Where were you that memorable Sunday in June when the USA soccer team almost beat the Brazilian football team for the Confederations Cup, an international competition en route to the FIFA World Cup, to be held in South Africa in 2010?
If you are a football fan like me, then you were glued to the big screen, with your eyes wide in wonder. And if you are an American, than you were most likely outdoors enjoying the balmy summer, oblivious to the fact that we were teetering on the brink of football history that Sunday.
If this were the football team of any other country, the nation would have come to a standstill, literally. But not in the USA. And the reason for the passive response from the American public is because soccer is just not football in the USA. Don't get me wrong, the Americans love their football, just not the football that the rest of the world understands to be football. Soccer, although played at schools, colleges and even professionally, is not big money in the USA. There are no million dollar contracts to be signed, advertisements to be made or products to be endorsed and soccer stars are definitely not celebrities, on par with Michael Jordan, Alex Rodriguez or Tom Brady.
Yet, throughout the world and over the centuries, soccer/football has been the great cultural unifier. In 1915, during World War I soldiers from England and Germany put down their weapons and took up the football, and for a brief moment, forgot that they were enemies. In the dusty streets of Soweto in Johannesburg, little kids play the game by dribbling a coke can or a ball made of string, and in the slums of Brazil, kids practice the game daily with the hope of being the next Pele. And who can forget the emotional support and welcome home that the Iraqi people gave their football team after the World Cup 2006, despite the violence and conflict raging in their country, or the same unifying emotions and camaraderie displayed week in and week out by fans supporting their local leagues or national teams.
When we watch football, we live the game to the point that we create a new culture, the culture of football. In this culture, the game is all that matters.
So, if David Beckham's move to Hollywood could not rally Americans around the culture of football, then what's it going to take? The answer is simple. Americans love to win and the first time that the USA soccer team hoists a World Cup trophy in jubilation, then soccer will become the new football.
I say this because when the USA was leading Brazil 2-0, those few Americans who were watching the game reacted in the same manner as football fans do, from England to Spain and onwards. My American boyfriend jumped for joy and cheered his team on as if he was watching the Super Bowl. The American commentators on ESPN were talking in excited tones, filled with pride and anticipation. And even the host of one of the popular American late night shows, Steven Colbert of the Colbert Report, dedicated a segment of his show to discussing the performance of the USA team.
Seemingly, sports fans are sport fans everywhere in the world, and there are no bigger sport fans than the Americans, so it's just a matter of time before the world of football ignites the Americans.
Go USA for the 2010 World Cup. Bets, anyone?
If and when the US wins the World Cup that will be as electrifying (for us in the US) as when the US won the Olympic gold for hockey in 1980. And it could happen.
ReplyDeleteWell, once thing is to recognize the huge advancements of the US team, the same way like other smaller teams did in the past: Turkey 2002, Bulgaria 1994, Croatia 1998, Greece EuroCup 2004 and so on, but is the different kind of game going as far as Go USA 2010.
ReplyDeleteFor obvious reasons that would work for the Americans fans but for the die hard fans of the Brazilian football like me it is a no-no. I am 41 and I have been following the Brazilians since I could run and kick a ball.
I can assure you the same will apply for the followers of Argentina, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and the others.
Do not forget, the same way the Americans seem to perceive their way of life in their NFL football,the same way the rest of us seem to perceive, for example, our "latino way of life"
in the way the Brazilians, Argentinians, Mexicans and the rest of Latinoamerican teams go to play the tournaments.
That is so profound incorporated in our feelings that is kind of a genetic nature. So much so, it is a good thing for the sport that there is better rivals but don't ask me to change my genes in the matter.
Jorge Cumberbatch
P.D. Of course like all pro-sport there is a lot of money involved, but let's play naive for the time being...
Jorge, How did you feel when the US was beating Brazil 2-0 at halftime at the Confederation Cup? Did you assume Brazil would come back (as they certainly did)?
ReplyDeleteXanderby,
ReplyDeleteAre you a baseball fan? How would you feel when your team is loosing by 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, the bases are loaded and your 4th batter hits a grand slam and your team wins the game, and with that the World Series?
