Things I’ve Learned from Watching World Cup Football (soccer)

• Asia, Africa, and North America have some work to do.

• Just because you have cool uniforms (especially Dr. Suess socks) does not mean you are the most skilled. Paraguay with cool white and red stripes lost to Espana plain blue.

• All-orange uniforms are not in the color wheel of most Dutch players.
• Uruguay and Paraguay are South American countries
• Ecuadorians would rather have any team on earth win if they are playing Argentina. (especially with ex-World Cup player now coach Maradona on the field).

• Life is suspended when games are on in European cities. Example Holland beat Uruguay in the semifinals. The entire country of the Netherlands contains a population of 16 million. Of these 16 million, 12 million watched the match. (from what we have encountered the other 4 million are traveling in South America)

• Life is suspended when games are on in South American cities. The only thing comparable I have experienced is Sunday afternoon in Green Bay during a Packer game.

• You can tell who has scored a goal from any location in Quito by the crowd uproar.

• You can talk to just about anyone in the entire country of Ecuador about the World Cup. . . taxi drivers, people selling produce in the market, your neighbors and it is more interesting than the weather.

• Just because you are a world power in every other arena, does not mean you are a power on the playing field. Example Ghana a small, poor African nation beat the big, rich U.S.

• The tradition of very fit young men exchanging shirts at the end of a match is very pleasing to old ladies.

• As in many professional sports (NBA basketball) a foul is acceptable as long as the ref doesn’t see it. There is no instant replay yet in soccer.

• They need more than two refs on the soccer field. The refs run more than anyone else in the game including players. They can’t see everything. There are bad calls. There is no help from technology. The soccer field in long and there is continuous play for two 45 minute halves.

• There are many drama injuries toward the end of a match when the players are getting tired and there are no breaks. South American players are especially good at the theater of injury. The European players stoically shake off injuries and play a more straightforward, but much less entertaining game.

• The southern hemisphere of the world exports its raw materials cheaply to the northern hemisphere where they manufacture the raw materials into finished products and sell them back expensively. This includes soccer players. Most of the South American and African players have contracts with European soccer teams.

Many players play against their regular teammates during the World Cup much like hockey in the Olympics

• Holland has not been in World Cup finals since the 70’s. The Dutch teams all in orange nicknamed the Clockwork Orange, were juiced both times. They lost to Germany and Argentina.

• International football FIFA is very commercial and teams are all about making money. Players are considered investments and are still not paid much in relation to what the owners/administrators make from their talent on the field. Similar to the Walmart principal. Walmart, like soccer, is wildly popular and successful; however the people who do the frontline work i.e. cashiers, stockers, football players make a tiny fraction of the entire corporation’s profits.

• Brasil has qualified for every World Cup since 1930. They have won 4.

• Soccer in South America like football and basketball in the U.S. has provided opportunities for poor, black young men to rise above their “the life of crime to which they have been condemned by statistical average, and thus they become symbols of collective hope”. . (Eduardo Galeano, Soccer in Sun and Shadow).

• A recent survey in Brasil showed that two out three pro players never finished primary school. Many of these – half- have black or brown skin.

• Why is American football called football when the ball rarely touches a foot? Where did the term soccer come from?

• Commercials are shown one inch under the screen during a match because the 15 minute half time is not enough to get all the sponsorship airtime. It is annoying to me, but I guess like all commercials, you learn to tune them out.

• You can’t do as much during soccer matches as you can during American football games because there is only the 15 minute half time break otherwise the play is continuous except for the occasional injury performances.

• Just because players don’t wear pads and helmets does not mean they don’t get hit, or kicked hard. (I would still prefer that my own son would choose soccer over American football).

• What language are they speaking on the field during the World Cup when you have a Portuguese speaking team (Brazil) arguing a call with a ref from Asia and a player from Africa? They all seem to be understanding each other enough for the ref to give the Brazilian player a yellow (warning) card.

• Yellow cards are for fouls that are not heinous. If you receive two yellow cards in one game it equals a red card which means expulsion from the game. When a player us expelled, his team has to play with 10 instead of 11 players for the duration of the game. Red cards are for bad fouls like purposely kicking another player with your cleats or yelling at the ref (even if it is a language he doesn’t understand).

• I am thinking of incorporating the futbol card discipline system into my classroom and my home.

• I recognize most players swear words when they do close-ups after missing a goal or the ref missing a grave injustice being done to them. Maybe English swear words are international?