The 2006 World Cup

I played soccer when I was young. For reasons I don't understand, my father is passionate about soccer; he watches it and discusses it eagerly. My mother is Italian, so that explains her interest when Italy plays. Playing soccer was loads of fun until I got older and withdrew from the sport in high school. The reasons aren't important. In any case, I still watch World Cup soccer whenever I can, cheering on Italy's team, gli azzurri ("the blues"). That may sound un-American, but there was no American soccer team worth speaking about before 1994. I remember the 1982 and 1990 world cups vividly; Italy won in 1982, and should have won the 1990 World Cup. Alas, the penalty kicks after extra time never fail to do the Italians in. Beppe Severgnini explains it well in Corriere della Sera:

I due pali: secondo e terzo minuto del primo tempo supplementare, se non sbaglio. Quando succedono certe cose, la malinconia di fondo del tifoso comuncia a lavorare, e ti convince che finirà come le ultime volte: rigori, e fuori. Stavolta, magari, coi tedeschi a farci i complimenti.

(The two goalposts during the second and third minute of the first period of extra time, if I am not mistaken. When certain things happen, that melancholy deep within the fan begins to make itself heard, and convinces you that it will end just like the other times: penalty kicks, and out. This time, perhaps, with the Germans showing us the door.)

I don't cheer against any particular team — except Brazil. It's not that I have anything particular against the Brazilians. They usually play beautifully and exuberantly, much as the Africans I remember from my seminary days. So why cheer against the Brazilians? Simple: they're perennial winners. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a Brazilian cheering for his team, and they have an awful lot of fun doing it. A non-Brazilian cheering for Brazil, on the other hand, is like a non-New Yorker cheering for the Yankees in baseball; he desperately needs a life. It just isn't sporting to cheer for a team that has won 5 of the 17 world cups played, and has been in most of the last few finals; someone else deserves a turn by now.

Permit me therefore to gloat a moment. I had read that Brazil was again favored, and had been playing rather lackluster soccer during this World Cup, acting as if they deserved to win just for showing up. (Italy, meantime, is ranked 13th in the world, and was stuck in the so-called "Group of Death" with the Czech Republic, ranked #2, the US, ranked #5, and Ghana, ranked 48 but rising.*) France's team defeated Brazil's last week, so Brazil won't be in the 2006 final, or even in the semifinal. Brazil has been in each of the last few World Cup finals:

• defeating Italy (by penalty kicks, mind) in 1996;
• losing to France in 2000;
• defeating Germany in 2002.

I'm sure we'll see Brazil again in 2010, but you cannot imagine the glee with which I will rub this in the faces of non-Brazilian fans of Brazil.

The 2006 World Cup has not been that exciting. FIFA had contracted with Adidas to design a new ball that was supposed to make it easier to score goals; the game would hopefully be more exciting for people who think high scores are more important than beautiful gameplay.** That didn't work out. The 2006 World Cup has had even fewer goals than the 2002 World Cup.

Last night, Italy defeated Germany in a spectacular game, scoring two goals in the last two minutes of the game to avoid going into the dreaded penalty shoot-out (which as I noted above, Italians typically lose, while Germans usually win). We don't have cable TV, so I didn't watch it; we checked online periodically. If it's like every other world cup I've experienced, the streets of Italian cities, including Gaeta, were soon choked with cars stuffed full of Italians, blowing their horns, singing, and making a general nuisance of themselves. Here in the States we carry flags around in the same way as a baby carries a pacifier in its mouth, even dressing ourselves in clothes with an American flag pattern. In Italy, by contrast, a soccer victory is the only time you'll see Italians carry their national flag with anything resembling pride. It's simultaneously amusing and disheartening.

France plays Portugal today. The winner of that game will play Italy in the final Sunday, to be broadcast on ABC. You can bet I'll be watching; I'll even break out my Italian flag. Who knows? if they win, maybe I'll go driving through the streets with it, blaring my horn, holding the flag out the window, and making a general nuisance of myself. I might have done it yesterday, but that would have been unpatriotic. After all, I am an American, and yesterday was Independence Day. God bless America!

* Of course, the rankings are laughable. FIFA has a convoluted method of calculating points, and you know something's funny precisely because the Americans were ranked #5, higher than most teams that could beat them on any given day. As if to prove my point, neither the Czech Republic (ranked #2) nor the United States (ranked #5) proceeded beyond the group stage. Admittedly, they were in the Group of Death, but the Americans couldn't so much as put the ball in the goal. Italy (ranked #13) won the group rather effortlessly, by contrast; Ghana likewise manhandled both the US and the Czech Republic. Looking at the top 20, Turkey (ranked #14) isn't even in this World Cup, nor are Nigeria, Cameroon, Greece, or Egypt. — Egypt?!? I don't ever recall seeing Egypt in a World Cup; how'd they end up in the top 20?

** Most Americans fall in this category, including the commentators who think it's funny to remark on the low scores of the games. I, by contrast, find basketball dreadfully boring precisely because someone is always scoring a point. Where's the suspense?