Even Indian politicians got influenced by the Football World Cup mania like the common man and formed their respective party teams to play football matches. So a league stage comprising teams representing BJP, Congress, JD(U), LJP, TMC, CPI(M), AAP and the media was set up.

In the BJP team, too many players wanted to play in the striker position causing a headache to the captain Rajanth Singh. Coach Mohan Bhagwat had to intervene to cajole and convince the players to play in their positions of strength, keeping the overall interest of the team in mind. Sushma Swaraj refused to take the field unless she was given at least the midfielder position. Captain Rajnath Singh agreed to it.

Originally Narendra Modi was to wear the number 10 jersey. However L K Advani threw a tantrum and insisted on wearing the number 10 Jersey and so Modi settled for the number 56 jersey.

Experts criticized BJP’s decision to play Smriti Irani in the right wing, saying she lacked experience. However, some opinions suggested she was given that position for her ability to trouble Congress’s centre full back Rahul Gandhi.

In the Congress team, Rahul Gandhi took to the field wearing the number 4 jersey but his teammates mobbed him, lifted him up, tore his jersey and forced a number 10 jersey on him. Many were expecting Rahul to play in the striker position but he chose to play in the full back defensive position. Digvijay Singh explained that Rahul believed in the Italian strategy that saving goals was more important than scoring them and he was at the heart of the team’s catenaccio defence. If the opponents cannot score a goal, they cannot win the match, he added.

In the 11th minute of the Congress vs BJP match, the Congress got a free kick just outside the BJP penalty area. Dr Manmohan Singh took the kick and there was crowding near the BJP goal when Rahul managed to push the ball into the goal with his hand. Mani Shankar Aiyer hugged Rahul and said with tears in his eyes “That was a hand of god goal. I see glimpses of Diego Maradona in Rahul Baba.” However, the referee disallowed the goal and the play continued.

In the 15th minute, Congress had another free kick. However, Sushil Kumar Shinde who took the kick kicked the ball twice before any other player touched it and so BJP got a free kick.

In the 21st minute, Shashi Tharoor took control of the ball in his own half, outran and outwitted five BJP defenders, before engendering a cross pass to Chidambaram. With the ball at his feet, and just defender Nitin Gadkari and the goalkeeper to beat, Chidambaram tried to dribble around Gadkari who tried to tackle him, and in the process, Gadkari fell on Chidambaram. Chidambaram had to be carried off the field and was substituted by Karti Chidambaram.

At half time, score was 0-0. After a dry first half, the second half saw some excitement with 4 goals scored by BJP players; 2 goals and 2 self-goals – and the match ended with a scoreline 2-2.

In another match between SP and BSP, Mayawati hit the post and the crossbar a couple of times but the BSP failed to score. Akhilesh Yadav attempted a few bicycle kicks which went far off the target leaving the match a goalless draw.

In the match between the CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee went livid after the referee showed the red card to one of her players for committing a foul. Derek O’brien had to calm down Mamata Banerjee and lead her away.

Nitish Kumar had sacked several senior players from his JD(U) team before the match with LJP. In the match, he refused to pass the ball to his teammates and tried several times to singlehandedly beat the entire LJP defence in search of the elusive maha goal similar to the one his favourite player, Saeed Owairan of Saudi Arabia had scored in the 1994 World Cup. But each time, his solo incursions were ably thwarted by the LJP defenders. A late goal by Ram Vilas Paswan saw the LJP winning. Post the match, Sharad Yadav blamed Nitish Kumar’s ambition of the maha goal for the defeat and forced him to step down as captain.

The media too had a team of their own. The number 10 jersey was worn by Arnab Goswami. Sreenivasan Jain wanted number 2002 jersey and refused to take the field after the referee refused to allow a jersey with that number.

In the match between AAP and the media, Kumar Vishwas found himself in front of the goal and kicked the ball across. A goalkeeping error by Tarun Tejpal saw AAP taking the lead. The AAP celebrated and Arvind Kejriwal called it Desh ki Janata ka goal. Meanwhile, Tarun Tejpal blamed himself for the bad lapse of judgment and the awful misreading of the situation, and recused himself from the match. He was substituted by Karan Thapar.

A few minutes later, Arnab Goswami dribbled through a weak AAP defence and scored the equalizer. At the end of 45 minutes, the score was 1 – 1 and five minutes of injury time was added.

In the 49th minute, Arvind Kejriwal found himself in the media’s penalty area and was tackled by Arnab Goswami. Kejriwal dived to the ground and feigned an injury. AAP immediately appealed for a penalty kick. However, the referee signaled for the play to continue upon which Arvind Kejriwal called the referee and linesmen Adani and Ambani agents and sat on a dharna demanding that they be replaced. The match had to be finally abandoned.