-By Soul Sword-
The FIFA World Cup 2018 was filled with surprises right from the beginning till the very end. Every match was exciting and we never knew what the outcome of each match would be.
Many would say that this time the World Cup was an upset due to some of the major teams exiting without reaching the quarter-finals. However, the teams that were seen as underdogs performed exceedingly well and they deserved every win that came their way. Though some of the mass favourites didn’t make it to the final stages of the World Cup, the excitement or the spirit of the game didn’t lessen at any point. In fact, it made the tournament more unpredictable than it already was as we witnessed amazing gameplay from the teams that went through.
After a point of time, my friends and I had given up on predicting the outcomes and we just sat back to enjoy the matches as they unfolded. Almost every other match had at least one penalty shot or a VAR reference. This world cup also broke the record of the maximum number of own goals scored (12) which proved costly for the teams who scored them. From the matches that I followed I can say that this was more of the goalkeepers’ fest than the strikers’. The matches were actually won by the side that made more saves than their opponent. Most of the teams had adopted a defensive game play while aggressive gameplay was not seen until much later in the tournament. The saves made by the goalkeepers have always been one of the major reasons I love watching football, so I’m not complaining.
As World Cup Final (France Vs Croatia) kicked off, I was expecting it to be a bit boring since the finals tend to be pretty slow with very few goals (judging from the previous WC finals that I have seen ). However, this was a very exciting one. The first goal was an own goal from Croatia followed by an equaliser. Then France scored off a penalty due to a handball bringing the score to 2-1 in France’s favour. At half-time, it didn’t feel like the victory was going to be convincing if France won with the current score. In the second half, France scored two more goals tipping the balance convincingly in France’s favour. Though Croatia scored another goal towards the end France won the match fair and square with a score of 4-2 making them the Champions of 2018 FIFA World Cup.
This tournament saw many teams making history though they didn’t win the World Cup (Croatia reaching the finals, Iceland and Panama making their 1st World Cup Appearance, Japan creating history with their win against Columbia etc ). The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia proved to be an inspiration to everyone who is trying to make it big in their respective fields.Now that we bid adieu to Russia, all eyes are on Qatar as they gear up for the Winter World Cup in 2022.
“The World Cup experience is more than just the game of soccer. It’s an event. And it will fly by faster than you think. It will end and you’ll be saying, ‘Wow, it’s over already?’ You have to remember to take it all in and enjoy it.”–Cobi Jones.
The Writers Room 