World cup at its final stage

France, Belgium, England and Croatia have confirmed their berths in the semi-finals of the 21st World Cup Football tournament. Four matches are left now. In the quarterfinals, Croatia ended the dream of host Russia during a penalty shootout and England defeat Sweden with a score of 2-0. Croatia may have a population of a little over four million. Still they are among the world's best four football teams. During this unpredictable World Cup, we saw the big names like Spain, Germany, Portugal, Argentina and Brazil tumble during the first few rounds. Four times world cup champion Italy could not even qualify for the tournament despite being the champions in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006. On the other hand, England is ecstatic after going through to the semi-final. The last time they won the World Cup was in 1966. This tournament is also the fourth time they have managed to reach the final four. I will not be surprised if either Croatia or Belgium wins this World Cup for the first time, seeing the unpredictable nature of this tournament. No matter the champion, some exciting and thrilling game of football is waiting for us during the last four matches of this historic tournament.

Masud Rana

Dhanmondi, Dhaka