What a game! What a moment in time! And what an event!
The FIFA soccer World Cup ended yesterday with Spain crowned champions after defeating Argentina 1-0 in extra time.
When substitute Ferran Torres struck in the 106th minute, the floodgates opened and Spanish fans looked to the skies, fisted the air, and screamed their lungs out. They could sense it. They could feel victory!
They stood against a fairytale ending for Argentine superstar Lionel Messi. They had the Euro title in the bag. This was much bigger.
This was the ultimate prize. It was the one the best players in the sport wanted beside their name. It was the title of world champions. And yesterday, the fans earned bragging rights.
Around 80,000 fans converged on the MetLife Stadium in New York for the final and according to The New York Times, an estimated 1.8 billion people worldwide tuned in to watch it live.
And in the end, the superstars of Spain and Argentina rolled down the curtains on the 2026 event.
Now that was one for the memory banks.
The weeks of exciting soccer action finally came to an end and the fans loved it. They lapped it up with enthusiasm and at one stage, even US President Donald Trump referred to the event as one that was like watching a Super Bowl every day.
He was referring to the record attendance at venues across the US. There can be no doubts about the impact of the game on millions of fans across the world.
It is the beautiful game afterall!
In saying that, we now look up to the powers that be right here at home.
When are we going to see the Bula Boys on such a stage?
The Fiji Football Association started in 1938 and became a provisional member of FIFA in 1963 and was affiliated in 1964. It was a founding member of OFC in 1966.
Soccer, however, was played in schools way back in 1889. And the Suva Soccer Club was formed in 1905 for instance. So now we ask the big question. When will we be able to cheer on the Bula Boys at the World Cup?
We have four years to prepare for the next World Cup. How many years do we need to prepare the Bula Boys?
Surely we have a development program that has been running for years now?
Surely we have been identifying players in the various age groups over the decades? So, what is the problem?
Our neighbours New Zealand and Australia are in the World Cup.
What about us? We could once defeat them. What happened? The fans surely want to see the Bula Boys at the pinnacle of the sport some day.
Right now we are sitting on 155 in the FIFA World Rankings. We sit behind the Solomon Islands on 153, New Caledonia on 151, New Zealand on 86 and Australia on 28.
So we say, pull out all stops. Knuckle down and chart a path for the development of the game in Fiji. We have been at it now for over 88 years for crying out loud!
