How KDI School Students Watched the 2014 World Cup

The World Cup in the home of samba was full of drama, and was never short of surprises. Both on and off the field, the World Cup served us with mouthwatering dishes of unforgettable memories: Luis Suarez banned for biting Giorgio Chiellini; Ghana airlifting 3 million dollars in cash to Brazil to pay their players; Cameron’s Benoit Assou-Ekotto head-butting a teammate; Tim Howard’s mesmerizing saves which made him an instant American Hero; Neymar''s tournament-ending injury; goal celebrations by the Colombian team showing off their hip-hop soul and many others.

Everyone expected this year''s World Cup to be full of spectacular goals, and it didn''t disappoint. There were 136 of them in the 48 first-round games – an average of 2.83 per fixture. Robin van Persie''s flying header, Tim Cahill''s strike that hit the underside of the crossbar before bouncing down and James Rodriguez''s left-foot thunderbolt will linger long in our minds.

In KDI School, students followed all the matches religiously in spite of the time difference and hectic academic schedule. Being in a global community, you could find at least one supporter for almost all participating countries here at the KDI School. Haejungsa kitchen, the video conference room and the student lounge were the most popular match venues. The rivalry, the cheers, the boos, the happiness, the tears, the fun and the display of country colors by students made the Word Cup experience on campus absolutely indelible. The Globe covered all the matches from the opening ceremony to the finals and chronicled the views of students as follows:

Sumaila Zuberu (2013 MDP, Ghana)

I watched some matches in the video conference room and some in Haejungsa. I expected Ghana to pass the group stage and even qualify for the quarter finals but unfortunately we crashed out. I was so disappointed. Dede Ayew, Christian, Asamoah Gyan, Sule Muntari and John Boye stood out for me in the Ghana Black Stars. I blame the coach and the poor organization by the managers of the team for our abysmal showing in Brazil.

Buzz Farooq (2014 MDP, Maldives)

I am a great fan of football and team Netherlands. As usual, Netherlands did superbly in the group stage. Robben was fantastic, but I was a bit disappointed in Sneijder and Van Persie''s performance. Memphis was also promising. Coach Van Gal was indeed successful in all his tactics until the semifinal defeat to Argentina. I was down, heartbroken and disappointed.

Titus Obiezue (2014 MDP, Nigeria)

l watched the matches anywhere convenient, including the video conference room, Haejunsa lobby and the student lounge. l expected Nigeria to get to the semifinals but they performed below my expectation. Since they were eliminated by a better playing team, l didn''t feel bad.

Charlene Eboi (2013 MDP, Cote D’Ivoire)

I watched all the World Cup games in my room on the internet. I expected my team to reach 1/8^th stage of the competition. I was so appalled by the bad performance of the coach. His poor substitution just 7 minutes to the end of the match led to our defeat to Greece. Even though the Elephants are perennial heartbreakers, I still felt disappointed.

TJ Cha (2013 MPP, Korea)

As a member of the KDI School soccer team, I mostly watched the matches in school . It was great to watch every match with the teammates over drinks and snacks. Also priceless was to watch such an international event with teammates from all over the world. I expected the Korean team to perform even worse, so personally, I think they played fair enough. They tried their best and we just have to accept other teams were better prepared. Of course, I felt extremely heartbroken when Korea was eliminated – especially when I was watching the match with Algeria together with students from Algeria. But then again, I believe that the Korean team is still very young and possesses a huge potential to grow in the future!

Luis Carlos Vargas B (2013 MPP, Costa Rica)

I saw most of the games in my room, but for matches related to the Costa Rican team I used the student lounge. For a couple of games I met with some friends in a pub, and I also had the opportunity to support the Korean team in downtown Seoul. Because the Costa Rican team was in a very difficult group (with Uruguay, Italy and England) I honestly did not have high hopes, but their performance was really impressive. It was even reported that the market value of our players increased by 28%. Some people might think the disqualification would accompany sadness, but what I felt was true pride and appreciation of those who represented the country.

Germany may have defeated Argentina in the finals to raise the coveted Cup but the true winners of the World Cup were all KDI School students, who sacrificed their sleep to watch all the matches.

By Brian Dzansi Dzidefo  (2014 MDP, Ghana)