A month of Magic

"All I know of life, I knew from the football field"
Thus spake Albert Camus.

And football frenzy nears its climax as the World Cup approaches. A fortnight remains and for millions across the globe, football would be the theme that will rule their lives for a month of sheer madness.

Football is by far the most popular game on earth and one which has the maximum number of adherents in the form of nations playing it.

And for those who are enamoured of its diverse charms, ESPN-Star's recent advertisements about the game would seem absolutely germane - Agony & Ecstasy; Celebrations & Catastrophe; Despair & Delight; Victor and the Vanquished - a game of 90 minutes can indeed teach one everything about life and beyond.

Who can forget the tears streaming down the face of that peerless genius Diego Armando Maradona as Germany dethroned the defending champions in Italia '90 , who wouldn't have wept along with Gazza as England contemplated the life beyond, in the same tournament? Roger Milla and his band of merrymen proved that there was skill and entertainment beyond the traditional powerhouses and won millions of hearts in the process. Bebeto chose to share with the whole world his exhilaration at his impending fatherhood and millions opened their arms to embrace his baby. Karl Heinz Rummennigge, in the finals of Mexico 86, showed in a short period of 20 minutes that hard work, discipline and organization can make the seemingly impossible, nearly possible; only to be pipped at the post by the magical skills of the divine Maradona. Michael Owen proved that talent is unstoppable in those magical moments of France '98 with his "Goal of the Tournament", while Senegal made the mighty French eat humble pie with their awe-inspiring run in 2002.

Demigods proved that they too had human frailties - Zico and Roberto Baggio would be etched in our memories for their catastrophic penalty misses, while a generation of football lovers would be haunted by the tragic sight of the proud Oliver Kahn clutching the goalposts, his head hung in despair and his eyelids twitching to contain the inevitable efflux from his eyes, contemplating the fumble that enabled Ronaldo to extinguish German hopes in far-away Tokyo.

Unknown entities have achieved immortality during the course of this tournament - Toto Schillaci may have been an unknown before Italia 90 and indeed, sunk back into oblivion soon after, but his Golden Ball winning efforts in that tournament would give him, his eternal seat in the supreme pantheon. Sami Al Jaber would prove that the Middle East were no middlings when it came to footballing skills, while Davor Suker and Zvonimir Boban would give a fledgling, young country a reason to be proud of themselves.

The veteran and the tyro, the young and the old, the established and the challenger - they all want to be a part of this celebration of football at its highest altar. Not all, would however, make it to Germany 2006 and amongst those, who do, some would bid their fans goodbye at this highest of platforms.

Zinedine Zidane would don the French colours for his last hurrah and the sporting world indeed, would be much poorer without his sublime skills to feast their eyes upon. Wayne Rooney, billed by many, as the inevitable superstar of this edition, races against time to be fit and England must now make plans without their talisman. Dietmar Hamann found that yeoman service counts for nothing when it comes to the greatest stage of football and tearfully announced his retirement on being ignored by former club-mate and current coach Juergen Klinnsmann, while Polish goal-keeper Jerzy Dudek came face to face with the vicissitudes of fortune, when he was surprisingly excluded from the Polish squad, less than a year after taking Liverpool to victory in that titanic Champions' League final. Such is the capricious nature of Dame Luck.

The show must however go on and we wait with bated breath for a month of magic.