National Geographic, of all places, had a little write-up on the World Cup, excerpted here:
"...What is soccer if not everything that religion should be? Universal yet particular, the source of an infinitely renewable supply of hope, occasionally miraculous, and governed by simple, uncontradictory rules ('laws,' officially) that everyone can follow. Soccer's laws are laws of equality and nonviolence and restraint, and free to be reinterpreted at the discretion of a reasonable arbiter. What the ref says goes, no matter how flagrantly in violation of dogma his decisions may be. My official rule book, after presenting a detailed enumeration of soccer's 17 laws, concludes that the ref can throw out any of them in order to apply what it rather mystically calls 'the spirit of fair play.'" -- Sean Wilsey
What makes this the best international sporting event (no one watches the Olympics anymore since American television has reduced it to skating and gymnastics) is that every single game means something to pretty much an entire country of people. I caught the end of Saudi Arabia vs. Tunisia (widely panned as the dog match of the first round), and it was absolute pandemonium as goals were scored on each side in the final 8 minutes to come to a disproportionately boring-looking 2-2 draw. There were rumors flying around about the Saudi players being promised a lucrative ($12 mill) bonus if they make it to the second round. Saudi journalists were showered with threats and had to be escorted from the pressbox when Tunisian fans took exception to their loud and partisan encouragement.
Before Tunisia's tie, when Togo scored the first goal in their match against South Korea, that was the first time an African nation had led in the tournament. When Korea eventually won that match (Ahn with the winner, what!), it was the first time Korea had won on European soil. Every goal, every match is potentially the greatest sporting achievement in that particular nation's history, which is saying something, and that makes it compelling to watch.During the 2002 World Cup, my buddy D was surprised to discover that I was rooting for the Korean squad rather than the US. "You're American, tho," he reasoned. This is true, but I was born in Korea. Also, if Team USA did well, no one would care here. It'd get swallowed up in the baseball coverage over the summer and NFL camps opening. If Korea won a match, just a single match, it's be history; their semifinal finish made everyone on that team a folk hero, with coach Guus Hiddink given honorary citizenship. And it'd be the same in every smaller-but-equally-soccer-crazed nation in the Cup: the Ivory Coast, Ukraine, Serbia-Montenegro, the Saudis, etc. Nothing better for a sports addict.
