A NIGHTMARE TO FORGET - 2014 BRAZIL WORLD CUP

Courtesy: News Agencies 

I think it is the continuous pain in those 90 minutes which is unbearable. The focus constantly on those eleven players is intense and painful for the spectators rooting a particular team in circumstances which Brazil were in yesterday. It can be a devastating experience for fans present in the stadium; for all those watching on television or even those who use their smart phones to check the scores. How can one erase what they just saw?

Football is a beautiful game, it definitely is. I saw a different side to this beautiful game when a team that prides itself to be at the forefront of football went through such a horrible defeat.

Like me, many others have experienced such a defeat growing up and can share their most heartbroken sports stories to this day. Few analysis on the match, scrutinising few of the players who performed poorly, to place our own strategies and debating about it - we move on or at least we make an effort.

Whether the angry fans resort to personal abuse or protests - an athlete on the field will have scars which he has to live with for the rest of his life. C'est la vie!

And there are players who missed taking part in the game - through injuries (Neymar Jr), penalty (Thiago Silva) who watched their team blown away in those six minutes conceding four goals. Such were the levels of shock that Miroslav Klose, who netted his 16^th goal (World Record) of the World Cup was mentioned briefly in the game.

The game shall be remembered for the grand Brazilian defeat than Germany's outstanding win.

For the younger fans, the passionate fans - the defeat could be a blow and even come as a shock. Many tears were shed and it will only take few years to realise, I shed those tears for what? One will probably look back in a different way and till that time, you too as a fan has to live with it.

A certain youngster in 1950 was passionate about football and saw his countrymen mourning to the loss against Uruguay at the finals held in Brazil. And that youngster went on to play a pivotal role in guiding the national team to three of the five titles they have won - a feat no team has matched so far. And the same athlete used those golden words while describing the sport in his autobiography - 'A Beautiful Game'. It turned the Brazilian football and to an extent the global football completely. Football without Brazil is like Formula One without Ferrari. Unimaginable!

Such is the beauty of sports that - it moves on, it provides opportunities to improve and the only thing that asks an athlete in return is his willingness to participate. I am not sure how many of the athletes will turn up in Brazilian colours come 2018 in Russia. They need not seek revenge or look for redemption - because none of it actually exists except in our perceptive thoughts. The defeat however crucifying it maybe is part of the game just like the win.

It is hard, awkward, baffling, embarrassing, rough, rocky, arduous, delicate and add any other adjectives you like - the history shall not be erased if even Brazil were to win the next three World Cups in a row.

Some will move on with time, some prefer to stay with the result for rest of their lives, some will always be finding ways to cope with the defeat and some - they just don't care.

That to me is 'Sports Imitating Life'.