O is ready to roll

The most popular countdown closes in on a zero. And, within a few hours, an O like object is set to be kicked around by some fleet-footed magicians on the lush greens of Brazil. No less than 150 million pair of eyes across the globe will stay glued, for sure, to this O, with the sole expectation to be entertained and enthralled.

The long wait for the heart-stopper finally comes to an end tomorrow. It's time for the World Cup football, when everything else takes the backseat. The O this time is Brazuca that will dictate the world's business from the samba land, for the next one month.

Fifa, the game's world governing body, has learnt a good lesson from the disappointment of Jabulani, the ball used during the last World Cup in South Africa. Jabulani meant 'to celebrate' but turned out to be a nightmare for the strikers. Its 'grip n groove' feature was expected to provide players a ball with stable flight and grip under all conditions. But the complaints from the likes of Lionel Messi, Julio Cesar and Robinho meant the ball was blamed for the tournament's early goal drought. It eventually underwent tests by NASA to figure out what was wrong with it!

Sports goods giant Adidas kept on manufacturing official football for the World Cup since the Telstar for the Mexico event in 1970. Brazuca is born through state of the art technology, and already becomes the most tested football ever in the history of the most beautiful game on earth. Fifa only hopes Brazuca swings the right way in Brazil as it plans to earn at least $4.3billion this time.

The ball has six bonded polyurethane panels that interlock like a jigsaw and the nylon wound inside will give extra edge in soft-touch jugglery. Now, sit tight and wait to see who makes the most of Brazuca: Ronaldo, Messi or Neymar?  And, is it Brazil or Argentina who are going to find Brazuca most easy to jive with? But you just can't be so sure of it. With Spain and Germany in good nick, and other surprises sure to come to the fore, the month-long football festival will not be one to miss.

Football has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings hundreds of years ago. It's hard to believe how the game has evolved, from a 'game of ball' to an all-consuming high-tech fiesta. Some believe the sport was first introduced in England as early as 1170 when some youths went to a field for a 'game of ball'. They, as different accounts say, used an inflated animal bladder to kick around.

Way back in the second and third century BC, military drill in China had striking similarity with football. An exercise was called Tsu' Chu, in which opponents used a leather ball that was filled with feathers and hair. The aim was to get the ball into a small net fixed on to bamboo canes while also defending themselves from attacks.

However, the history of the game in South Asian region is not clear. It could not also be known whether Bangladeshis learnt the game from China or England. But there would none to argue that most of our forefathers grew up by kicking the pomelo around!