HILLONG: Bringing the crunch matches of the World Cup to the football-loving public in a special way, the Sports & Youth Affairs Department will provide a giant screen for the viewing of the semifinals, third-place playoff and final of the world’s greatest football extravaganza at Khyndailad, starting with the Brazil-Germany first semifinal, a match that will begin on Wednesday at 1:30am.
The decision was reached on Monday evening and the department is encouraging the public to come out and enjoy the matches in a responsible way. Public screening of big football matches has been a feature in Shillong in the past and the football fans of the city will be able to cheer on their favourite teams in a public venue this year as the World Cup reaches its peak.
It was informed on Monday evening that a food court will be set up to provide snacks to keep the fans going during the games.
Messi on way to surpass Maradona on cap
Lionel Messi is on the way to surpass Diego Armando Maradona’s mark of number of games played with the Argentine national team when he face the Netherlands Wednesday.
The Barcelona’s forward capped 91 times after Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Belgium Saturday, reports Xinhua.
Javier Zanetti, vice president of Italy’s Inter Milan, holds the record of 145 matches played with Argentina, followed by Roberto Ayala (115), Diego Simeone (106), Javier Mascherano (103) and Oscar Ruggeri (97).
Mascherano, 30, will also add matches to his account, but since Messi is younger (27), the expectation is that he will also beat Mascherano’s record.
“La Pulga” (Messi’s nickname) has scored four goals in Brazil 2014, three in the first stage. He is fifth in the list of Argentine players who have scored in World Cups.
So far, Messi has scored a total of 42 goals to reach the second place of Argentine scorers just behind Gabriel Batistuta (56). (With inputs from IANS)