Wow FIFA World Cup season for 2014 just started with the host Brazil kicking off against opponent Croatia in Group A. I can't believe that I woke up at 4am after going to bed around 12am earlier to watch it. The last time I remembered doing this was for the South African World Cup in 2010. I reckon that with the month long matches all during the wee hours of the morning (3-4am), it's gonna be a long month ending in the mid of July.
The theme for the FIFA World Cup Brazil this year is All in One Rhythm (TM). The logo resembles a hand holding a football, the hand is yellow in color while the ball is green. The whole thing looks like the world cup itself and was probably customized to represent Brazil's jersey colours. The official song was We are one Ole Ola performed at the opening on 13 June 2014 at the stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil on stage by Jennifer Lopez (JLo) (who to me looked like an Avatar in her green outfit or worst, look like Shakira ready to shake some belly. Mr. Worldwide Mr 305, Pitbull was wearing a polo-tee resembling Brazil's green and yellow colors and really really tight pants... while Claudia Leitte a Brazilian singer wore a tight glittering blue outfit that made her look like a gymnast from China to which I reckon didn't really go with the theme of the Brazil World Cup at all!
My buddy commented in FB that you will know it's WC season when traffic is clear in the morning and your meeting suddenly gets canceled. I also reckon that this one month is going to be a good business month for...... DOCTORS! Undoubtedly the hottest item this month is going to Medical Certificates! It's no wonder the Government is suddenly talking about setting up a central database to monitor MCs to keep medical absenteeism in check. I read in the news somewhere that medical absenteeism is costing Malaysian companies a staggering RM4 billion a year! Well, frankly I question what kind of methodology they use to derive at that figure. How do we measure losses resulting from medical absenteeism? Is it by the amount of salary paid to the worker when they are on leave? Or is it the future profit loss resulting from the worker not present at work. I think the latter is a vague assumption or guesswork at most.
Back to the kick-off match between Brazil, the game started off rather disorientated with both sides trying hard to take control of the ball with their own individual playing styles and strategies. Suddenly 11 minutes into the game, Brazilian defender Marcelo in the No. 6 yellow jersey made history by unwillingly scoring an own goal giving the Croatians 1 goal in the opening match. I reckon it's really a first in the history of World Cup, to make it more interesting, it was the opening match!
Brazil went on to win 3-1. 2 beautiful goals were scored by Neymar and one by Oscar. Game play by the Croats were, to me, rather disappointing as they didn't score any goals except for the one Marcelo helped them score! Nevertheless, things are inevitably just going to get more and more intense and exciting as the matches slowly unfolds. Interesting matches to watch are Group B's Spain vs. Holland (13 June) and Group D's England vs Italy (14 June) or even Group G's Germany vs. Portugal (16 June). I guess it's time I get used to the routine of waking up at 3-4am to watch these 'must-watch' matches as the competition intensifies to reach the finals.
The big question is, who is going to win the 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP BRAZIL? Will it be the host, Brazil? Germany? Italy? France? I guess only time will tell and we have to wait till the finals to find out. After all, as the saying goes, The Ball is Round! I wonder where the heck is Paul the Octopus now? Or Mani the Parakeet from Singapore? Brazil has an answer to that... It's screw them! They have Big Head the Loggerhead Sea Turtle as their new tipster and at the run up to the opening match, Big Head has already predicted a sweet win for Brazil! I can imagine the Croat players cooking up turtle soup recipes in their heads now.
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