1 am on July 18, 1994, the whole neighborhood was in a panic because of the power outage. Not because of the heat, because of the hardship, but the emotions were poured with cold water because 30 minutes later, the World Cup final between Brazil and Italy would begin. So the whole group of people invited each other to another neighborhood to watch. The children were still bewildered, also went. And back then, not every house had a TV like now. So, whenever they saw light shining out, even flashing, they would knock on the door. And finally they were settled, crowded, cramped, but so happy...
When Roberto Baggio brought the ball to the sky of Pasadena, in Vietnam at about 4 am on Monday. Some people went home to sleep and then prepared to go to work, another group continued to discuss excitedly waiting for morning, while the children were stirring to exercise, some of whom would definitely apply new techniques to watch a World Cup on TV half a world away.
In those days, watching football did not care about data, or parameters. There was no information to know how many spectators came to the stadium or how many billions of dollars the World Cup created. People only remembered it as a month-long journey of neighborhood gatherings, staying up all night together, looking at the screen - tiny compared to now but large enough on that day. Almost everything was emotion, to leave images to follow forever in memory and time.
Not only was he the "divine horse tail" standing stunned at the Rose Bowl stadium, but on that journey, people remembered symbolic imprints. Hristo Stoichkov brought Bulgaria to the semi-finals with 6 goals, helping him win the Golden Boot along with Oleg Salenko, who scored 5 goals in the match against Cameroon. Gheorghe Hagi carried the Romanian national team, the dance at the corner of the flagpole of legend Roger Milla, Rashidi Yekini celebrated in a "fish caught in the net" style, Bebeto with a carrying style, Ali Al-Owairan's solo, Carlos Valderama's bouncy hair, Alexi Lalas' impressive beard, legend Diego Maradona scored a goal and then was convicted of doping, or the tragic death of defender Andres Escoba for being shot when returning to Colombia due to an own goal...
2026, the World Cup floods everywhere, people don't have to go to watch because of power outages, there are too many TVs, wifi, 5G, 4G, air conditioning is too full, data, information floods, the World Cup will be a different experience. And in a few decades, the memories told will also be different...
