Fiebre del Fútbol
Thank God for the Hispanic community in the US. Without them this World Cup would have been such a disappointment. It is surprising that most Americans don't even know what the Fifa World Cup is. It is the biggest sporting event in the world. Yes, even bigger than the Olympics. The Superbowl is peanuts compared to it. 93 Million People watched the Superbowl this year, compared with 1.1 billion who saw the last World Cup final in 2002, that's one in every six person in the world. Estimates indicate that 28.8 billion viewers will watch the month long tournament this year.
But the growth of soccer in the US has been very slow. Yes you do see school kids playing soccer, now more than ever before, even the national men's and women's team have been progressing well internationally, but the game's popularity hasn't increased much for the general public. After the successes of the US team in the 2002 World Cup, I am hoping that there will be more interest this time around.
Although I have always been a Brazil fan since a very young age, I found a new team to support in 2002. I sat through and watched the unbelievable as USA beat Portugal and made it through to the second round. I watched the team at its best as they defeated their arch-rivals, Mexico. And I missed a heartbeat a couple of times in the very exciting 1-0 quarter final loss to Germany. Despite the loss, TeamUSA could walk off with their heads held high. Not only had they done what no one believed they could do, they had also shown the world that they were there to stay. This World Cup, even though the draw is tougher, TeamUSA has a world class team. And with the foundation in place with the MLS, and so many players playing in Europe, USA will continue to be dominant in future World Cups.
The 2002 World Cup was very different for me. It was the first time I was watching the World Cup in the US and it was surreal not to see the hype around it. Watching the matches didn't seem to be much of a problem, ESPN did broadcast the matches live but their commentary made the sport as exciting as watching golf. It was during these times that the Spanish language channels came to my rescue. Watching that, I could see the true passion for "futbol", every build up to a goal was made so exciting by the pitch of the commentator's voice. And the eventual celebration of "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" was just what my ears were waiting to hear. It didn't matter that I don't know a word of Spanish, it could have been in any language, but the language was common, it was football, a passion shared.
This time around, I don't have ESPN, only terrestrial TV. But I am grateful that I still get the Spanish channels. And for once I can be happy that those are the clearest channels I get.
But the growth of soccer in the US has been very slow. Yes you do see school kids playing soccer, now more than ever before, even the national men's and women's team have been progressing well internationally, but the game's popularity hasn't increased much for the general public. After the successes of the US team in the 2002 World Cup, I am hoping that there will be more interest this time around.
Although I have always been a Brazil fan since a very young age, I found a new team to support in 2002. I sat through and watched the unbelievable as USA beat Portugal and made it through to the second round. I watched the team at its best as they defeated their arch-rivals, Mexico. And I missed a heartbeat a couple of times in the very exciting 1-0 quarter final loss to Germany. Despite the loss, TeamUSA could walk off with their heads held high. Not only had they done what no one believed they could do, they had also shown the world that they were there to stay. This World Cup, even though the draw is tougher, TeamUSA has a world class team. And with the foundation in place with the MLS, and so many players playing in Europe, USA will continue to be dominant in future World Cups.
The 2002 World Cup was very different for me. It was the first time I was watching the World Cup in the US and it was surreal not to see the hype around it. Watching the matches didn't seem to be much of a problem, ESPN did broadcast the matches live but their commentary made the sport as exciting as watching golf. It was during these times that the Spanish language channels came to my rescue. Watching that, I could see the true passion for "futbol", every build up to a goal was made so exciting by the pitch of the commentator's voice. And the eventual celebration of "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" was just what my ears were waiting to hear. It didn't matter that I don't know a word of Spanish, it could have been in any language, but the language was common, it was football, a passion shared.
This time around, I don't have ESPN, only terrestrial TV. But I am grateful that I still get the Spanish channels. And for once I can be happy that those are the clearest channels I get.
Posted by MCMLXXXII at 7:41 PM
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