It is almost nine in the evening and I am on set for an Eid drama. Pretty normal fare in the life of an actor. Except that I am running on three hours of sleep and have been doing so every day since the World Cup began. “Don’t watch the games” could be your glib reply but then who would write articles complaining about sleep deprivation during the world’s greatest show. Seriously though, this has become a problem.
Normally I am good at prioritizing. Every day I will pick one or at most two games that are worth watching. I will either sleep, or doze in front of the TV during the rest. It’s a formula that has worked for all tournaments, except this one.
Take Sunday for example. Clearly the must watch game was the Argentina Bosnia one. And while Fajr and football are not two words I like to put in the same sentence, the plan was to get a good night’s rest and wake up with the muezzin for a dose of Messi magic.
The first mistake I made while executing this plan was to turn on the tv during the Switzerland Ecuador game. Normally I would give a lot more meat to Ananta Jalil’s make up than a football match between these two nations. There was no way that this game was going to hold my attention. How wrong I was. The game was frogging brilliant. End to end stuff. Classy clash of the continental styles with a late winner to boot.
Now with one game in the kitty I could have gone to bed. While Honduras has captured the hearts of all, it has been because they are who they are and not because they play the way the play.
France is a side I struggle to have sympathy for. Every tournament they enact political dramas that the best BCL office would be proud of. But the Equador and Switzerland game had me buzzing and the Hondurans are oh so lovable. So in the end I ended up going to bed at 7 in the morning with a strong commitment to act badly at 10.
Speaking of bad performance, Argentina needs to ties their laces tighter if they plan to justify the noise made by their fans in Golachipa. They either need to pick Angel Di Maria, what a name for a tattooed millionaire (hail Bruce Dickinson), as their playmaker, or show a stronger commitment in central midfield. Otherwise a lot of people will get their heartbroken in Bhurungamari.
Meanwhile I need to figure out a way to sleep, watch football, and function like a semi-adult all at the same time. Funny is only fun when you are getting a paycheck and in my current form those will stop coming in soon.
And while everything in this world can legitimately be blamed on Sepp Blatter, and that has its own charm, I would rather eat my chow and enjoy the game at the same time. Call me greedy. Call me sleepy first and then call me greedy again.
