Pride, pain, and change of loyalty in World Cup 2014

A very thrilling World Cup indeed. Germany very much deserved the win. A young, exuberant team who played with skill, pace, teamwork and drive, Germany put on a superb tournament. The win made Germany the first European team to prevail in a World Cup in the Americas. It is their first trophy since 1990. Congratulations to Germany. And congratulations also to Brazil, who organised a superb tournament. Brazil was a good host but proved to be a poor competitor.
This is perhaps the first World Cup that has revealed how fan support changed quickly and intensely during the tournament, especially after Brazil's humiliating defeat by Germany. Brazil fans in Bangladesh were very quick in changing their loyalty.
Bangladeshi Brazil fans became so delirious that some of them even declared their loyalty to Argentina under oath in legally stamped papers in notarised affidavits. Argentina Supporters Associations in Bangladesh hoisted black banners comically expressing their sympathy towards the broken-hearted Brazil fans and distributed typed forms for free in hard and soft copies in tea stalls and through Facebook to help the Brazil fans declare their allegiance toward Argentina. Global support for each team also changed as has been evident in the jerseys the fans wore and remarks they made in their Facebook pages, though not as dramatically as in Bangladesh.
Brazilians were in a dilemma. They were in a fix in deciding which team they should support in the World Cup final: Germany, which humiliated them in the semifinals or Argentina, their hated rival? Most Brazilians however supported Germany with some pains in their hearts.
Similarly, at some points in the last four weeks, fans of 30 of the World Cup's 32 teams had to decide which team to adopt as a second choice. Early exit of Spain from the World Cup presented an unexpected choice for Spanish fans who seemed to have had a hard time deciding which team to support. Most Spanish fans however had their choice for South American teams over European ones: Chile in the Round of 16, then Colombia in the quarterfinals and Argentina in the semifinals. Once Mexico lost, Mexico fans supported mostly South American teams, strongly favouring Colombia in the quarterfinals and Argentina in the semifinals.
Migration of fan support from one country to another at least offered some disheartened fans a semblance of solace. Avid fans spent money and time to derive joys from their choice teams. They were not to give up efforts to find a new team that could give them renewed hope.  Such rapid change of loyalty among fans nevertheless reveals impatience of the new generations and manifests an alarming disposability of love and allegiance in this age of modernity. Loyalty for life to a team, home, spouse or to a brand seems becoming outlandish nowadays.
Finally, World Cup 2014 is over. It seems so strange that four long weeks have passed so quickly. We welcomed the festival with so much zeal and enthusiasm and now all are quiet all around! No more sleepless nights with tea and 'chanachur'. No more analysis the next morning at offices.
To many fans this World Cup might have been the best in their lives while to others it might have been the most painful memory.
Lots of new lessons learnt by players and fans, scores of chances missed by star players, thousands of faces and body parts decorated with weird dresses and tattoos seen on the stadiums, many faces awash with tears and smiles caught by the cameramen and many other antics and tidbits have been etched in the albums of our memory. We all really have enjoyed an unforgettable event with many sweet and sour memories.
Who will forget those unforgettable moments of World Cup 2014 when Holland upset Spain or when, with about ten minutes to play in Uruguay's match against Italy, Luis Suárez, of Uruguay, sunk his teeth into opposing defender Giorgio Chiellini's shoulder?
Who will forget the Dutch coach Louis van Gaal when he took the unusual step of substituting his goalkeeper, Ajax's Jasper Cillessen, and sending on Newcastle's Tim Krul? Krul ended up saving two penalty kicks and sending the Dutch through to the Semi-Final.
Tim Howard made history for the U.S. in their 2nd round game against Belgium. The Everton goalkeeper made a total of 16 saves, the most by any goal keeper in World Cup history. Though the team USA wasn't able to pull out a win in the end, Tim Howard heroics are unforgettable. Tim Howard returned home as a hero.
Brazil's defeat was a slaughter of the World Cup and will continue to be a subject of national discussion in the country for years to come just like the 1950 final defeat to Uruguay at the famous Maracana stadium.
And who will forget the Argentine footballer Rodrigo Palacio's shaved head with a rat tail?

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