It was close to 3 AM on a summer night, but you wouldn't be able to tell how late it was with the number of windows lit in the entire neighbourhood. It seemed like everyone in Bangladesh was up late that Sunday morning, which is unusual because unlike other countries Sunday is the start of the week here.
I remember sensing the tension in the air as the game went to penalties. Earlier on, one of the greatest footballers of all time just lost his cool and head-butted a player from the opposing team. He saw red on what would be his last World Cup game ever and eventually the team sporting blue lifted the trophy to an eventful finale.
Just as I was about to turn the telly off, my ears picked up a familiar tune:
“Is that…is that Seven Nations Army?”
A wall of Italy fans were at the top of their lungs, loudly singing a version of the popular “The White Stripes” in a fanzoned area. My half-asleep brain was understandably confused to make that connection immediately but on any other occasion I wouldn't have been this surprised. I grew up as a music enthusiast and was well into football to know how the two go hand in hand. Like the time I heard Queen's now immortal “We Are The Champions” during the 1994 World Cup, and my immediate reaction was telling everyone around me how I saw the band on my cousin's cassette catalogue.
As far back as I can remember, World Cup anthems have had some significance in contributing to the overall feeling of the tournament. Whether it was Ricky Martin's signature “Allez Allez Allez” or more recently K'Naan's “Wavin' Flag” - fans immediately connect football to these tunes today. But if there's one thing that helped amplify this phenomenon to stratospheric levels, it would have to be EA Sports' FIFA video game series.
FIFA 98 in particular not only completely revolutionised how I perceived video games. Video games were getting popular around the world with the rise of personal computers, but there's a reason why FIFA 98 was so big here: Bangladesh was featured in the game. For any local football fanatic at the time, the thought of getting to boot up your PC after a school day, to then take Bangladesh all the way to the final of a World Cup in a video game will remain a core memory for many.
However, an added bonus was the incredible soundtrack that accompanied the game. Blur's Song 2 is associated directly with football because of FIFA 98 for an entire generation of football fans and gamers. And it just seemed to get more awesome with every new edition of the game. Not sure the same could be said about the gameplay, but the soundtracks were on point every single time.
