Fun, facts and failure

In Delhi football circles, Novy Kapadia is quite simply "Mr Football.” A familiar face on our TV screens as a football pundit, this associate professor of English from Delhi University is rare among the Parsi community which is famed for its connections to cricket and, at one time, cycling too.
This handy paperback was released just before the start of the World Cup in Brazil, that carnival of football that once every four years practically brings the world to a halt as billions tune in to the world’s most popular sport.
Kapadia is a true fan, one whose love for the game is matched only by his knowledge. Being a former player and club owner himself and having been to every World Cup since Italy in 1990, he is ideally placed to write a book on the subject.
Every World Cup since Uruguay 1930 is covered in detail in the book with not only scores of all matches, but fascinating trivia and sidelights as well as some lovely historical photos which I have never seen before. It ends with a look ahead to Brazil 2014, prospects for every team, the schedule with matches in Indian Standard Time and at the back of the book, a quiz consisting of 100 questions to test your knowledge on what Brazilians call "Jogo Bonito” or "The Beautiful Game.”
Before giving summaries of every World Cup tournament, there is a fascinating chapter called "Origins of the World Cup.”
Part of this section deals with the biggest heartbreak for Indian football, the sad story of how India "qualified” for the 1950 World Cup the last time it was staged in Brazil but, for various inexplicable reasons, failed to make the journey and thus missed the golden opportunity.

Novy Kapadia: love for football

India made it to the finals back then as the two other nations in their qualifying group, Burma (now Myanmar) and Philippines, both withdrew. The 1950 edition was severely depleted as the world was yet to recover from the depredations of World War II and thus both the hosts Brazil and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) were desperately keen for India to participate. Not surprisingly, it was the lackadaisical attitude of the All India Football Federation that saw them miss a wonderful opportunity to make a real impact on the world game, something Indian football would pay dearly for.
Currently ranked a miserable 154th in the FIFA world rankings, India’s chances of ever making it again to the finals is next to nil in the foreseeable future. The glory days of the 1950s and 60s when India boasted of several wonderfully skillful players and was a force to reckon with in Asia are long gone and, like the sad story of our hockey decline, it is doubtful we will ever regain that glory.
Still, the universal appeal of football means even nations not competing follow the World Cup avidly every four years. This book will prove to be an ideal guide. It is an excellent publication and a tribute both to the author and publisher.