The summer of 2014, the summer everyone has been wanting, hoping and waiting for is almost at hand. “What show?” you may be asking. If you didn’t know, where have you been all this time? It is the Greatest Show on Earth, one that only happens every four years – the World Cup! This show will take place in the fabled land of football, Brazil, home to the Brazilian national team who are the most decorated and historic team in the world.

My name is Chad Mordecai and I will be heading to Brazil this summer to watch the World Cup with some of my family members. This experience will be like no other and it is my intention to show you how an experience like this could never be rivalled. From June 20 to July 3rd, I will be bringing you my entire experience three first-round matches and two second-round matches I will be attending. Before I go any further, let us take a look at the World Cup.

The World Cup is a tournament to showcase the best football teams from across the globe, crowning one as the best team in the world. The World Cup brings together billions of people from all continents, countries, races and ethnicities for approximately 30 days, when they follow their teams, and cheer on their favourites. It is a magical event, rare and without equal and this is the reason football is the most popular game in the world as more than half of the world’s population, about three-and-a-half billion people, watch the game.

In 2008, I started supporting Spain as my team. This was after watching them make it to the final of the European Football Championships in 2008 and watching my favourite player, Fernando Torres score in the final as Spain beat Germany by one goal to nil. I was also overjoyed as it was Spain who lifted the trophy in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

From I started to watch Spain’s game under head coach Vicente Del Bosque, the beautiful passing, the timing on the runs, the crisp, clean play, and them maintaining possession of the ball instantly stood out to me. I fell in love with how they played. I had never seen another team like Spain in my short lifetime and I am still a believer. Spain’s football style is that of the ‘tiki taka’, which is characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels and maintaining possession. As stated previously, this has brought Spain much success as they won three major trophies in six years.

Other (top) nations vying for the World Cup title include Portugal, Germany, Argentina, England, and the dark horse Belgium. Players like Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi, and Thomas Mueller will try to leave their mark on this World Cup.

My expectations of Brazil and the World Cup is that it is going to be the greatest experience that I will ever come across, as it gives me a chance to explore a new country on a new continent and to explore the diversity of cultures that I hope to come across in Brazil and report on for Observer readers.

So are you as excited as I am? The World Cup starts on June 12, 2014 and is shaping up to be the Greatest Show on Earth.

CHAD Mordecai is a second-year student at the University of the West Indies (Mona) and a football enthusiast. He will be in Brazil for five matches and will be the Observer’s Man in Brazil from where he will provide a local flare to the colour of the World Cup.