The FIFA World cup, often simply called the World Cup, is a football competition contested by senior men’s national teams of members of the Federation International de Football Association (FIFA), the sports global governing body. The championship is awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930. It is the most prestigious football tournament in the world, as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting event exceeding even the Olympic games. The 20 world cup tournaments have been won by eight national teams. It also has a huge impact on our school and is very much adored by all students.
This past month MSB had been very active. The world cup had got everyone super hyped and excited. Both students and teachers put in a lot of initiative and effort to organize various activities and deck up its environs with posters and day to day to results of the matches. There was an aura of excitement among the students with constant talk about who was going to win or who missed that very clear shot. The corridors had a footy buzz to them. Everyone had their favourite team and was rooting for them. A lot of us were surprised, disappointed and downright crushed when our teams lost except for those championing for France. (You all must be pretty happy right now!)

A couple of weeks ago, we were told by the Form IIs that MSB was going to hold its very own world cup right here on our ground. Hearing this, there was a shuffle in the crowd. It became the talk of the town in the school in addition to the patient anticipation about the actual world cup. Not a surprise, since the 21st century is a football era.

Every time during those spare moments, pupils didn’t only chatter here and whisper there about Luis Suarez’s marvellous free kick goal against Russia or how Nigeria had almost won against the mighty Argentina, they also brought in a word on how this class made so many goals in just under 10 minutes or how that team had played park the bus, yet lost. As the world cup made its way to the quarter finals, so did ours to its final and the school only became more eager to know who was going to make it.

Then finally, a kick to a lazy afternoon brought a gathering of an audience around our football ground, cheering their throats out. Brazil (Form 2) and Argentina (Form 4) were the last two teams remaining and it was now a matter of who was going to win. The players made their glorious entrance to the field, and the customary rituals began. Once the referee had blown the whistle, everybody’s pupils dilated. We were on the watch for what was happening to the ball. It went on like that for a while, two of our toughest teams competing against each other. Then, in a turn of events, Argentina scored an own goal, giving an unexpected boost to its opponent. Argentina played full on and tried to score a number of times, but alas, they did not succeed. As it was now likely, Brazil did find justice and the yellow garbed boys showed their victory off with a golden trophy, the clapping which made our palms go pink.

When the actual world cup was only 2 days away, the Form 1s put together a challenging quiz on the entire world cup and its history. This time, it was a battle between the Houses and not the classes. Team captains were asked a couple of days prior to choose their best contenders who were capable of bringing them victory. And so as it was planned, everyone assembled in the hall and we were all briefed on its rules and scoring criteria. And so the quiz began and the contestants mounted the stage. The first round was played by the primary section. After a couple of lifelines and a little help from the sponsors the round ended with a lot of cheering. Green House was leading so far.

Then the secondary section in all their glory graced the stage with their presence. This round was very tense because everyone wanted their team to qualify for the next round. Questions were answered and missed back and forth. The afternoon air was filled with cheers and words of encouragement coming from the audience. After some very hard questions, more help from the sponsors and some deduction of points, the round finally ended. Alas, only two teams were meant to qualify and as the judges tallied the scores, everyone was at the edge of their seat waiting with silent anticipation to find out who had qualified. It was Green and Red House!

The final round was played with each team answering as best as they could. Both the teams were neck-to-neck and when it was down to the very last question, the winners had already known that they would win. The scores were calculated and it was announced that indeed Red House were the victors and their house members erupted in cheers. They were followed by Green House, Blue House and Yellow House was at the rear end. The winning team was awarded a trophy and later everyone parted. All in all, it was a very eventful and exciting afternoon.

In the end we would like to express our gratitude on behalf of the whole school to all the teachers and students who took the initiative to organize these activities. Football is obviously a very big part of our school life and is loved by all as is seen being played on every free minute they get. Football also gives us a great deal of life’s lessons. It teaches us about discipline and hard work. It teaches us if we believe in our dreams and work hard on them the end results would make us ecstatic, the same feeling you get when your favourite team scores that winning goal in the final and the fulfilment you get when you scream your lungs out at their victory. The only difference would be that you would be celebrating your own victory. Remember: work hard, play with determination.