FIFA WORLD UP 2022: ARTICLE - Vasco Da Gama AND a Red Card
GUEST WRITER - ABHRA GHOSH - 12/12/2022 : It was a pleasant evening in the port of Calicut. It was not a busy day either. Children were playing around the beach, a Chinese Magician was surrounded by curious spectatres whom he mesmerized with his amusing and interesting tricks.
The red hue of the setting Sun was about to fade and then, three Ships were seen. Coming from the West, it looked like the clouds that bring storms in the Summer evenings of Indian subcontinent; Kalbaisakhi. No one in Calicut has seen those kind of Ships ever before, e cept one man. The man whom everyone admires as Mirza Daud Ghulam Siddiqui, was not happy seeing the three ships coming towards the peaceful port of Calicut that comes under the sovereignty of Zamorin or Samari, the King of Calicut. He was well aware of the nature of the ones who owned those ships, Portuguese. Being a Moroccan merchant, Mirza Daud doubted the intent of the leader of the team who stepped his foot in India as the pioneer we know, Vasco Da Gama.
The story of rivalry between Moroccan merchant Mirza Daud and Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama and the cruelty showed by Vasco Da Gama, has been beautifully portrayed in the story ‘Rokto-Sondhya’ (the blooded evening) by famous Bengali writer Shri Saradindu Bandyopadhyay in his ‘Oitihasik Kahini Samagra’ (an account of historical events wrapped with fabulous story telling). The story starts with a Meat shop owner named Ghulam Kadir killing a Portugese named Gabriel Deroza and later the story progresses as an account of Ghulam Kadir being Mirza Daud in his previous birth and how he was betrayed and killed by Da Gama. Now the readers must be wondering by which means these men and the story are related to the Picture above.
For that, let’s go to the Strait of Gibraltar. A strait that has made a huge diIerence between two hugely unequal continents- Europe and Africa; and Morocco is the country that borders Strait of Gibraltar in its north and its closest European counterparts are- Spain and Portugal. As it was evident in history that Moroccon merchants were much wealthier than their european neighbours, before the latter acquired and captured lands with the help of Gun and Fire and Morocco and Portugal were rivals for ages and both of them shared a hated past. So, now the readers may have started guessing how the story of Mirza Daud and Vasco Da Gama is related to the picture above.
When Portugal entered the Quarter Final of this FIFA World Cup, it won over Switzerland with a 6-1 lead and was under boiling energy; they were one of the favourites. But while the final game was played, it seemed the soul of Mirza Daud was guiding the Moroccan players against the descendants of Vasco Da Gama. Moroccan Goalkeeper Bounou seemed blessed by the Prophet Muhammad before each games they are playing. Morocco has been the David in this World Cup who has beaten the Football Goliaths like Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
So far they haven’t lost a match in this World cup since their Group League journey. In the Semifinal they are up against their Colonizer, France. After political independance from France in the year 1956, this is going to be the biggest platform of sports where they will be facing the Jaggernaut of Mbappe, Giroud or Griezmann. Being the first ever African country to play the semis is really a great and admiring achievement. This might be the first instance of rising for a better future of sports where the Developed Nations have ruled so far e cept the two Latin American nations. The Portuguese players tried to achieve as many as free kicks from faulty fouls and that led to the Red Card of Cheddira seemed as Red eyes of the Colonizers though that couldn’t stop Morocco from winning.
Morocco’s win over Portugal is no doubtedly a great motivation for aspiring Asian and African countries who want to put forth their eIort to be one of the rising powers. The rising Morocco reminds of the Mohunbagan team who beat East Yorkshire Regiment in 1911; the incident that moved the Country and motivated the mass. But it is a pity to see a club that behold a history of more than 100 years and carries a legacy of stopping Brazilian club Cosmos to win over them, now reeling under the Capitalist owner's name-game.
India, a country of 130 crores, failed to produce a team that can qualify for World Cup whereas Australia where only 02 crores people live, faced Argentina in Knock-outs. The country is going to host its first G20 meet in 2023. Many political and economical aspects of the World will be discussed in the meet whereas, the Indian Sports needs a boost. Will we see a better future of Indian Football? En-Nesyri had risen over Portugal and carried his team to the Semis. Let’s wish that one day, players of the fastest growing Nation will run faster than the Mbappes of future and will gift us a Football World Cup.
CAPTAINS NAME - FIFA WORLD CUP 2022 QATAR
