Known to some as soccer, and to others as footy, le foot, football, futebol and futbol, the sport that is seen by many as the only true international competition has opened with much fanfare in South Africa this past week. The World Cup has always been the greatest tournament worldwide, and is often called The Beautiful Game by its fans. Outside of North America, futbol captures the interest of most countries in the world and is the lingua franca of international dialogue in pubs and restaurants from Marrakesh to Mexico City. The dominant leagues in futbol reside within Western Europe, sharpening the best players from all around the world in European league teams such as Manchester Utd., Chelsea, Barcelona FC, Real Madrid, AC Milan and this summer’s UEFA Cup Champions, Inter Milan. While the money and fame of global futbol rests in Europe, often the best players and most competitive countries come from Latin America. In most cases a European team or Latin American team wins the World Cup consistently; this year has placed Latin America’s national stars in the spotlight, with many victories for teams from the region.
The biggest game to date involving a Latin American team has been Mexico’s victory over France on June 17th 2010. Mexico, seen as the underdog in this match and coming off a 1-1 draw against South Africa, won against Les Bleus 2-0, decimating French fans everywhere and placing Mexico in top spot with Uruguay who tied against France 1-1 last week. France, who lost to Italy in the last World Cup final in one of the closet finals in a generation, was expected to win its group without much tension, but With Mexico’s win today and Uruguay’s pummelling of South Africa this past week, all that is needed for both teams to pass to the next round is a draw when Mexico and Uruguay play each other in the next round.
While Honduras has yet to win a match in its group with Chile, Chile is on top of the group with a win against Honduras. The European Champions in the same group, Spain were expected to win the World Cup by many experts and even EA Games’ simulation of The World Cup. Spain, sharing the same group with Chile and Honduras, have yet to win a match and scandal in Spain with a futbol journalist and girlfriend of goalkeeper Casillas verbally berating him has made its way through the Spanish press as they mourn their loss to Switzerland this past week. Chile, often not seen as a powerhouse of the game seems to be dominating the group that was seen as Spain’s for the taking.
Brazil, seen as the face of international futbol and the sport’s major superpower, fought hard to win against what is seen as the worst team of the tournament, North Korea. Brazil still won the match, but worry on the faces of the Brazilian team during the match surely will raise concerns for Brazil’s fans in the tournament. Paraguay, sharing a group with World Cup champion’s Italy, were able to draw with the Italian’s 1-1, showing a great deal of skill for Paraguay’s team and placing them in the standing to possibly pass to the next round of 16.
The greatest achievement by any team thus far in the tournament has been from Argentina, who has won both of their matches, dominating South Korea’s Red Dragons June 17th with a 4-1 victory, with Argentine player Higuain getting a hat trick, and South Korea scoring on their own net for the fourth goal for Argentina. Argentina had received a lot of criticism due to its ineffective game play in qualifying for the World Cup 2010, blamed mostly on its famous coach Diego Maradona. Argentina has also been criticised for choosing a squad that left out many of Argentina’s finest players, even those who won the European Championship playing with Inter Milan. Despite this, Maradona’s squad has so much talent that victory against any team will be a strong possibility. With some refined strategy, Argentina could go on to win the World Cup, or at least give Germany a tough match if these teams come to meet in the next rounds as they often do. Germany’s loss today to Serbia has placed Argentina in the top seat of the World Cup 2010.
Latin America’s domination of futbol is a trademark of culture and politics in the region. Often the character of a nation can be changed by the wins and losses of futbol, and national heroes such as Maradona and Pele can create greater popular movements than any politician. It is often said in places like Argentina and Brazil that futbol is life, and that national characteristics or rhythm and passion can only be explained and given a voice through futbol through its own spirit and language. It is likely that if Latin America teams do as well as they are in the current groups, that a win for Argentina or Brazil or perhaps Mexico or Uruguay will change the character of one of these countries or the region as a whole. Enjoy the Footy!
