Thalaivasal Vijay has appeared in films including Bell Bottom and Radhe Shyam . He says he watched the World Cup live in Qatar and watched the matches live .
With the FIFA World Cup reaching the semi-final stage, the buzz around it has only increased, and even our movie stars are enthralled by it.Thalaivasal Vijay, a kollywood actor who has appeared in films including Bell Bottom and Radhe Shyam, just returned from watching three World Cup matches live in Qatar and told us about his experience.As I studied at Guru Nanak College, I am a fan of sports and follow football, Wimbledon, and hockey.Although I am not a fan of club football, the German football team has been my biggest fan since 1988.
I've been obsessed with the German team since then, says the actor, who has a collection of German players including Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthus, Jrgen Klinsmann, Rudi Vller, Thomas Mller, and Oliver Kahn.Vijay says that it was a treat to see the matches live.It was one of my bucket list goals.I would be going to this World Cup, but sathiyama nenachu paakala. He managed to purchase a few tickets through the Bangladesh Football Association.I believe it was in September.I only had one film commitment, RJ Balajis Singapore Saloon, which had to be rescheduled, so I was lucky.I called the squad, and Balaji, a cricketer (he had just finished broadcasting for the T20 World Cup), was kind, he recalls. We left on November 30 and returned on December 7.Our bills fell to just under 2 lakh, from the tickets for three matches to travel and staying.According to him, we even got a seat in the stadium lounge to watch the Germany vs. Costa Rica match.However, the actor admits that while watching the games, he could not let himself be himself completely loose. Then, there is a large expat population in Qatar, which includes Tamils, Malayalis, Telugu people, and Sri Lankan Tamils.These people recognized me and wanted to snap selfies with me, so I had to be myself, he jokes.He claims he stayed in the football village in Qatar where thousands of fans gathered to watch the tournament.I stayed in the fan village, which housed over 4,000 containers of fabric, which included two single beds, a small fridge, AC, a toilet, and a bathroom. He remembers grabbing a cup of tea and gathering in front of our cabins.It was an incredible feeling.He compared the matches that he saw at the stadium to the rest of the matches on the giant screen outside the football village, adds the actor.Vijay said he watched the matches between Australia and Denmark, France and Poland, Germany and Costa Rica live, a game he says he will never forget in his life. The Costa Rica match was a decider, with the winner getting a pass to the next round.In the same stadium, Japan was playing Spain.Everyone predicted that Spain would beat Japan, and Germany would win over Costa Rica, and that the two teams would advance to the next round.On the stadium screens, they showed pictures of Japan defeating Spain around halftime. If they wanted to qualify, they only had 15 minutes to score three more goals.Costa Rica went on the defensive and refused to allow them to score.Despite Germany's win, it felt like we were walking out of a funeral when we stepped out of the stadium because both Germany and Costa Rica were out of the World Cup, he recalls.When shooting for Kalidas Jayarams Kadhal Konjam Thookala, I had bought a T-shirt in the same colors as German players wear on Oxford Street in London for 90 pounds. He is also impressed by Qatar's success in organising the tournament.This is a well-organized World Cup.Despite the volume of traffic that comes into Qatar this season, it took me about two minutes to clear immigration at their airport.Instead of a visa, they give you a Hayya card, which shows you the entire timeline of your visit, the matches you are watching, the city you are visiting, and your passport number! I met an Australian woman who told me that this was the first time she had never seen any booing during a football match.Because the punishment for abusing women is extremely harsh, I was told that women could walk alone on the streets of Qatar even at midnight and feel comfortable here.Outside the stadium, there was no beer, which solved most of the problems, he says.