by Venkatesh Iyer
Everyone loves an underdog story in sports, and the unpredictable nature of the FIFA World Cup has made for incredible viewing. The events of Wednesday, which saw South Korea eliminate defending champions Germany with a dramatic late 2-0 win, and Sweden snatch top spot in the group with a 3-0 thrashing of the seemingly hitherto impressive Mexico, seemed to sum up just how amazing this thrill ride has been thus far.
Right from the opening match, when hosts Russia put five past Saudi Arabia, weve never really known what to expect. Weve been treated to everything this magnificent game has to offer, including late goals, moments of individual brilliance, shocking results, the perennial Messi vs Ronaldo debate in full swing, underperforming favourites and over-performing outsiders.
The video-assisted referee (VAR) system has been revelation, improving fairness and transparency, and really giving us an insight into how much we needed technology in the game. There have been 24 penalties in the competition so far, the highest ever in a World Cup. Not only has the system allowed referees to award penalties theyd denied on first viewing, but also to disallow penalties initially given. We may not realise it on the surface, but this has played a big role in the outcomes of games. For example, Senegal were given a penalty on Thursday against Colombia in the first half with the score at 0-0, when Davinson Sanchez appeared to have taken out Sadio Mane in the box. Replays, however, showed that the defender got a clean touch on the ball. The penalty was rescinded and the game continued. In the end, Colombia scored the winner with less than 20 minutes to go, to eliminate their African opponents, who became the first team in history to exit the World Cup via the Fair Play points table. Without technology, we could have had a whole different story.
The four favourites coming into the tournament were Brazil, Germany, France and Spain. Germany are gone, while the other three have flattered to deceive en route to the last 16. The two most impressive teams thus far have arguably been Croatia and Belgium, two of only three sides to pick up 9 points out of 9 in the group stages (the other being Uruguay). Panama and Egypt were the only two teams not to pick up a single point. The likes of Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Iceland and Nigeria may not have progressed from their respective groups, but they sure did win a lot of hearts.
The knockout rounds have thrown up some mouthwatering clashes, with France taking on Argentina, Portugal playing Uruguay, Brazil facing Mexico and England squaring off against Colombia. We can expect the twists and turns to continue, and no game seems like a foregone conclusion except for maybe Belgium vs Japan. Hosts Russia will have the whole of the country behind them when they take on 2010 champions Spain, while Croatia vs Denmark and Sweden vs Switzerland may go under the radar on paper, but could provide a lot of entertainment value as well.
From the neutrals point of view, there arent too many downs I can think of from this tournament so far. Every World Cup gives birth to a new legion of football fans, who take their new-found interest from the international scene to the club level going forward. The ones starting out with this competition couldnt have asked for a better exhibition of the sport.
Venkatesh Iyer is an Ahmedabad-based financial analyst, with a burning passion for anything sport. He has been writing on football since 2010.