Briefly and In Honor of the World Cup

Since the FIFA World Cup matches began in South Africa, I have had a very difficult time deciding who to cheer for. I’ve had the chance to meet people from lots and lots of soccer-obsessed places this year. And as I support professional teams based solely on who I know would be pleased with the outcome, this has been a challenging FIFA finals season.

Just a few weeks ago, I walked by a huge Vive Algérie sign a few blocks from my apartment. Therefore I was kind of happy that I was not in Tunis when the U.S. team beat Algeria. Despite the fact that I have met three (3!) exceedingly interesting, cool, attractive Uruguayans this year, I, like most people on planet earth (saving the Uruguayans), really wanted Ghana to win. There’s something fantastic about Swedes, South Koreans, Swiss, and Americans and all cheering for Ghana. At the wedding in Mazan we had a missing groomsman due to Brazil’s win the Friday before the ceremony. (He did make the actual wedding!) I watched cars careen down the tiny streets of Geneva with bodies hanging out of the windows whipping German flags about and honking. Saw all Africans living in Switzerland at a bar on the corner of Rachida’s block! And I overheard an awesome conversation on the train from Domodossola to Geneva between two young guys in their twenties discussing the world cup in French, as it was their only language in common. Conversation went something like: Where are you from? Italy, you? Perú, it’s in South America. To the Italy guy’s credit, he was all “oh yes, that’s right, South America. Are you from Lima?” And the guy from Peru was actually surprised the Italian knew where Lima was. Wow, whose bad geography is the Peruvian judging people on? Please not the Americans. (Oh, am realizing that he was the third Peruvian I met this year too!). Animated conversation about the World Cup ensued and the boys exchanged Facebook profiles at the end.

I watched the final match between the Netherlands and Spain at the Italian cultural center with a bunch of Spanish, some Italians and plenty of Tunisian men eager to provide young European women with a variety of ways to celebrate after the game. Thoughtful, really. Pleasant, festive atmosphere was complete with international camaraderie as Italians and Tunisian were also quite enthused about Spain. Yet we also got to enjoy some silly manifestations of nationalism run amok, as after the game there were Madrileños running about Tunis dressed in the Spanish flag, screaming Iniesta!

In the end, and most importantly, Paul was right, and as my friend Peter said, in pulpo veritas! (As he seems to have all the answers, can someone ask the octopus what to do about the Gulf of Mexico?) Silly clothing and silly chanting aside, go World Cup, and people who like soccer, and people who cheer for guys that live on other side of the world from you.