THE first FIFA World Cup that I saw way back in 1978 where Argentina won its first trophy against the Netherlands. If I remember it correctly, the matches were like 13 hours behind. Meaning, if they were played in the evening, I would be in school the next day. So, we only caught the results in the evening news.
Furthermore, when the World Cup was shown on Philippine television even in the years afterwards, we didn’t get all the matches. And more often than not, they were delayed.
Television coverage got better in the intervening years more so when I was with Solar Sports in 2006, we showed the World Cup in Germany. We were able to show a lot if not all the matches live.
Like the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup is something I eagerly looked forward to watching and reading about.
For all the criticism heading into the last World Cup in 2018 in Russia, the world was treated to some of the best, most memorable football played.
The Qatar games from November 20 to December 18 are no different. The amount of criticism the host nation has received has been like no other. However, I have this feeling that it will be just as good and memorable as the Russian edition.
This will be the last to involve 32 teams as FIFA is increasing the participation to 48 squads for the next edition (boo).
This will be in all likelihood the last for Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric.
Denmark’s Christian Eriksen who suffered a heart attack in the recent European Championships is back to lead the most talented national side in this year’s World Cup. They could really go deep into the competition.
The questions about Germany’s rebuild will be answered in this tournament. And the Netherlands and Ghana are back after missing 2018.
We will find out if France can defend their title. We will learn if England can be hungry enough to build on their loss in the Euros. That and the expectations of playing the United States that has a young but talented team.
There will be first as well with five substitutes allowed and the first with women referees.
Brazil has an incredible attacking line while Spain has once more a magical midfield.
There’s more and Filipinos will have the opportunity to watch all the matches, replays, interviews, features, and even choose what games (in the knockout stages) they wish to watch on TapGo TV.
They have the early bird price for the entire tourney and more for P1,499 (it will go up to P1,999 after October 31).
That’s way cheaper than the $50 I pay to watch these boxing pay-per-views.