Friday, June 20, 2014

The Beautiful Game



USA hit the field of Arena das Dunas on June 16th for their first match of the World Cup and beat Ghana. If you are an American that does not know any soccer player’s name, watch one game a week; and then the household names of soccer such as Neymar, Ronaldo, and Messi will become easier to say than John and Paul. Even though the United States roster does not have any household names, they still had a US TV viewing audience of 15.9 million. That number is more viewers than any MLB game outside the World Series and any NBA game outside the NBA Finals this year. These numbers show that the World Cup is Christmas for soccer fans. A second name for soccer (besides futbol) is the beautiful game. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. With the United States being the beholder, does she see any beauty in the World Cup?
 
There are 32 nations participating in the World Cup, however it unites everybody from all parts of the world. And that includes the United States. Before, during, and after the tournament a conversations will be started with complete strangers from different parts of the world just because you can relate with them due to the games. The culture of soccer brings people together. During the World Cup soccer is not only on the TVs of pizza shops but in bars, schools, and homes. Another way could be going to a pizza place.  It is exhilarating to watch your country crush another no matter what they are competing over.
 
In the United States there is a wide spectrum of the intensity of a soccer fan. There are Americans who loathe soccer. However, they care about the World Cup and if USA wins. For these people it is comparable to the Olympics. During the World Cup people will feel some positive peer pressure to watch the games due to the hype of it. Peer pressure in this case is ok except for maybe giving people another excuse to drink in bars. Girls that do not like soccer will watch the World Cup to look at athletic guys. While girls could get that every year, guys are lucky this year. Unlike the fat NFL fans in the United States, the World Cup this year has hot Brazilian girls. Below you can some players from the women's all geared up to watch their USA men to win. Those that do not enjoy soccer maybe will enjoy watching the game more while listening to a game with the Univision’s soccer
announcers.
 
USA is in Group G. It consists of Germany, Portugal, Ghana, and of USA. The American media has decided that USA is in the group of death. USA is not in the group of death. Their group is just a really tough and competitive group. The media just wants to call it that because they are in it and it would lure more attention. USA is just the worse team in a group of better teams. The group of death is one of the many reasons to watch the World Cup because violence is involved. There is hope for the United States to get out of their group and move onto the elimination matches.
In order for United States to advance past the group stage, they must play as if every game is the World Cup final. Each game that the Americans play is a must win. Soccer is a sport that where there is never a clear winner, which bodes well for the United States. There were already a few upsets with a couple of them being Spain’s loss to Netherlands and Uruguay’s loss to Costa Rica. USA plays under the least amount of pressure and scrutiny out of any team that is playing. They are usually overlooked. Leading up to the World Cup, the United States were undefeated in the warm-up matches. United States has already beat Ghana. Let’s hope they can continue that Sunday against Portugal.


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