Sensational Start

The 17^th World Cup Soccer Tournament has a sensational start at Seoul. In the inaugural match, defending champions and hot favourites of bookmakers-France- was defeated by debutantes Senegal through a stunning a goal in the 30^th minute of the match. France appeared to be overconfident leaving too many gaps in the defence.   They were also under pressure of defending the title with so much of media hype. Absence of star forward and playmaker Zinadine Zidane also affected their rhythm.

Football is a glorious game and no wonder; it continues to be the most popular game in the world.  Perhaps in no other game, the gap between standard of top team and team playing first time in the first round is so narrow except in football. After all the teams reached the final round after gruelling preliminary matches in which 192 countries contested for the 32 spots. The fact that teams like Holland which produced several world class players like Johan Cryuff, Rijkard, Van Baston etc and finalists for 2 times, could not make it to the final round shows the intensity of the competition.

The defeat of defending champions highlights three cardinal things. 1) Don’t be overconfident 2) Do not under rate your rivals 3) Do not over dependent on any player. In the last world cup over dependence on Ronaldo resulted in the failure of Brazil.

  It is hoped that World Cup will bring lots of excitement and scintillating soccer in the days to come.