A piece of 18k gold with a weight of 4.97kg was made into a unique "Hercules Cup" by Italian sculptor Gazzani. Every four years, men’s football teams all over the world fight for the highest honor, and fans all over the world are crazy about watching the ownership of this gold cup.
Among the more than 200 members of FIFA, dozens are frequent visitors to the Men’s Football World Cup, and more are spectators who can’t get the "tickets". But this does not prevent hundreds of millions of fans all over the world from following Wan Li, or waiting all night to release their enthusiasm for football.
The fans in China are also passionate about the World Cup. Although China’s men’s soccer team reached the World Cup finals only once, China fans’ "World Cup complex" is not inferior to other regions. In this hot summer, the World Cup will become a hot topic for domestic fans.
New horizon
Like many fans’ memories of the World Cup, Laotian, a 63-year-old retired worker, began to watch football in 1982. That year, CCTV broadcasted the World Cup for the first time. "I just bought a black-and-white TV set at home, and I got up in the middle of the night to watch the ball. It was an eye-opener. It turned out that football can play like this!" Laotian recalled.
Since then, Mr. Tian has never missed a World Cup, and the four-year "staying up late to watch the live broadcast" has almost become a model. In 2002, he also went to South Korea to witness the performance of China’s men’s soccer team in the World Cup. However, since the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, Mr. Laotian has found that the channel for watching the game is no longer just TV, and his son’s generation has already watched the ball on some online platforms. The popularity of the mobile Internet has opened a "new horizon" for fans.
On the occasion of the countdown to the 2018 World Cup, two video platforms, Mi Gu and Youku, announced that they had reached a cooperation with CCTV, and "pressed the whistle" to win the new media copyright of this World Cup. This means that domestic fans can watch all 64 live HD games on the mobile phone client and PC side of these two companies. "Enjoy the World Cup anytime, anywhere" is no longer just a slogan.
The time difference between Russia and China is five hours, and many games are in prime time for domestic users. It is roughly estimated that the domestic audience of this World Cup is expected to exceed 1 billion. Relying on the social network platform, the topic of the World Cup will spread explosively. Laotian said that his son has helped him download the mobile APP (application software) for watching the game, and a group of old golfers have also built a WeChat group. "Watching and chatting, the more interesting this World Cup is!"
new technology
Jerry Lee, a Tianjin fan, is a loyal fan of the English team, and the quarter-final of the 2010 World Cup still rankles him. "Lampard’s shot crossed the goal line as a whole in slow motion, but it was judged invalid by the referee on duty. A wrong judgment is likely to cost a team four years of hard work." However, despite the introduction of goal-line technology, wall spray and other means, there are still many controversial penalties in the World Cup referee in Brazil, and the referee repeatedly steals the camera to some extent, which reduces the excitement of the game.
In this World Cup in Russia, the technology of video assistant referee (VAR) will make its debut. This technology has been applied in World Club Cup, Confederations Cup, Super League, Bundesliga, Serie A and other competitions. "We have conducted experiments in more than 1,000 games and found that without VAR, there will be one misjudgment every three games on average, while with VAR, there will be one misjudgment every 19 games. Although it won’t solve all the problems, it’s obviously helpful for the game. " FIFA President infantino said a few days ago.
It is reported that FIFA will set up 33 broadcast seats in each match of this World Cup, including 8 slow cameras, 6 ultra-slow cameras and 2 seats for observing offside, and screen and confirm key penalties such as goals, penalties and red cards, which will also help the referee to punish some missed violent fouls. The introduction of VAR will make Diego Maradona’s "God’s hand" and Suarez’s "bite innocent" and other loophole-taking behaviors hard to escape.
However, while reducing "unjust, false and wrong cases", VAR has also been controversial. Frequently stopping the game, affecting the fluency of the game, and making the stoppage time longer are endless. Lampard said frankly that VAR technology is still immature, and it is too early to introduce the World Cup. Of course, more fans may vote for it like FIFA-after all, sometimes disputes and disputes waste no less time than watching videos.
Is the application of new technology adding color or chaos? Maybe we can only wait for the game to answer. "From the fans’ point of view, if the penalty is more convincing, it will increase the transparency of the game and football will return to its own excitement." Jerry Lee said.
New sensation
With Iran’s final submission of the 23-man roster, all 736 players from 32 teams in this Men’s Football World Cup have been confirmed. Among them, there are 9 players from the Super League. These familiar faces who play for Beijing Guoan, Guangzhou Evergrande and other teams make China fans feel more about watching the "home players" game.
Compared with previous World Cups, this time Russia is not far away. With the development of sports tourism, this World Cup may usher in the largest "sightseeing group" of South Korean fans since the 2002 World Cup in China and China. It is estimated that 100,000 South Korean fans will rush to the scene to watch the game. As of June 8th, the World Cup tickets announced by FIFA show that China fans have bought more than 40,000 tickets, exceeding expectations.
In addition, China elements have been deeply blended with the World Cup. One third of the 15 sponsors and partners listed by official website in the Russian World Cup are China enterprises. From the peripheral products such as mascots and fans’ equipment, to the air-conditioning equipment in venues and billboards beside the stadium, China elements are readily available.
The World Cup is a festival for fans all over the world. People participate in it, not only to watch the game. As far as predicting the results of the game is concerned, Pele, the king of the ball, is famous all over the world. Paul Octopus created the magic of predicting all the results of eight games in the 2010 World Cup. It is said that the official of the World Cup in Russia also owns a white Persian cat named Achilles, and I don’t know how to behave.
The suspense of winning or losing the men’s soccer World Cup match and the elegant demeanor of the star players all affect the hearts of China fans. Perhaps it is to support a certain team and feel the "heartbeat acceleration" from the ups and downs of the green story; Perhaps it is a kind of nostalgia, the days that those classic moments accompanied, and also recorded their lost youth; Maybe it’s just a fad to follow the trend and seek common interests in hot topics … In any case, the curtain of the 2018 Men’s Football World Cup will open. In the next month or so, football will ignite the passion of fans, and a football feast will bring new memories to fans.
People’s Daily (23rd edition, June 13, 2018)