FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 (Promo)
The video include Football Skills, Tricks , Highlights , Dribbling & Goals , from Cristiano Ronaldo , Neymar Jr , Lionel Messi , Paul Pogba , James Rodríguez , Luis Suarez and more…
FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 (Promo)
The video include Football Skills, Tricks , Highlights , Dribbling & Goals , from Cristiano Ronaldo , Neymar Jr , Lionel Messi , Paul Pogba , James Rodríguez , Luis Suarez and more…
If you discount World Cup pedigree, which has actually had little or no bearing in Russia 2018 so far, there is little to choose from between France and Belgium when the two European nations lock horns in the first semifinal at the Saint Petersburg Stadium today.
The weather is very conducive -- not hot like Samara or Kazan. It was actually overcast when the French trained yesterday. And Petersburg is expected to be as cool as 17 degrees Celcius when France will look to keep their World Cup record intact against a Belgian side that has conquered five-time champions Brazil in a hard-fought quarterfinal.
France are a young side. They came into this tournament as the most talented side, which Belgium was bracketed as four years ago in Brazil. The Belgians might have failed to live up to their potential then, when they were eliminated from the quarterfinal stages, but France have showed more maturity in their youth to battle their way past Argentina in the round of 16 before dispatching two-time champions Uruguay 2-0 in the quarterfinal.
Both teams have got the firepower to surprise the other despite the fact that they play almost the same style and their players know each other very well. It will be a golden opportunity for France coach Didier Deschamps to win the title both as a player and manager for the Les Bleus after leading the side to their first-ever World Cup glory in 1998.
However, Belgium have showed the tenacity needed to overcome adversity in this World Cup so far. They came from 2-0 down to beat Japan 3-2 and then kept Brazil at bay to make it to the last four for only the second time since 1986, when they finished third. It was also the year they met France at the biggest stage and lost the position deciding game 4-2.
For Deschamps it will be a challenge to confront his Belgian counterpart Roberto Martinez, who successfully adopted a different formation against Brazil. The French coach however said that he was well aware of that and ready to counter any changes in formation in the game.
Martinez said after the victory against Brazil that it was the best thing that happened for him and his side but yesterday he said that the mission is yet to be accomplished.
“We have a tough game against France. And a win will take us to the final. We will be proud if we can do that,” Martinez told reporters.
Out in the middle, it will be a battle within a battle. It will be Kylian Mbappe's time to take his growing reputation one notch higher after his exploits against Argentina. Belgium's Romelu Lukaku will try to emulate the speed and guile of Mbappe. It will be a classic battle between Antoine Griezmann and Eden Hazard, a clash between Paul Pogba and Kevin De Bruyne, a fight between Vincent Kompany and Raphael Varane.
More importantly, it will be a clash of titanic proportions for the tournament's two most impressive goalkeepers -- Thibaut Courtois and Hugo Lloris.
Four years after the Brazil disappointment, Belgium have matured and that will probably be their biggest strength against a French side who have got more depth in attack and defence. But whoever wins, it promises to be a cracker of a semifinal, even for those who have lost their appetite for the World Cup following the departure of the two South American rivals -- Brazil and Argentina.
Exactly a century ago, the English modernist poet Thomas Stearns Eliot wrote The Waste Land. He structured the poem as a collection of fragmented dramatic monologues, "a heap of broken images." Waking up from the horror of the Great War, no total picture of life was available to him. He reflected on the fragmentary ruins of Europe with symptoms of death all around. For him, the once-great civilisation was dying and was guilty of ennui – a personification of apathy and inactivity.
He found his fellow creatures blooming like lilacs on a graveyard who were not willing to endure the pains and efforts needed for a change. In one of the most memorable lines, Eliot quotes the French poet Charles Baudelaire to warn his readers not to think of themselves as morally superior to others. We all have our flaws, and we all have contributed to the breakdown of the system. He ends the first section by stating, "Hypocrite reader – my twin – my brother!"
I mention The Waste Land to reflect on the West and its hypocrisy that we have all witnessed in recent weeks. Thanks largely to the Western media, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been in the eye of the storm.
