A Football Match

The entrance to the field was blocked due to the large masses of crowd who came to support their respective teams. The crowd was wild with excitement. The environment was breathtaking. The Mexican wave was flowing from one end to the other. The crowd was shouting their heart out. Every individual was cheering his country in his own unique way. Vuvuzelas were filling the air with an exotic feeling. Crowd was wearing the respective colors of their country’s flag. Face-paintings, unusual caps and hats and an amalgamation of colorful accessories gave variety to the green colored field.
Then the shouting turned into a loud roar as the referees came in to the field followed by the players. Each player accompanied by a small child started to queue up for the national anthem. Then the national anthem of the home team was played and the atmosphere was filled with a patriotic cum philanthropist feeling. As the anthem ended the team was welcomed by the home crowd with a standing ovation. Then the visitor team’s anthem was played and the supporters of the visitors, somewhat less than the home crowd but enough to make their presence felt, cheered their team with the conclusion of the anthem. This marked the start of the handshakes between the players to show their sportsman’s spirit.
The players already warmed up by the crowd’s cheering took some pre-match strides to loosen up their muscles. The home team, winning the toss, chose to start of the proceedings of the match.
As the referee’s whistle sounded, the game started with a light touch to the ball by the striker to the player close-in and then the long pass to the defender at the back started the battle of self-control, discipline, control and will-power. The first ten minutes seemed like the passing practice for both teams. Possession gained and lost was the banner of the first ten minutes. But every pass by the players was being wildly cheered by the crowd. At the end of the twentieth minute the crowd went down on