By: Abril Cano

 

It's 2018, a year we have been looking forward to for a long time, not only because of the events all year around but specially because of the FIFA World Cup, that will take place from June 14th, until July 15th. This a very special tournament, hosted every four years by a different country, in order to celebrate beautiful sports such as soccer, and compete for the title of the best national men's soccer delegation. In this opportunity the selected country for this big labor is the Russian Federation, that has been working hard to provide the best service for all the people that are willing to observe each of these passionate games, and to create the best experience of the memorable ev

This event gathers the whole world together to feel the passion for this sport, but only 32 out of all the teams will qualify to the group stage, where the emotion really starts, and eventually only 16 will continue to the knockout stage until one will eventually will raise the cup of glory, accompanied by a check with many zeros. This tournament is recognized as the most important, and as it only happens every 4 years everyone is really anxious and eager about it, every nation wants to do their best, and each player dreams about raising that gold cup, and with the group already organized and less than 4 months for the opening game, the world cup fever is already in the air, and the all the fans around the world are preparing their jerseys to support their favorite team.

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Colombia is a country very passionate for soccer, and it is the 6th time we have made it to the group stage, so it's no surprise we are counting the days for this big event, and, as usual, we are very positive and we have all the hope on our 11 ambassadors on the field. The road for Colombia as part of group H starts June 19 against Japan at the Mordovia Arena, Saranks, and you can watch it live at 7:00 am (Colombian Hour), the fight will continue June 24 and 28 against Poland, and Senegal. We will only advance to the knockout stage if we end up in 1st or 2nd place in our group so we must have all our energy from the very first moment, if we do so we will be facing one of the countries from group G (England, Tunisia, Belgium, or Panama). Hope is the last thing we lose, and we have very high expectations, due to the great individual and collective moment each of our players are going through.

Although Russia is a bit far, luckily, our team will not be alone on the field, as 87.786 Colombians have applied for tickets, being the 9th country with more requests for the event. If you want to join this event, and feel the real passion you can easily apply for tickets in http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/ticketing/apply-for-tickets.html where you will find all the information, but can I buy tickets? Well unfortunately no, you can just apply for the tickets, this due to high demand of certain matches, and the limited capacity of stadiums. If more people than the permitted in each stadium apply for tickets, there will be a random selection draw.

Even if you are a passionate fan, and want to live the action, or you just want to watch the game with some friends, the world cup is something you can't miss, so get your jersey, your TV, or your passport and your backpack, and be prepared for this unique tournament.

 

To end this article, here are some fun facts about the world cup you probably don't know about:

 

1. The World Cup in 2018 will mark the first time Russia has ever hosted this event and their 11th World Cup appearance. Their highest finish was 4th place in 1966.

2. An astounding 3.2 billion people (almost half of the world’s population) tuned in to watch the 2014 World Cup.

3. The World Cup has been played 20 times, Brazil holds the most titles with five. Italy and Germany are close behind with four each.

4. For the first time in the history of soccer, the 2002 World Cup was held in two different countries: South Korea and Japan.

5. The oldest goal scorer in the World Cup was Roger Milla, who was 42 in 1994 when he scored a goal for Cameroon against Russia.

6. It is rumored that India withdrew from the 1950 tournament as they were not allowed to play barefoot.

7. One of the venues for the 2018 World Cup, Fisht Stadium in Sochi, is the same stadium that hosted the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2014 Winter Games.

8. The first World Cup was played in 1930. Uruguay was both the tournament host and winner that year.

9. The World Cup trophy went missing for 7 days in 1966, when it was stolen just prior to the tournament.

10. The distance between the easternmost host city (Ekaterinburg) and the westernmost host city (Kaliningrad) at the 2018 World Cup is over 1500 miles. For comparison, that’s about the same distance as Moscow to London, England.

11. The average attendance per game at the 2014 World Cup was over 53,000 fans!

12. The highest scoring game in World Cup history was in 1954, when Austria defeated Switzerland 7-5.

13. The Italians have had the most number of draws in World Cup history with 21.

14. Of all countries that have appeared in the World Cup, Indonesia has played the least number of matches – just one in 1938.

15. Surprisingly Mexico has the most World Cup losses (25), though they do also have 14 wins and 14 draws

If you want read more go to http://www.roadtrips.com/blog/world-cup-facts/