Ten Things That I Have Learned From Watching The World Cup

“Life is like a game of soccer. You need goals. If there are no goals in your life then you can’t win.”  Unknown author

It’s not football, it’s futbol.

America was the least excited about the World Cup and Indonesia was the most excited. Brazil was in the middle.

The World Cup has weird opening ceremonies and I missed them. People were dressed as soccer balls.

These teams have the hottest players of any sport. It’s hard to pick the cutest one.

Both Germany and Brazil have made it to the World Cup finals seven times and now going for eight. Brazil has won the World Cup five times.

They said Americans would never watch soccer. More Americans are watching the World Cup than the World Series.

But there are soccer haters here. There are people who feel that World Cup fever somehow diminishes American sports. “It is a sport for new Americans.“ Get over yourselves. It’s nice to be a part of the world.

Though most South American countries have supported each other, the rivalry between Argentina and Brazil over who really has the best soccer player continues. Was it Maradona or Pele? Will it be Lionel Messi or Neymar?

Argentina is the second most buyer of World Cup tickets after the US. Twenty five thousand people traveled from Argentina (mostly without tickets) to line up to support their team against Switzerland. They are in the finals (yay).

Soccer Fans are the most passionate sports fans –especially in Latin America. The game is tied up with politics, religion, macho and national pride. I saw the Boca Juniors (Maradona’s team) play at La Boca stadium in Buenos Aires and I was hooked. It was Soccer Fans The Musical with just enough danger thrown in to make it interesting. The game was good too.

Fly safe,

JAZ