What's so great about football ?

That is a question many people ask, especially my cricket student fans.  I speak to them about the capacity of an individual as well as a team to create magic in 90 minutes.  About agility,  stamina, hardwork, perseverance.   More than all this, it is the spirit of the game.  Besides all of the before, it instills in you without your knowing a pride that other sport can only aspire to.  It removes boundaries of religion, of language, of discrimination in any form.  It breaks down walls created by politics, by war, by ethnic strife.  It is a game that breaks barriers.

You have as example players who made it there out of sheer hardwork showing you possibilities.  Players in the game, who have achieved fame not by their association but because they have it in them to do something great.  For they dreamed to be great.  For they worked to become great.

And the best part I like about the game is the surprise element.  Like yesterday when North Korea scored a goal against the mighty Brazil.  Mighty because they are ranked No. 1, for their sportsmanship, their skill, their grace, the magic they can do with the ball.  No they did not win, but that doesn't matter.  What mattered is the spirit they showed in playing the game.  North Korea, ranked 105 who everyone expected to get a drubbing, stood the onslaught and scored one too.  That is possible in football.  The spirit of fighting for a cause, for a nation, to inspire a nation, singled out, poor and  searching for a reason to believe.  What J. Yun Nam did was just that. 

Saluting North Korea and wishing them luck.  Also, waiting for the day, when we will have a team representing us, giving us a chance to feel great, to cheer, to cherish.