The mind boggling question in many football followers of more than two decades is, has the World Cup lost its luster as presumed big teams were knocked out early than anticipated.
By Tendai Chisiri
Spain, Portugal, Argentina Uruguay and Brazil were many fans’ favorites to reach the semi- finals and many are vowing there is a lukewarm compared to previous editions of FIFA World Cup. In 1998 France won the World Cup in scintillating performance against Brazil. Brazil who were the defending champions had won the previous FIFA World Cup earlier in 1994 and France as the host nation, had reached the final of the tournament for the first time.
This year’s edition final is pitting Croatia who were eliminated in 1998 edition by France in the semi- finals. Croatia at that time were recently formed but a force to reckon. Croatia this year like France in 1998 is playing its first FIFA World Cup final.
But will it be cruel to say the current crop of young players cannot be compared to the generation of Ronaldo, Zidane, and Beckham to mention a few of World Cup legends as from 1998? With price tags high on these young players, supporters are expecting the players to play more than their predecessors. Recently Cristiano Ronaldo completed a 105 million pounds transfer to Juventus from real Madrid.
However the final between France and Croatia does not have an obvious outcome as teams competing for the FIFA World Cup final for the first time are a nemesis in the final also.
A keen look a t previous World Cup finals portray that football has its outcomes that cannot be judged easily. A perspective view since 1998 makes the changing of football outcomes be acceptable with regards to small teams making it to the final.
In 1998, France won 3-0 to claim the World Cup for the first time against Brazil. In the next edition 2002, Brazil outclassed Germany 2-0 after the two teams had first meeting at World Cup. In 2006, Italy won their first world title after 24 years when they beat France 5-3 on penalties. In 2010, the final became the 6th final to be contested between non – former champions after 1930, 1934, 1954, 1958 and 1978.Netherlands in this 2010 edition dubbed Battle of Johannesburg, contested against Spain as both attempted to win their first world title. Spain defeated Netherlands 1-0.
In 2014 World Cup edition , Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 to win the tournament and secure the country’s fourth world title, the first after Germany reunification in 1990.
News Sport Online 