Marhaba! Are you one of the many millions if not billions of fans around the world that wait every four years to watch the world’s greatest teams compete for the world cup? If you are then that’s awesome!! In addition to our passion for Arabic and love for learning this beautiful language, we now have another great thing in common: our passion for football (كرة القدم), which in North America is referred to as soccer, to distinguish it from American football. It takes years and years of preparation for these national teams to compete against one another and what better place for the teams to show their skills than in 12 different cities in beautiful Brazil (البرازيل).
Image by ИЛЬЯ ХОХЛОВ
I know for a fact that millions in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other places in the Arab world and beyond play football and find it to be as their number one sport activity, watch different games(مباريات), and simply just enjoy cheering for either their national teams, if they qualify, or for some other team. In Lebanon for instance, I assume similar to other places as well, the rivalry is always between Germany and Brazil fans. Other friends from other Arab countries have told me that the rivalry is between Italy and England. And others express that it seems between Argentina and Brazil. From the many news reports that I have come across, it seems the most intense rivalry this year is between Spain (current champions from 2010) and Brazil (host of the world cup and 5 time FIFA champion). From many of the pictures my friends sent me from Beirut, this rivalry is most visible in the way fans display the flags (الأعلام) of both teams and others on their balconies. Walking and driving in the streets of Beirut, one would encounter every single flag of all participating teams on different balconies, stores, restaurants, and cars. This world cup fever will engulf millions and billions of people around the world from now till the finals on Sunday July 13. Given the beauty of this sport and the fact that millions if not billions of fans are cheering for their national teams, I want to share an Arabic crossword puzzle that I have created using 10 different words that you should learn to speak and write about this great sport and the 2014 World Cup. Again, think of these words as building blocks to help you improve in Arabic. Similar to previous crossword puzzles, this exercise allows you to have fun as you learn about different things related to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Arabic. Please search vertically, horizontally and diagonally. I will post the answers to this crossword puzzle soon! Enjoy!!
Image by Norio NAKAYAMA
كأس العالم
كرة القدم
ملاعب
كرة
لاعب
المرمى
المباراة
الفريق
هدف
الحكم
Stay tuned for the answers and upcoming posts.
Have a nice day!!
نهاركم سعيد
