The World Cup Football and me

Though I have been playing football since my school days but was not aware of World Cup Football till I joined Indian Oil Corporation in Gauhati in 1965. I heard my seniors talking about 1966 World Cup which ultimately England won. Brazil had won the previous world cup of 1962 and so we used to discuss about Brazil in officers club. But unfortunately Brazil was out in their group and couldn'treach knockout round. We were keenly following the scores and highlights in radio. Eusebio of Portugal made his name during that world cup. Bobby Charlton of England  was considered as the greatest footballer of England of all time. He was knighted.Bobby Moore was the captain of England team. Both were playing for the World Cup winning team,they defeated Germany 4-2.Though Pele was in full form and Garincha was there in Brazil team but in 1966 World Cup Eusebio was the player everyone was talking about.

Somehow that World Cup of 1966 got permanently etched in my memory because of intense discussion with my seniors.
As TV was yet to come in India so always kept track of World Cup through other news Channels but there was not much discussion among us. During my Barauni days from 1967 to 1978 , 3 World Cups happened but in the refinery there was hardly any discussion.  I could discuss about World Cup with my late brother in law Badalda as he was avid follower of sports. His younger brother Kajal Mukherjee was representing India then and so he was more in the happenings of football.
My first experience of watching World Cup in TV was in Vizag ,that was in 1990. When cable TV has just come in India.
With the launch of cable TV and watching World Cup live changed my perception of football and it's high standards in International erena.
From my school days I have been watching Durand Cup regularly in Delhi and used to be in awe of players like Chuni,PK,Jarnail Singh,Mewlal,Balaram etc but once I watched World Cup I stopped watching Indian tournaments, realized that we are way behind.

I started regularly following World Cup after my retirement in 2003 before that i was watching the finals. I have watched Brazil's last World cup win of 2002. Though Brazil took the World Cup 5 times 1954,1958,1970,1994,2002 but then it somehow couldn't manage to win ,lost in two finals.  Because of the way Brazil team plays this beautiful game so I always backed them . The other day I was watching in YouTube the dribbling moves of Neymar and how he controls the ball between toe and heel to dribble past an opponent.  I have seen Chuni using feign ,body swerve and dodge for dribbling but never this heel and toe tactice.
This World Cup has Ronaldo,Messi,Mbappe, Neymar but Valencia of Ecuador drew my attention. For me the best moment was when Richardson of Brazil scored a goal by bicycle kick against Serbia,which is now considered as the best goal scored in World Cup. This World Cup has already seen Saudi Arabia defeating Argentina and Japan defeating Germany. The opinion of experts is that it's the result of Globalsation of football when players from Japan play European leagues or players from Saudi Arabia too are hired by European clubs. Waiting for more surprises in this World Cup.
But for me it's Brazil as usual.