The great gala begins

If the FIFA World Cup beginning in Qatar today needed an Angel touch, Cristiano Ronaldo has provided it. Ronaldo's explosive yet emotional interview with the master with the skills of asking questions, Piers Morgan, has brought out so much in the last one week; it has left fans dazed.

The teaser which was first put out and then played into a full-fledged no-holds barred inter-view brings out the agony and angst from Ronaldo. There are many things which tug at the strings of your heart, yet the mention of his bereaved child, Angel, in April this year, shakes you to the bones. Indeed, no World Cup is about one man, his dream and passion.

Yet, what Ronaldo has brought out in this interview is symptomatic of the malaise which plagues superstars who we think are demi-Gods on the football field. If someone like Ronaldo had to pour his heart out, invoke the ashes of Angel, his lost son, and speak at length about his travails at Manchester United, it tells you so many stories about a football-er's life.

There is glitz and glamour, viewed from beyond the perimeters of the football field. We see the competing teams, 32, in all, as ones which have come in with best preparation and ready to grab the trophy. Spare a thought for what these players face in their professional lives on a daily basis. It's easy to say the timing of Ronaldo's interview was deliberate. Yes, it was well-timed, even if it was all about himself, his family and the ill-treatment meted out to him by manic manager Erik ten Hag.

All this release of emotions plus Ronaldo invoking Angel and his holy ashes kept in his house in Portugal is a sign of how a man who has been torn apart in the evening of his ca-reer is more than ready to ensure Portugal does extremely well in this World Cup.

Writing a traditional preview for football's extravaganza is the easiest thing. There are bil-lions of football fans around the globe, in each corner, from America to Australia. The beau-ty about this sport is that it brings out the fan moment in each one of us, as this is the sim-plest game to follow. No complex rules change like in modern hockey, sheer joy of watching the artists perform and how they dribble through the draw in eight pools, comprising 32 teams.

Before the Ronaldo bombshell interview broke out, this World Cup was hyped as a match-up between two of the biggest superstars, Messi and Neymar, and how these two teams, Argentina and Brazil, are favourites for the title. All that sounds nice in written essays and using stats, a historical perspective and current form to hype teams. Yes, Neymar and Messi, or Messi and Neymar are big, super big.

That, however, does not mean the rest in the pack are a bunch of jokers. Ronaldo, at 37, leads a Portugal side which is not being given too much of a chance by the bookmakers but he knows, and so does Messi, that this will be their last chance to grab the glittering Jules Rimet Trophy. You can rave about what they have done in club football, scored goals galore and won titles in leagues etc plus won the Ballon d'Ór'. Eventually, history judges' greatness of a football player by one fact alone — winning the World Cup. Both have not done it.

To be sure, club football is bread, butter and jam on toast for players and the team owners. The FIFA World Cup is like hard-earned dry bread. It does not bring you riches in the com-mercial sense but earns the glory and a status of God. That brings us to the most famous God, or "The Hand of God", who will be watching from above, Diego Maradona. For a man who lived like king-size, smoked, drank and did all things which are unhealthy, Maradona will be watching football from above. His death on November 25, 2020, should be a re-minder for Argentina to invoke their God of football and hope to win the trophy.

Back to Brazil, the hype will always be there on this side. If cricket is a religion in India, in Brazil, football is their place of worship like a church. It's a sport which people love more than any other activity. Having travelled to Rio de Janeiro in 2016 for the Olympics, one could feel the pulse of the nation. Yes, the Olympics were all about multi-disciplinary games. Yet, when the football final took place that night in the Maracanã Stadium and Bra-zil beat Germany, the party on the streets of the rest of Rio was non-stop.

There is crime, poverty, drugs, filth and squalor in Brazil. In football, they find solace. It stirs their soul; it acts as a balm for broken hearts and melts them in unison. Football is played in every nook and corner. The kid may be coming from a poverty-ridden Favela, what is known as ghetto in other parts of the world, or jhuggi in India. Give that kid a football to kick and he will forget all his woes, and smile. It's exactly like cricket in India, played in gullies in cit-ies, and now in small towns and villages as well.

If football is a passion in Brazil, there are many reasons for it. The same is the scenario in Argentina, a country which also claims a rich history in the game. Both Brazil and Argentina, two of the biggest democracies in Latin America, share the same intense passion for foot-ball. Their flavours may be different; one is Samba and the other is Tango. Whatever it be, the beats of these two — Samba and Tango — produce the same symphony for football fans.

If you think football is played only in Latin America and adjoining regions, you are wrong. The Europeans think that they own football. Yes, they do. Across countries in Europe, the leagues are bursting with money and matches are played at such break-neck speed that players are used like machines. Sample this, the gap between club football break in England and the start of the FIFA World Cup is just a week.

Is it humanly possible that players get burnt out in club football and be ready for national football? No way. Just as we in India blame the IPL (Indian Premier League) for burning out players who then flunk in ICC tournaments, club football is like the sugarcane being insert-ed inside the juice extractor machine on streets. Every drop is squeezed out. After that, if anything is left, "fit" players make it to the national side and have to deliver. Mind you, when it comes to patriotism and jingoism, football is unforgiving. Failure in World Cups leads to either a state of euphoria or state of low, bordering on depression. This applies to all big national teams which have a history and record to show from the past.

Take for example, England. The common fan may think English football sucks. Yet, this time, Gareth Southgate's side is not that bad and is being spoken of as a solid side even by a play-er like Messi. England's form and fluency under Southgate in recent years has been con-sistent, which is why they are being given a chance this time. France, too, is spoken in the same breath as one with potential, but injuries to key players makes one wonder if they can recreate the magic. Paul Pogba, Mike Maignan, Christopher Nkunu — the list of players who are out is long.

Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, all these teams have potential as well, though to see Italy missing from the 32 teams is indeed surprising. There are teams from the Arab world as well, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar.

Qatar, as the host of this competition, is indeed historic in many ways. So many controver-sies have been already kicked up, expectedly, by the European media which thinks they own football. The amount of money which Qatar has spent for this World Cup is obscene — over USD 220 billion! Such sums have never been heard of, though the infrastructure for the same has been produced, keeping in mind the weather.

Obviously, in Qatar, you could not have played football in the months of summer, which is why FIFA changed the dates to November/December. It is controversial but who cares! The world's biggest show being hosted by one of the richest Arab nations is already making news for wrong reasons. From banning booze to following strict laws of the land — which prohibit homosexuality and wearing bold and revealing clothes — have come into focus.

Football is a religion. And football is a celebration for fans. The price which a fan has to pay runs into large amounts of dollars. Hotels are unaffordable. People are even planning to fly into Qatar from Mumbai or Karachi, watch the match and fly back the same night. For a country with excellent flight networks, fans have this option of not staying in Doha as it is so expensive.

The eight venues in Qatar will be temperature-controlled, which is a sort of first in the FIFA World Cup. Imagine, sitting in a closed stadium yet being made to believe everything from sunshine to other elements are natural. Only Qatar could have done it as it has the riches and the desire to produce something out of the world.

How about Russia? Their mindless war with Ukraine has killed their sport. Imagine, hosts of the 2018 World Cup were not allowed to qualify by FIFA and UEFA. Here is wishing we can watch the most beautiful game with articulate expressions from the magicians on the field with their feet/feat.

Views expressed are personal