Soumya Dasgupta, New York: A video on Facebook recently became viral, cars stopping at the times square when Cristiano Ronaldo was poised to take the final 92nd-minute freekick against Spain in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The match was being broadcasted on one of the large screens. Ronaldo scored the decisive goal of the match ending with his shot being the final action of the match ending it at 3-3. When I saw that, I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to grab a match at this iconic place as I was due to visit NewYork.
From the other side of the world, it took me 21 flight hours to reach the big apple. Battling the jet-lag I was disappointed when I reached Times Square to catch England take on Belgium. The NYPD cop informed me that matches are not being broadcasted on the large screens as it had become too tough for the traffic authorities to handle the slowing traffic who wanted to take a look at the screens.
Disappointed I went to Tonic, a pub on times square featuring all the matches in their 35 odd screens. The barmy army was there but what took it to the next level was my pub mate. After a couple of more awkward stares, I brought myself to acknowledge that I was sharing the space with the ex-British prime minister Mr. David Cameron. He was as vocal as all the other supporters and we had a discussion during the halftime on how “boring” England were playing.
As the match ended 1-0 in favor of the Belgians, he was a bit disheartened as the rest of the other supporters. England didn’t finish the top of group G but it was fun to see how a world leader reacts to Rashford’s goal miss as passionate as me.