World Cup a truly global event
Come for the spectacle, stay for the drama
Judging from the days and weeks leading up to what looks like one of the most fractious and socially divisive World Cups ever staged, any rioting there is will likely be outside the stadiums, on the streets surrounding expensively constructed arenas in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and, in what is likely to be the biggest test of the World Cup’s early games, Manaus in the heart of the Amazon.
That’s where England meets Italy on the first weekend, June 14, in the aptly named Arena Amazönia, which BBC World reported recently — with no small amount of schadenfreude — remains largely unfinished and vulnerable to flooding every time the Rio Negro bursts its banks.
With the World Cup’s original estimated budget of $1 billion US ballooning to $4 billion US, according to some published accounts, the rubber barons are looking more like robber barons.
England will be lucky to face Germany, in any event. Two teams advance from each group, and anyone with a working knowledge of the Beautiful Game — and a cable package that included TSN and Rogers Sportsnet this past winter — knows that England is in tough company, with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica on the horizon.
The United States has an even tougher assignment, to the chagrin of U.S. broadcast ABC and its sports satellite network ESPN, after landing in the so-called Group of Death with Germany, Portugal and Ghana in the mix. In one of those ironies great World Cup TV matchups are made of, Liverpool star striker Luis Suarez, Uruguay’s go-to forward, will face Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, also England’s captain, when the two sides meet in Sao Paulo on June 19, adding to the already heightened drama.
Regardless of nationality, tribe, ethnicity, country of calling and hometown rooting interest, make no mistake: The World Cup is it. The Olympics, the Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup pale in comparison.
As a worldwide TV spectacle, the World Cup is in a league of its own, in part because it’s a simple game, played anywhere, with rules just about anyone — except possibly a FIFA-accredited referee — can follow.
Regardless of which national side makes the final on July 13, the world will be watching, whether it’s for the Spanish flamenco, Argentine tango or Brazilian samba.
England will not win, but English accents will be everpresent, on the TV commentary and off. There’s a wry joke that has made the rounds at every World Cup final since 1966: Name the Englishman in the final. Answer: The referee. See you on the other side.