Lukewarm World Cup Fever
June 18th, 2010
I’m not much of a soccer fan but enjoy it when the World Cup rolls around every four years mostly because it’s fun to watch many of my coworkers work get into it.
Most of my coworkers have lived in or are from different countries and tend root for those countries. Several cubes around the office are overflowing with the flags of Mexico, Brazil, England, South Korea and other competing teams. (The coworker on my right is a big Germany fan—albeit it without the insanely decorated cube.) Today I even saw few guys wearing soccer jerseys over their regular work attire.
I’d be more included to join the party if Bulgaria was part of the action but, alas, they couldn’t get out of their European qualifying group. I would have been thrilled if they could have pulled off that upset but wasn’t expecting it. The one thing I learned while living in Sofia is that Bulgaria is the Detroit Tigers of soccer. Occasionally they do well but most of the time their fans are resigned to the fact that their soccer team is destined for mediocrity.
The one oddity is that with all the World Cup hoopla at work, no one seems to be rooting for the United States. I think my soccer-crazed coworkers would like to see the United States do well in the tournament (as would I) and would probably root for the US after their other team is eliminated, but their soccer hearts are with other countries.
It does make wonder that if so many coworkers weren’t born or had lived overseas, if anyone at work would even care that the World Cup was going on. I doubt cubes would be decorated with red, white, and blue or people would be wearing US soccer jerseys to work. I know I wouldn’t care half as much (if at all) if I hadn’t lived overseas and been exposed to how seriously the rest of the world takes the sport.
But during this World Cup I’ll put in a half-hearted effort to keep an eye on the US team and hope that Bulgaria qualifies for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
4 Comments Add your own
1. KS | June 20th, 2010 at 5:26 am
On top of being a huge Tigers fan, I’m a rabid soccer fan - being English AND having lived there. Last world cup I was in Germany for the festivities. HUGE fun when Germany played England. Was wearing my industrial-sized England flag on a German train that day, and got a lot of light-hearted fun-n-flack from the German fans.
While the US Mens team and the US in general don’t necessarily have the oomphf that the rest of the world has, something needs to be said about Women’s sports worldwide. Our ladies - no matter the sport - rock! And it’s a tribute to our raising women over the last 20-30 years as equal to men. I know a lot of women in the work world who are paid better for doing a better job than a man. And Abel, I know you know what I mean - Marathon Girl rocks! You just don’t see this kind of equality in other places/other countries.
AND, I’d put our US Womens’ Soccer Team (”Football” for those in the know) up against any American Mens’ soccer team any day of the week.
Also, I think watching Womens’ basketball, softball, track or just about any other sport is amazing - I think women play in ‘team’ format better than the men here in the US in general. It’s fun to watch them!
As for Bulgaria - I hear they play a mean game of Quidditch!
Go England!
2. Abel Keogh | June 20th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
@KS — LOL! Thanks for the Quidditch reference. If I ever get a chance to meet JK Rowling, I’m going to ask her why Bulgaria has such an awesome Quidditch team.
Sorry that England isn’t doing so good. I went out to lunch with some coworkers on Friday and we watch most of the second half of the England/Algeria game and was surprised at the outcome. Hopefully they and us Yanks can pull out a win this coming week and advance.
And if you could ever arrange the US womens’ team to play the mens’ team, that’s one soccer game I’d actually watch.
3. KS | June 24th, 2010 at 3:16 am
In (Rowling’s) Kennilworthy Whisp’s book “Quidditch Through the Ages” it mentions that Bulgaria has won the Euro Cup 7 times and their professional team ‘Vratsa Vultures’ is “most renowned…pioneers of the long goal…willing to give new players a chance”. The book doesn’t say much else about that.
Anyhow - bring it on, Germany!
4. Running Forward: » &hellip | June 24th, 2010 at 8:38 am
[...] my on-again, off-again following of the World Cup this year, I’ve been wondering why the tournament has a third place [...]
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