A Different View of the World Cup

Ok, so it took 2 weeks but it finally occurred. I had a little run in with some bad bacteria and was sick for 4 days this week, missing 2 days of work. However, I am back in good health and good spirits, jamming out to Waving Flag by K’Naan (World Cup Theme Song) and letting my thoughts loose on my computer (expect a long post soon on my job and other activity in the next day or two).



I cannot get enough of that song. The official song is in English, but there have been different guest singers and mixes in different languages. K’Naan who wrote the English part of the song, is a Somalian emigrant who lives in Canada. Quite an interesting story that adds meaning to the song and its role as one of the themes of the first ever World Cup hosted in Africa. Please do me a favor though and do not allow yourself to associate all of the positive feelings from the song with the name brand placement of Coca-Cola throughout the video. I am furious at Coke for advertising itself like a health drink here during the World Cup. Their brand presence in Nicaragua is really unbelievable. It may just stand out more because I am not constantly inundated with marketing here like in the United States, but every 5 minutes you are reminded that Coca-Cola is “deliciosa” and thanks to posters everywhere you know that when it is hot out you should buy one (and yes, its always hot here). Enough Coke hating for one post, there will be a future post entirely inspired by the sugar high madness here.

In the meantime, I have been joyously sucked into World Cup pandemonium!! Soccer, I feel ignorant for calling it that, is really a blast to watch. The U.S. and Slovenia game had me acting like it was the Cubs in the playoffs on Friday. Unfortunately, the U.S. team fell victim to a Chicago Cubs like incident. In the final minutes of the game on a beautiful free kick by Landon Donovan the U.S. scored with a header to go up 3 – 2, only to have it immediately negated by the referee for no clear reason. I have confirmed with all of my soccer-obsessed students here that it was a terrible call, but this article also does a good job -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-gude/usa-robbed-mystery-call-r_b_617553.html. The Everton Manager David Moyes said on BBC,

"I've just seen that disallowed goal for the US again - and not only was there no foul by a US player, there are probably two penalty-kick offences being committed by the Slovenian defenders. Shocking decision."

Regardless, the U.S. still has a chance to advance to the next round if we defeat Algeria in the morning of Wednesday the 23rd.



Today I watched the Brazil and Ivory Coast game at a bar with some of my friends/students from MASINFA. The bar was packed, people are crazy for Brazil here. So naturally, the bar was full of bright yellow shirts and jerseys and each time Brazil scored, 3-1 final, the place went crazy. There is a general feeling of support for all the teams in the World Cup from the Americas in the World Cup. So people here are pulling for the United States, but Brazil and Argentina are the main attractions.

Every day here during the Cup is like the Super Bowl in the U.S. Sports Center (from Mexico) is 98% World Cup. Hours and hours of discussion between "experts" analyzing the days events, predicting tomorrows games, and of course the obligatory 5 minutes of footage every hour of Mexico's team doing basic drills or just jogging around. Every morning when I walk to work every store or house that I pass with a TV on is blasting a game. I have to hope that eventually the U.S. will catch on to the excitement of the World Cup. The lack of U.S. success in the World Cup is likely part of the reason there is not as much interest in the games in the United States as around the world. Hopefully, even if our team takes an early exit this year we can accept a healthy dose of humility and rejoice in an event that has captivated every corner of the world.