Ever since the Gulf state won the bid to host the biggest show on Earth, the massive moral industry has been finding faults in the way it is organising the event. Traditional "football fortresses like Barcelona and Berlin are turning their backs on the World Cup" while "Germany, Spain, France and Belgium are refusing to show any World Cup games" (Daily Mail). BBC has relegated the live-streaming to a red button option. Why? They accuse the Qatari government of bribing FIFA for getting the nomination in the first place, of using migrant workers to build the infrastructure ever since the nomination, leading to the death of over 6,500 people, and of maintaining the death penalty for homosexuality.
Gianni Infantino, the president of the international football association, lashed out against the West for their hypocrisy, reminding his fellow brothers that "for what we Europeans have been doing for the last 3,000 years, we should apologise for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people." Infantino reminded the press that the Western business companies who operated in Qatar had done nothing to improve the quality of the migrant workers' lives.
Western governments have continued to procure natural gas and oil from Qatar while their media outlets unleashed their political and moral bombast on human rights. Qatar's track record in exploiting its migrant workers is no different from many parts of the world. A law enacted in 2017 to protect workers has helped little to stem the rot. Then again, when we hear that many of the construction projects were implemented by non-Qatari firms, Infantino scores a point. The expat consultants receive attractive pay packages with relocation and tax-free benefits. In contrast, migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal or Sri Lanka have to pay for their recruitment. Those in white collar jobs had the choice of doing something for the ones in blue collars. Our hypocritical brothers did not speak then. And they are not asking their fellow friends to hold their tongues either.
For a country like Bangladesh, which depends a lot on its migrant workers for remittance, the gala event offered an opportunity when Qatar spent over USD 229 billion to build its infrastructure. The big question will be how to reengage these workers who might be redundant now that this construction mania is over. Will the West intervene? Very unlikely so. It is the same West that lectures us on the plight of the displaced Rohingyas in the refugee camps and has no qualms over the floating migrants in the Mediterranean. As for the LGBTQ issue, only 33 countries have legalised same-sex marriage. Why single out a nation, then?
Now that the event has tabled all its major teams, football is finally taking the centre stage. We have already seen some major upsets where former champions like Argentina and Germany have tasted defeat to their Asian counterparts. This is a perfect response to the Eurocentric and Orientalist languages that we have experienced.
"The desert World Cup," according to BBC, is "blighted by a dust storm of controversy." Another British tabloid headlined, "Grunting camels outside England's Qatar HQ leave team facing sleepless nights." Earlier, another news report complained that the event in Qatar "robbed us of a summer of football." A German TV complained about the carbon footprints due to the number of air conditioners and flights bringing in visitors for the games.
Ironically, Europe depends a lot on the energy supply from Gulf states – including Qatar – to withstand the winter of discontent that is looming large due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Yet, the underlying tone of Europe has been you cannot buy everything, not "our" football. They probably forget that this is not UEFA; the World Cup is international. In the opening ceremony, Morgan Freeman, who narrated the segment "The Calling," rightly reminded the crowd, "We gather here as one big tribe and Earth is the tent we all live in."
We need a long soul-searching to set our moral standards for us, for our twins, and for our brothers (and sisters).
Dr Shamsad Mortuza is a professor of English at Dhaka University.
Imagine yourself as a superstar footballer with millions in your bank account and now have been slapped with a plethora of restrictions at the Football World Cup Qatar, which contradict your open, larger-than-life lifestyle. Do you drop the once in every 4-year event with the world's spotlight on it? Do you convert to a much humbler lifestyle just to fit in for a month-long event? Do you "adjust" to a much more "decent" lifestyle for the sake of football? The solution is simple, proximity. The "wags" or wives and current girlfriends of the sportsmen, who are travelling with the members of various national teams, chose to watch the action from a distance while seeking safety where the rules did not apply — in international seas.
