Futbol Mania

I remember the hype about the World Cup in 2010. South Africa was put on the map for many and the games flew by quickly. Ask me which team won in 2010 and I couldn’t even tell you who was playing well that year.

Four years later, my perspective on the World Cup has changed dramatically. I now have paid attention to the protests, the negativity surrounding the money spent on one month of games, and how real people’s lives are affected. At the same time, I am in Nicaragua and nearly every house has the television turned to the soccer games all day long. I give my students updates on the important games and ask who they are cheering for. I have incorporated soccer review games including making the teams compete based upon who’s playing that day. To say that Nicaraguans are into the World Cup would be an understatement.

And like so many issues today, I know that in order for people all over the world to enjoy this month a government wastes millions of dollars when it should be investing in its own people. But being in Nicaragua, I cannot help but feel the adrenaline and be excited about the games alongside my friends and host family. Three to four games a day leaves everyone waiting to see who will be eliminated. The upsets have been incredible and even non-soccer fans here have been watching at least one game a day. It is soccer mania!

In my opinion, soccer is the one sport that can unite people from all over the world. What else has the ability to connect South Korea to Iran to the Ivory Coast to Mexico? Sure, there are government agencies, there is the U.N. and NGO’s and different ties that help countries exchange many aspects of life. But this is really connecting citizens, connecting the average person of Nicaragua with a person of Italy. They have something in common when Nicaraguans are cheering for Italy only to ensure that their rival Costa Rica doesn’t win.

I think back to my time in South Africa and the story of Invictus for those of you who have seen the movie. Nelson Mandela was an incredibly wise man to use rugby to unite his country in a strategic way. Of course it did not solve all of South Africa’s problems, but served to patch up at least a few wounds. To me it seems that soccer has an even greater capacity to create change, to unite, to convert differences into commonalities. But that cannot happen with Brazilians shut out of opportunities to watch the games within their own country. How can we use this sport played on the streets of nearly every country to foster equality instead of serving only the wealthy?

There is no immediate fix that I can see, but hopefully in the future we can avoid getting caught up in the hype without critically considering the advantages and disadvantages of such events.