By Zafar Ali Khan
ISLAMABAD: Though Pakistan is languishing in the 205 spot in the FIFA’s rankings, every time the football World Cup takes place, Pakistani fans including youngsters, the elderly and even girls, resort to doing crazy things.
They would paint their faces with portraits of their favourite players and wear team’s colour. They would install national flags of the participating countries on their rooftops.
While most Pakistanis are still reeling from the shock of the defeat of their national cricket team in the T-20 World Cup final at the hands of England in Melbourne, Australia, football fans across the country have started adorning their streets with portraits of star players ahead of the World Cup, scheduled for Sunday (Nov 20) in Doha, Qatar.
When it comes to football, Pakistan’s impoverished neighbourhood Lyari, in Karachi, remains the leader where football fans and players conduct mock matches wearing jerseys of their favourite teams or players in their fervent passion, and express their love for the sport and favourite teams.
Football fans
At times, in Lyari, football fans take out processions holding and waving flags of their favourite teams before they reach open venues where giant TV screens are installed for live streaming of the World Cup matches.
Though Pakistan has never made it to a FIFA World Cup competition, it does contribute to the international tournament by churning out and exporting world-class football. This time around, the Pakistani football made by Forward Sports in Sialkot, will be used in all World Cup matches.
In Lyari and other neighbouhoods of Karachi, fans have daubed walls and streets with giant cut-outs of their favourite players, including Lionell Messi, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and other top players.
In Lyari, it seems, football and subsequently World Cup is part of the life of the people mostly youngsters, who have started taking to the streets to celebrate the mega event beforehand.
Giant screens have been installed in Lyari, Malir, Qayyumabad and other parts of Karachi to live stream the World Cup events. The people of Lyari usually religiously follow the World Cup matches and this time around, the enthusiasm seems more of a movement than merely a sports event as youth and elderly fans have installed gigantic national flags of their favourite teams and countries on their rooftops.
The people in Karachi’s Lyari love football to the level of craziness, and this is how they express it. The football’s biggest tournament is celebrated like a festival in this settlement while curating the colourful walls of a street with portraits of different players.
