre stage, football was the nation’s prime sports, with Bangladeshis divided in their support for the country’s two most popular teams—Abahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club. However, the almost mythical rivalry between the two clubs is almost lost among today’s generation as the popularity of the game dipped due to the negligence of officials and the rise of cricket popularity in the late 90’s.
Even if the popularity of the game was huge in 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, Bangladesh never qualified for the World Cup as it started trying to get the ticket from 1986 World Cup in Mexico. They only managed two wins in the 1986 qualifiers—beating Indonesia by 2-1 and Thailand by 1-0, both in Dhaka.
They just scored one win against Thailand by a 3-1 margin in Dhaka when they tried to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. They had an equally dismal run in the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup in USA. They just won two matches—against Sri Lanka by 1-0 in Yokohoma, Japan, and by 3-0 against the same opponents in Dubai.
Bangladesh won one match against Chinese Taipei by 2-1 in Jeddah in their attempt to qualify for the 1998 France World Cup. They won one match against Mongolia by 3-0 in Jeddah in their attempt to qualify for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.
Bangladesh beat Pakistan by 3-0 in Dhaka and Lebanon by 2-0 in Dhaka before the qualifying rounds for the 2010 South Africa World Cup. This time, however, Bangladesh failed to win a single match, with their best show being a draw against Tajikistan at home. They conceded 32 goals and scored just two. Incidentally, Australia qualified from the Bangladesh pre-World Cup qualifying group.
Bangladesh has never qualified for the World Cup and whether they would ever do so remains questionable. But the fans’ support for the other countries seems unrelenting.
“In our family, five of us support Argentina and three support Brazil. It’s the same thing across Bangladesh,” said Habib Zaman, a businessman. “I have been supporting Argentina since I was a child and watched Diego Maradona on TV. Now they have Lionel Messi. That’s why they are so popular,” he added.
While Argentina’s fans in Bangladesh believe that Messi could break the jinx after 32 years to lift the cup, Brazil’s supporters are certain that Neymar would lead them to glory this time. “Neymar is arguably the best and I am sure he will lead Brazil to win the World Cup this year,” said Rafsan Parvez, a young banker.
If the World Cup build-up is anything to go by, it is certain that the month-long spectacle would give sleepless nights to many Bangladeshi football fans.

 

 

World Cup zeal reaches fever pitch

With World Cup fever raging across the globe, Bangladesh is no exception to the palpable passion. To some extent, the craze appears to be greater than the other nations that are going to participate in the soccer extravaganza in Russia if one walks on the streets of any Bangladeshi city. From the capital to the remotest villages, millions of flags and huge banners dot the countrys skyline. Fans have even decked their vehicles with the flags of their favourite teams. Going by the euphoria, football seems to have taken centre stage in a country where cricket is almost like a religion. For an outsider, however, the overall situation in Bangladesh would appear to be unprecedented, considering the country is not a participant in this World Cup. Whats more, the country has never got the opportunity to play in the tournament and comes at the bottom of the list of football playing nations (currently ranked 194th). But for Bangladeshis, football is still a better love story than twilight. No wonder, myriad fan groups, both physical and virtual, have ushered in a festive-like cheer across the country. And with just days away from the kick off for the World Cup, fans have already started fighting and trolling each other on social media and other platforms. But sometimes the banter goes beyond control, with tolerance and bonhomie hitting rock bottom as fans fight over their favourite stars. Most of the time, the online battles are limited to the three most popular players in the worldLionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr. This year, Champions League has given birth of another hero, Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian footballer has become an instant hit among Bangladeshi fans. And now, most Bangladeshi fans are divided between the four demi gods, rooting for their star while mocking the others. Messi and Neymar actually carry the legacy of Maradona and Pele, who were once Bangladeshi fans first love. So, its inevitable that the names of Maradona and Pele are dragged into the brawls by the various fan groups. Sometimes, these clashes go beyond the spirit of sportsmanship with reports of violence, deaths and even suicide by supporters. But overall, a festive mood prevails in the country. And with Eid-ul-Fitr almost coinciding with the World Cup this year, the festivity seems to have doubled. Beside the top stars, people are also divided in their support for the two major football playing nationsArgentina and Brazilwith most of the flags flying high in the country now belonging to those two South American soccer giants. A noteworthy number of people are also supporting Germany and some other participating countries in the World Cup. Wearing jerseys of the favourite teams has become a fashion this season, especially among the youth. With the rush for jerseys and flags, roadside vendors to big shopping complexes are also cashing in on this seasonal business, with prices depending on the quality and location of purchase. Besides, youths have showed their enthusiasm by painting the walls of houses in their areas with flags and pictures of their favourite players. The media too has gone berserk to mark the worlds biggest sporting extravaganza. Newspapers have started competing with each other to bring out special supplementary pages and magazines on the World Cup. And poets, writers and columnists too have joined the bandwagon. Before cricket took centre stage, football was the nations prime sports, with Bangladeshis divided in their support for the countrys two most popular teamsAbahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club. However, the almost mythical rivalry between the two clubs is almost lost among todays generation as the popularity of the game dipped due to the negligence of officials and the rise of cricket popularity in the late 90s. Even if the popularity of the game was huge in 70s, 80s and 90s, Bangladesh never qualified for the World Cup as it started trying to get the ticket from 1986 World Cup in Mexico. They only managed two wins in the 1986 qualifiersbeating Indonesia by 2-1 and Thailand by 1-0, both in Dhaka. They just scored one win against Thailand by a 3-1 margin in Dhaka when they tried to qualify for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. They had an equally dismal run in the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup in USA. They just won two matchesagainst Sri Lanka by 1-0 in Yokohoma, Japan, and by 3-0 against the same opponents in Dubai. Bangladesh won one match against Chinese Taipei by 2-1 in Jeddah in their attempt to qualify for the 1998 France World Cup. They won one match against Mongolia by 3-0 in Jeddah in their attempt to qualify for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. Bangladesh beat Pakistan by 3-0 in Dhaka and Lebanon by 2-0 in Dhaka before the qualifying rounds for the 2010 South Africa World Cup. This time, however, Bangladesh failed to win a single match, with their best show being a draw against Tajikistan at home. They conceded 32 goals and scored just two. Incidentally, Australia qualified from the Bangladesh pre-World Cup qualifying group. Bangladesh has never qualified for the World Cup and whether they would ever do so remains questionable. But the fans support for the other countries seems unrelenting. In our family, five of us support Argentina and three support Brazil. Its the same thing across Bangladesh, said Habib Zaman, a businessman. I have been supporting Argentina since I was a child and watched Diego Maradona on TV. Now they have Lionel Messi. Thats why they are so popular, he added. While Argentinas fans in Bangladesh believe that Messi could break the jinx after 32 years to lift the cup, Brazils supporters are certain that Neymar would lead them to glory this time. Neymar is arguably the best and I am sure he will lead Brazil to win the World Cup this year, said Rafsan Parvez, a young banker. If the World Cup build-up is anything to go by, it is certain that the month-long spectacle would give sleepless nights to many Bangladeshi football fans.