‘Messi’mersing moments have come to an end, it’s time to get back to the football ground. Pictures by AFP and Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 13: As the 20th Fifa World Cup football came to an end tonight at Estádio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, football fans in the city bid adieu to the world’s biggest single sports extravaganza.

Football fanatics were sad that they would not get to witness high voltage matches that they had got used to since the World Cup began. It was also a mixed feeling as the late night games were both the reasons for revelry and insomnia. Most of the fans said that it’s time for either club football or shifting of loyalty back to cricket.

At present, India is taking on England in an away series.

The month-long tournament gave the fans a lot to cherish. While the early exit of teams such as Portugal, Spain and England left many heartbroken, the high-octane games of Netherlands, Brazil and Columbia gave them lots of exciting moments.

“Everybody loves a good goal and RobinVan Persie’s Superman act by header was the goal of the tournament for me,” said Priya Sahoo, a club-level soccer player.

While players such as Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo failed to make a mark, goalkeepers certainly increased their fan base in this edition courtesy their splendid game play.

“The tournament in my perspective belonged to the goalkeepers with many games being decided by penalty shootouts. Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa was surprise superstar,” said Sonali Mishra, an IT professional.

This edition of the football World Cup will also be remembered for its share of controversies.

“Luis Suarez bit more than he could chew,” jested Prakash Mohanty, a college-goer about the four-month ban on the Uruguayan forward for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.

This was also the World Cup that saw Germany forward Miroslav Klose becoming the highest scorer in this one-in-four-years event. He struck his 16th goal in the semi-final and went past Ronaldo of Brazil.

At the same time, injury to Brazilian forward Neymar that cut short his World Cup campaign, left many fans teary-eyed. His exit was a big blow to Brazil and its fans, as the host nation went down comprehensively in the semi-final and third position matches.

Former captain of Indian women football team Shradhanjali Samantray said the tradition of tiki-taka passes were kept alive even after Spain’s expulsion. Though her favourite team Brazil could not make it to finals, she rooted for Argentina and continued to lend support to her favourite player Lionel Messi. “A lot of lesser-known teams and players exhibited excellence in this edition. Most importantly, the football World Cup is always cherished because it’s the only occasion when so many football players don their national colours instead of their clubs,” she said.