In a little under two months, the world will stop for the 20th edition of the Federation Internationale de Football Associaction World Cup.
The FIFA World Cup is an international soccer tournament held every four years in a different host country. This summer’s will be in Brazil. It is also, without a doubt, the only time that you can say that soccer is the most popular sport in the country, for however long the United States men’s national team is in the tournament. Break out the bald eagles, American flag t-shirts and apple pie so you can prepare for the tournament like a proper American. However, it is not unlikely that many of the Americans watching our team compete in the Brazilian cities of Natal, Manaus and Recife, will not know the goalkeeper from the fourth official.
There is nothing wrong with showing a bit of patriotism during international sporting events. We all know numerous people who claimed to be interested in this year’s Winter Olympics and couldn’t name a single competitor, but they watched to support the Americans in Sochi. That being said, it doesn’t hurt to be a little more knowledgeable about what you are watching.
American fans will be in for a treat as the national team will face off against three of the best teams in Germany, Portugal and Ghana. Germany is a favorite to win it all, Portugal has one of the world’s best players in Cristiano Ronaldo and Ghana knocked the United States out of the tournament in South Africa in 2010. As much as it hurts to say, the American team probably won’t make it out of the tournament’s group stage.
That’s the point where most people will stop watching the World Cup, but I ask that you put your patriotism aside for a few more weeks and watch the tournament through to the end. The World Cup is a global spectacle that most players will only be able to compete in a few times in their careers. Some of the greatest to have ever played the game burst onto the scene at one of these tournaments carrying their nations into the later stages of it. I am sure there are a lot of people out there who remember Landon Donovan’s last minute goal to get the United States into the knockout rounds. Prior to that goal, Donovan, while one of the United States’ more prominent players, was not very respected outside of the country.
This year’s World Cup is guaranteed to provide excitement, from the Brazilians and their flashy play in their home stadiums to the Spanish looking to become the first team to become back-to-back World Cup winners since Brazil in 1958 and 1962 and the first European team to win the tournament in South America.
You have nothing to lose. There will be no football, no basketball and baseball will be in that part of the season where teams are beginning to realize that playing in October is little more than a pipe dream. Soccer is, after all, called the world’s game, and we are a part of the world.