Rare the times in sports when it can truly be said the world is watching. There is the World Series, but it’s not about the world. It’s the American baseball championship. The Super Bowl winner is given the moniker “world champions” without having to play the Canadian Football League champions. The same goes for the NBA and NHL champions despite the existence of popular leagues all over the world.
To find a true world champion and get the world to watch, you have to go to international competition. Sure, there are the winter and summer Olympics. But why not go to the most watched and most played sport around the world? That’s right: soccer. Fewer than 40 days remain until the World Cup tournament, the world’s biggest sporting event, kicks off. It only comes once every four years and the United States still doesn’t completely catch the wave. The following is why you need to be watching.
First, when the 2010 World Cup competition starts on June 11, it is guaranteed to be historical. This year’s event is being hosted by the nation of South Africa. It will be the first World Cup hosted on the African continent. The games will be scenic, with arenas going up in popular tourist towns such as Cape Town and Johannesburg. Soccer fans from all over the world have booked trips to South Africa, which has one of the milder climates in southern hemisphere due to being bordered on three sides by ocean. Although advanced ticket sales have lagged behind projections, on-site sales are expected to be huge. It’s the perfect summer vacation for a sports fan.
Second, no matter what you call the sport; soccer, football or by its official name of association football, it’s the world’s game. It is the only sport that is played all over. Wherever there are people, there is soccer and soccer fans. It’s simplistic and complicated all in one. Soccer inspires an entire culture amongst its fans. The passion, camaraderie and rivalry are second to no other game. Of course some people label soccer not with its own culture but with being associated with hooliganism. Soccer has had its moments where emotions ran hot and fights have ensued. Those instances have tailed off lately and it’s an argument against the game that is no longer relevant. The game is just as passionate with much less violent. Top players like Fernando Torres and Lionel Messi have started playing the game with less brutality and more finesse, spurning on this change in image.
Finally, this is the year that Americans have to get behind the Stars and Stripes club. Back in 1998, a plan was put in place called Project 2010. The officials that run the United States soccer club dedicated the next 12 years to making the squad a contender for the 2010 World Cup. In that time, new manager Bob Bradley was brought in. Fresh talent such as Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley have become mainstays in the lineup along with well-known contributors Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. The talent is in place and the support from the organization has been immense. Project 2010 set this summer as a target date. That needs to be the same goal for the fans. The Yanks are ready for a breakthrough and everyone wants to stay they were there for it.
So when the biggest sporting event in the world comes around this summer on its four-year cycle, don’t you want to say you were watching? Because the rest of the world will be.
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