During the break in the game, Jahangirnagar University Battala and JUCSU premises are silent. Looking away from the screen and looking at each other. Lionel Messi’s Argentine will disappoint the fans this time! Thousands of viewers were sitting in front of the screen with fear, yet hope in their eyes.
The Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) grounds erupted in cheers when Messi scored a penalty in the first half of the Argentine vs Poland match in Qatar’s capital Doha. After Lionel Messi missed that penalty, the crowd was in for a treat.
Before the start of the game at one o’clock in the morning yesterday Wednesday, spectators filled the JUCSU premises and Battala area. A live telecast of World Cup football is going on on big screens in these two places. Organizers said that this big screen event will continue from the beginning to the end of World Cup football. From the opening day of the World Cup, the presence of spectators in these two places is overflowing. Thousands of students gathered to enjoy the game of their favorite team.
Just cheers in the JUCSU compound when the ball touches the foot of Argentine footballer Alexis Mac Allister in the opponent’s goal post 1 minute after the break of Argentina vs Poland. As the crowd in the stadium screamed in celebration of the goal, those screams were mixed with the screams of Argentine fan students in the Battala area.
Mominur Rahman, a student of the Bengali department of the university, thinks that the atmosphere of the stadium matches even though it is so far from the stadium because of the opportunity to watch the game on the big screen. He said, “Due to the cheering of hundreds of thousands of spectators and watching the game on the big screen, even if I sit in the basement, I feel like I am sitting in the stadium.” The joy also increases as all the friends get a chance to watch the game together in an open space.
Jahangirnagar’s crowd erupted in cheers after 68 minutes when Julián Álvarez eluded two Polish defenders and fired the ball into the net. Journalism and Media Studies student Harun-or-Rashid is a devoted fan of the Argentine football team. He was celebrating Argentina’s victory by dancing after watching the game on the floor. He said, ‘Argentina is the hot favorite of this year’s World Cup. This is Lionel Messi’s last World Cup. We believe that Lionel Messi will lift the Qatar 2022 World Cup trophy. Argentina will be the world champion.
Both the jUCSU premises and the stadium are regularly watched by the children. Nabila Tabassum, a fourth-year student at the university, said, “Such an arrangement is perfect to enjoy the festival as a group. Any night at the university, we can join the festival. After the game, friends come to the hall. Besides, we students ourselves can return if we join together.
The branch Chhatra League has arranged a big screen in the university. Aktaruzzaman Sohel, the president of the organization said, ‘Our initiative is for pure entertainment in the university. Everyone can enjoy the madness of the World Cup together, happily share the magic of football.’