A millionaire cruise ship has been anchored off the coast of Doha, Qatar for days, offering special amenities for the families of the football players. For the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, WAGs of English footballers are all scheduled to board a billion-dollar luxury World Cup cruise ship. Meanwhile, 6,762 guests and the partners of football players will be staying on the brand-new, MSC World Europa.
It can cost up to £6,000 per person to stay on board, while the ship is docked off the coast of Doha during the World Cup campaign. When guests stay on a luxury cruise, they have access to the onboard restaurants and bars. The 643-foot promenade pools, 14 ocean-view whirlpools, and six swimming pools are among MSC World Europa's claims to fame. It is a floating playground with an onboard amusement park and seven swimming pools that run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) — the cleanest fossil fuel currently on the market. It has a water park, a sliding roof, an avant-garde kids' club, and 11 tall bridges.
From a gastronomic perspective, there is everything you might want, including restaurants with specialties ranging from Italian to Japanese, steakhouses to Latin American delicacies, and the Chef's Garden Kitchen, the first hydroponic garden in the ocean where chefs may obtain the veggies they need.
Aside from the wags, the cruise accommodates thousands of fans who have been given the chance to watch the World Cup without having to submit to imposed restrictions or look for lodging in a small nation, which tourists from all over the world suddenly descended upon.
However, for the time being, the Western public appears to prefer a freer cruise ship.
Football is played in cycles, although they do not change often.
Every country plays the game, but you will see little change in the rankings. Dozens of countries qualify to the World Cup finals every four years, but only eight countries have won the 20 World Cups played so far.
But this World Cup in Russia appears delectably different and signals a change in the cycle. It's about time for world football to embrace many changes, with the emergence of new dominant forces and stars.
Favourites have been sent home in tears, superstars made spectators, champions preys of also-rans, and the olden not always golden. Reigning champions Germany were sent home with a shocker of a 2-0 win by world minnows South Korea, five-time champions Brazil bulldozed by Belgium, two-time champions Argentina made to head home early, hot favourites Spain forced to perish in the first phase, and Portugal pushed out from the round of 16.
The media focus was mostly on three club kings -- Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar. And quite rightly so; since the trio shared almost all the major trophies, awards and most of the money their clubs spent on players between them for the last four years. Yet, on the world stage they failed to become world kings, with global media splashing more of their pictures in tears than in cheers. The reign of Messi and Ronaldo that many thought would never come to an end, and it's still premature to think it has, but this World Cup has shown there are players ready to take the mantle.
Expected to captivate the global audience, other star footballers themselves are being captivated and enthralled by the performances of the less famous, lower-paid footballers than them. Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller, Andres Iniesta, Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Gabriel Jesus, Philippe Coutinho and many others are now watching the World Cup from home.
It is too bad for their fans that they could not be like a Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne, Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Harry Kane, Paul Pogba or Kylian Mbappe in Russia.
The month-long football fiesta in Russia entered the last week and more surprises may spring up tonight when France take on Belgium in the first semifinal.
Of the four semifinalists, only England and France know what it is like to kiss the famous cup. For England, that glorious moment of 1966 has almost faded into oblivion. But this England side is young and eager, ready to repeat the feat. Croatia and Belgium, on the other hand, have never won the tournament, with their runs ending at the semifinal stage previously.
Among the favourites, France are the only exception, rising up to its tag every time so far. Didier Deschamps has possibly brought the most talented and balanced side among all 32 teams to Russia. Solid everywhere in the line-up, with equally qualified alternatives on the bench. But 'beware of Belgium' should be the caution from the coach to his charges.
Against Brazil, Belgium proved they are not only about Lukaku. They are tall, tough and, most importantly, a team. A very dangerous and attacking team, this side loves to play total football, and the Red Devil's success under Roberto Martinez is a little less surprising.
This Golden Generation has long been regarded as one of the most talented groups of footballers at international level in recent years, but they've never before hit their potential. At this World Cup, everything seems to be going in Belgium's favour, including Lady Luck.
Almost all of their footballers are seasoned in prominent leagues, and their wealth of experience is contributing to the game plan.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Eden Hazard is one of the best No 10s in the world. His pace, superb dribbling and long-range shooting make him a phenomenal player.