There was no guarantee that the Brazilians were to win the match. Yes, they were the favourites and I wanted them to win, but things are never over until they over. They had to demonstrate they were the better team, which they did, but why on earth were the Americans supposed to sell their defeat cheap? They wanted to win as much as the Brazilians.
Donovan was clear in the aftermatch interview, they do not want to be considered any more a potential winner, they want, of course to win, only that the Brazilians were better this time around.
Speaking on the sport itself -let's try to forget about the money, remember Korea 2002-, the good thing about the big matches is that you never know who is going to win until the final whistle is blown and that's the beaty of good competition, whether we're talking about volleyball, boxing or track anf field.
But yes, it felt good to watch my prefered team wining.
Jorge
Thanks for the insight, Jorge. I'm mostly a fan of American football, but, yes, I know the sweet feeling of pulling out an uncertain victory in the waning moments.
ReplyDeleteMoving a little sideways, I wonder if international sports competitions foster goodwill between countries, or enmity. Us Americans mostly just experience the international competitions at the Olympics. But it's a common thing for real football (soccer) fans around the world. I'm guessing it's more of a goodwill thing, despite the fervent desire for your country to win.
Xanderby,
ReplyDeleteIndeed international sports competitions should help to foster goodwill among countries. But like everything linked to the representation of countries and the big media, that will only depends how the competition is treated by some interest groups.
I was surprised when I came first to work at the UN how the US tv networks aimed at the American public, only transmited those competitions where the Americans took part during the Olympics.
I lived in Hungary for several years and there if there was an international competition like the Olympics they simply transmitted the whole thing. As a matter of course the Hungarian athletes took preference, but you could see everybody else.
The other important element is how the commentators treat the foreign athletes vis-a-vis the national one.
Unfortunatly I have witnessed too many cases of commentators adopting an ultranationalistic approach to the competition and whatever happens they are unable to recognize the rival merits or the nationals defectts or errors.
This is particular important when big matches take place when the athletes are coming from countries involved in political conflicts or are rivals in the context of regional geopolitics.
In any case, I do consider that most of the international competitions do contribute to foster goodwill and that most of the athletes just want to do well in the tournaments and are able to recognize the merits of the rivals.
Jorge
Thanks for your insights on the beautiful game. For the US team, it was "so near and yet so far".
ReplyDeleteWhile this team played led 2-0 at half time, it was really luck more than anything. The Brazilians were always going to come back and finish the game.
Despite the resources and sponsorship that US local soccer league (MLS) enjoys in contrast to other upcoming leagues like Mexico, South Africa or Egypt- this leagues still lacks behind in terms of flair,style and popularity.
I also do not believe that hosting or winning a major Soccer event like Confederation Cup or FIFA World Cup would necessary take soccer in this country to another level. Remember the 1994 wolrd cup (Soccer) held in Atlanta. Did i really change the mentality among Americans on soccer.
It is my fervent believe that soccer/football is a culture, way of life and perhaps a tradition.
Check out the manner in which people on the African continent regards soccer- rich or poor, one will take their last "rands" just to witness Kaizer Chiefs-orlando Pirates Soweto Derby in SOuth Africa or take Egypt-Cote d'Ivoire match few years ago during the finals of AFCON,when the civil war in Cote d"Ivoire practically "stopped for 24 hours" to enable both sides to the Ivorian conflict to watch their team.
My real point is that it would take the US soccer administrators more than money to market soccer among Americans.
Kids should just play soccer from an early without necessarily playing for becoming professionals but as a way of life.
COME TO MZANTSI (SOUTH AFRICA) NEXT YEAR & YOU WILL EXPERINECE SOCCER FEVER BEYOND THE PLAYING FILED, I MEAN THE VUVUZELAS, DRESS ATTIRE, FOOD, PEOPLE, ATMOSPHERE, ETC.
Sipho (NY)
Absolutely Sipho, football is a culture a tradition and a way of life. So Mzantsi 2010 here we come!
ReplyDeleteThis article is kind of relevant to this discussion:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/world/europe/31platini.html?_r=1
Great now we don't have to wonder what Fi is up to. We can just read it. Good idea.
ReplyDelete