[Tigers_eye]

1994: WC upclose. It was held in US. I was a mostan in US soil during that time. Me and my buddies travelled two weekends to Dallas to see WC live in the Cotton bowl stadium. Parking was b!tch. But what games those were. Best of kinds. Sweden - Saudi Arabia and Brazil - Netherlands.
Atmosphere er kotha koi. What you see in TV times 10. The fans are rowdy way before the game. Brazilian fans (females) .... I am just going to say, at that time, was a treat to watch. On the Brazil - Holland game I was sitting behind the goal 15 rows above. Bunch of Holland fans behind me. Mingled with them easily (female ones of course - I was different person back then). Obviously supporting my favorite Brazil.

This is a new look Brazilian team. By their play one wouldn't recognize them as Brazilians (with the exception of holland game). Boring unimaginative plays with strong defense. Dunga, Cafu set the tone. With Romario, Bebeto and Ronaldo (Original Ronaldo - much better than the fake current one from Portugal). They did enough to win games in ugly fashions. The flair of Zico - Socretis was gone. The back heel passes, the samba dance was missing. Yet they were efficient enough to finally win the cup.

Now the live games:
Saudis played with their heart and soul. Their right wing can't remember was too good for the swedes. This was a second round match. Down with 1-2 Saudis put everything in to attack. Almost had a equaliser. Unfortunately they concede on a counter attack at the end. The saudi players represented themselves well.

Brazil - holland: The first half was 0-0 with Brazil very cautious. Romario scores and then bebeto. Brazil up 2-0. Holland comes back with of their own. I am thinking here we go again. They get a free kick right outside of the box. With seemingly Romario would take the kick. I get my camera ready. Up close. Instead of kicking he just chips it over the wall and a wide open guy gets it and puts it in. Not much time left. I get the moment in my camera (not digital). You know the kind where you have to load the film.

I happily make the return trip of 6 hours. I have the tickets and pictures up in the attic somewhere.

Asian teams played very well. Nigeria was sensational. Morocco was the dissapointing. Roberto Baggio's Italy couldn't muster against Brazil in the finals. First finals every to be decided by penalty kicks. I am not dissapointed. #4 is home. Go Samba!!

Babu (sona) bangla's France didn't qualify for this World Cup. Hahahaha!!!!