"Rule, Britannia!"
Is the cross-pollination of Brazil and Serbian fans permitted?
***
We are well into the 21st World Cup; and many, even as I write this, are reaching for the hand held mobile devices to see if Belgium held off England, as the two teams squared off in the Group G for the top spot.
A couple of days ago, soccer (or football) fans were stunned when learning that Germany, winner of the 2014 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA, World Cup), was eliminated after losing to South Korea, 2-0. It was the earliest exit for a German team at the World Cup since 1938.
The World Cup is traditionally an electrifying time for millions from all corners of the globe, which sparks pent-up jingoism and national fervor; national holidays are typically held in many countries, kids skip school, and productivity at work plunges. It’s a highly celebrated time, when poor nations are on the same playing field with rich nations.
It’s the most watched sporting event in the world.
Oddly, even if the United States did qualify for World Cup competition this year, the excitement for soccer in America is well below that of other countries.
According to a Gallup Poll , only seven percent say soccer is their favorite sport to watch, well behind football at 37 percent, basketball (11 percent) and baseball ( 9 percent).
While living in South Florida a number of years ago, I asked an editorial writer if he was looking forward to the World Cup? He told me that he “found it difficult getting excited about a sport which features players kicking aimlessly at a ball with no chance of scoring.”
When I asked investigative journalist and author, Carl Bernstein, if he held a similar view as the editorial writer, he snarled: “Soccer is a great game. Period. And there is nothing aimless about those kicks. “
Pat Buchanan, political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist, told me that he only watches soccer “when I am in the barber’s chair. They have it on both big screens. Never been to a game. Not my sport.”
Harold Evans, a British-born journalist, and former editor of The Sunday Times (1967-1981), expressed to me a more profound view of the World Cup. "Orwell disdained the nationalism incited by such team sports. “
“Personally, I love the World Cup,’’ Evans said. “I saw England defeat Germany in 1966, one of the most amazing finals. Soccer is a true team sport, pass to pass, goal to goal, save to save. And the athletic skills are matched by a range of histrionic characters. Who could not be thrilled, entertained and educated: where, out of nowhere, did these guys come from."
I never fail to be amazed how the World Cup brings out such national pride in people no matter where they’ve taken up residence.
When living in Fort Lauderdale (this probably would have been about 2006), I distinctly recall a group of construction workers on Las Olas Boulevard, all huddled around the radio, listening to a World Cup match Mexico was involved with.
And just last weekend, while ushering a Cleveland Indians game at Progressive Field in Cleveland, I noticed some fans flaunting World Cup jerseys of Serbia and Mexico.
Warren Hoge, former New York Times London bureau chief and foreign correspondent (now with the International Peace Institute), tells me, "I still haven’t gotten over the Brazilian dream team’s loss to Italy in the 1982 cup in Spain, when Paolo Rossi broke free for a full field counter attack goal that sank Brazil’s chances and sent me wandering the streets of Rio where I then lived in the kind of inconsolable despair that I can only compare to the night of the Trump victory."
"I love international soccer" Hoge further explained, "and follow it closely, starting with the jogo bonito of Brazil 40 years ago, continuing through the years I lived in London and regularly went to Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea to tomorrow at 2 pm when I will be glued to my television set with Brazilian colleagues watching the Selecao Brasileiro take on Serbia. I think the World Cup is the greatest spectacle there is."
One thing I quickly learned about the World Cup spectacle: as easily as it lifts people’s spirits to the heavens, it can just as easily plunge their spirits to the depths of despair.
Shakespeare scholar, James Shapiro, from Columbia University, for example, responded to my email from a small island in Greece, where there's no cars, but stacks of restaurants with large screen TVs, all showing the World Cup. "It matters in the rest of the world," Shapiro wrote, "hugely, in ways that it never will in the US. I’m too crushed by Iceland’s loss—they had so many chances--to say anything more."
Another thing I learned is that a great many soccer fans may not have a favorite horse in the race, but love the game for its sheer excitement, many likening it to Super Bowl Sunday.
"I love the World Cup," New York Times sportswriter, George Vecsey, who covered eight of them, says. "I love the many stages - outsiders, new faces, upsets, and sometimes a superior champ, say, like Germany last time. Lots to see. Shame for people who miss it. Then again, I avoid NFL. Chacun à son goût.”
Still others like Associated Press baseball writer, Ron Blum, thinks some games are great, "but way too many are dull, with 10 and 11 men behind the ball. And Cleveland Indians beat writer for Cleveland.com Paul Hoynes, is attracted to the entertainment facet of the games. "I like listening to the English announcers. I like the words they use and the dialects," Hoynes said.
So, there you have it, a wide mix of opinions on why the World Cup has become so near and dear to their hearts with matches “dripping with drama,” while others would rather, much rather, rearrange their sock drawer than watch soccer.
—Bill Lucey
June 28, 2018
