Every four years around Bangladesh turns into a debate table involving mainly two South American nations – Argentina and Brazil. The reason being the Fifa World Cup and with just a couple of days left for the world event to kick off in Brazil, the heat is only turning up.
The national cricketers are also no different in this regard. The unit was found to be heavier on Messi’s side as the Argentine star Messi came out clear favourite from the debates among the players during their ongoing training camp ahead of the home series against India yesterday.
“With no doubt it’s Argentina who is going to win the cup this time,” said Sohag Gazi who seemed to be the most passionate Argentine fan in the troop. “Many of them cheer for Brazil but let me tell you one thing that Brazil is not going to win this time.”
Gazi could consider Tamim Iqbal as his opponent in the troop as the explosive opener said it’s not only him, but his whole family supports Brazil. Like a striker with the bat, it wasn’t hard to figure that 2002 World Cup winner Brazilian Ronaldo is Tamim’s favourite player. However, he will be backing the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo in the current tournament.
Well, the debate as usual rolled over to caparing of the stars Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo. The poster boy of Bangladesh cricket Shakib al Hasan is a big Messi fan and he even once planned to travel to Barcelona to meet his football hero, but that remains untouched in his wish list.
Meanwhile, Gazi continued his flow by saying, “How can you compare Messi with Neymar? Messi has the skill which none of the player has at the moment and the way he plays and scores, it will be unfair to compare anyone with this guy.”
Leader of a team always differ a bit from the rest and in this case too Mushfiqur Rahim backed defending champions Spain rather than the South Americans. He, however, was an England fan in the past for which his teammates mostly made fun of him.
Apart from Mashrafe bin Mortaza and Nasir Hossain, Mushfiq is also a Messi fan but supports Spain simply because he “loves Barcelona”.
“I think Spain have a very good chance of winning the World Cup. My favorite player is Argentina’s Messi. As Isaid I am a huge fan of Barcelona and I love watching Messi,” said Mushfiq.
It has been long known that Tigers spearhead Shahadat Hossain is a close follower of Cristiano Ronaldo. His local club and national teammates have seen him day in and day out dressing up like Ronaldo during the football games in practice sessions.
Wearing a white Real Madrid jersey, Shahadat’s “Ronaldo celebration” - which however turned out funny - is also very famous among the cricketers.