Lukaku on the other hand, is always the man capable of causing the most damage. With four goals in the tournament so far, the imposing striker will be the forward to tackle for France. The life of Lukaku has made him tough as teak. Growing up in extreme poverty, the son of Congolese descendants developed in himself an attitude to succeed. Every match he plays is a final to him. And he will be up against France in yet another final of his life.
Lukaku never says never. He will try his best to score. If he can't, he will get his mates to score with assists. And Brazil can vouch for how good Lukaku is with assists.
The writer is former Sports Editor of The Daily Star
Some moments perfectly capture the ups and downs of the feelings football fans experience and make us fall in love with the game all over again. No other sport can truly elicit such a wide range of feelings from its followers at every turn of the clock. The game's capacity to change tears into joy and vice versa at each move is what makes these moments historical.
Here are 5 iconic moments in football history.
This is one moment that almost everyone has heard of even if they are not a football fan. About 36 years ago, in Mexico, Diego Maradona stunned the entire world with his act of audacious sportsmanship and breath-taking skill. Six minutes into the second half of Argentina versus England's 1986 World Cup quarter-final, Maradona scored by punching the ball over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and into the net. Maradona later credited the 'Hand of God' for the goal, giving this moment its name.
This goal is so iconic and infamous today that the ball used in the 'Hand of God' was auctioned off in the United Kingdom in November 2022 by the referee from the match, Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser. The eventual hammer price was a staggering $2.4 million!
While the goal is controversial and Maradona's personality has been scrutinised from time to time, there is no denying the 'Hand of God' from the recognition it deserves in history pages.
The plane carrying the 1958 Manchester United all-star squad known as "The Busby Babes" crashed in Munich, killing nearly all of the players. They were renamed 'Flowers of Manchester' after the tragic incident.
In 1958, Europe's Manchester United had a young team stirring excitement across the continent. The team was filled with youthful exuberance and taking the football game by storm. The crash came just when the team was going into its most exciting stage and the players were at the peak of their careers.
The players, journalists, fans, and staff were all on United's jet returning home from a European Cup quarterfinal in Belgrade. They boarded the aircraft thrice on the final leg of the journey because the first two attempted take-offs failed. In its third attempt and with everyone on board, the aircraft struggled to take off because of the accumulation of slush on the runway. The United dream and a number of the Busby's Babes perished as the jet plunged through the airport's outer gate and into a neighbouring house.
The phrase "The Flowers of Manchester" was coined in the folk song performed by the group The Spinners in 1962, referring to those who died.
In 1994, drug lords controlled Colombia. At the 1994 World Cup Escobar scored an own goal in the match against the United States, which contributed to the team's elimination from the tournament. On 2 July 1994, Escobar was murdered, reportedly as retaliation for having scored the own goal. Andres Escobar had ironically said in an interview following the World Cup defeat, "Life doesn't end here."
This chapter in history is a little dark. With World War II raging across the borders, Major General Eberhardt of Germany had the idea of arranging a football match to placate the people of Kiev. With the Nazi-sponsored German national team, Falkelf and a team of former football players from Ukraine who were now prisoners of war, the FC Start. The 1952 Death Match had more political affiliations than any other football match in history. The fact that these underfed convicts continued to pummel Flakelf in every match and rematch was severe damage to the Nazi reputation.
Zinedine Zidane will always be regarded as one of the all-time greats of the game, but his final match in the most successful of careers was tainted by a red card while playing for France against Italy in the 2006 World Cup final. After headbutting Marco Materazzi on the field at the age of 34, the legendary Juventus and Real Madrid player announced his retirement.
This moment is quite controversial. However, it is an example of trash talk being taken a little too far and emotions getting in the way. Upon replaying footgates, the two players were seen to be talking and at the time, there were rumours that Materazzi had said something disparaging about Zidane's mother. However, he consistently denied these claims and, in an effort to clear his name, won a libel case against the British media in 2009. It was in 2020 that Materazzi added more insight into what had transpired between the two and it was likely that a comment about Zidane's sister had set him off.
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