A Personal History of the World Cup

As of today, there are 300 days left to kick-off the 20th World Cup in Brazil and I've decided to create a blog that will provide a more contextual approach to this global event.  The World Cup is the most widely watched sporting event in the world, and has been held every four years since 1930, with the exception of World War II.   Hundreds of qualifying games are played around the world over the three years leading up to the month-long World Cup. Over 200 nations attempt to qualify for the World Cup, that's more countries than those registered in the United Nations.  The "National Teams" that compete in the World Cup are comprised of citizens of the particular nations, although some players will actually move to a different nation if they can't make the team of their home nation.  Most players are employed by professional teams who give them permission to play for their national team. Many nations pay the players to play for their National Team and nations try to hire the best coach, even if he's from a different country.  The World Cup features 32 national teams (the host nation and the 31 best teams from the qualifying tournaments). The games are played over a month in the host nation(s).

Even if you don't understand soccer, I don't believe there's a single person on the planet who can sit at a World Cup match and be unaffected by the excitement.  It gives me chills just to think of the people from all over the world that sit around you, excited to see their team, but also thrilled to experience a moment in which many of differences that typically divide us cease to exist.  Sports are often given such a bad name, often associated with brutality and anti-intellectualism, and many times reduced to being nothing more than a cheap and low-brow diversion.  But sports can serve as a forces of unity, bringing together people in ways that open doors for greater understanding between classes and cultures.  I'd like to begin today's blog by sharing with you my own personal history with this magnificent tournament.

I was 6 years old when I attended the World Cup in Mexico in 1986 (the 13th World Cup).  I remember sitting in the stands on a June afternoon in Guadalajara, watching a quarterfinal match between Brazil and France and feeling absolutely mesmerized by the electricity in that stadium.  Neither Mexico nor the U.S. were playing, and yet I was glued to the game as if I were either Brazilian or French.  People from all over the world sat around us.  It was incredible to think that this was taking place in the same city where my family traces its roots, and in a inexplicable way, I made me feel connected to the rest of the world.  I remember my grandmother cheering for Brazil, and so I did too, and I cheered for them as loud as I could.  Along with images of walking in Downtown L.A. as a kid and being awestruck by movie theater marquees, this is one of my earliest memories.  I didn't fully understand the game at that age, but I was forever enamored by something that could bring this level of collective engagement and global inclusiveness.  It was like being told that I was part of the world, part of something really big.  My dad took us to other World Cup matches that month.  Deeply influenced by the spirit of the game and the high stakes of the competition, my then five year old brother Oscar and I would shoot penalty kicks at each other in our yard for years to come.  We'd assume the name of a country each time we recreated these tournament scenarios.  I'd say, "I'm Argentina", or something like that, and he'd say "I'm England", or something like that.  Like with so many other games we'd invent during our free time in our youth, we spent hours of ultra-meaningful penalty-kick scenarios like this.  My brother Oscar and I standing outside Estadio Jalisco that summer, wearing soccer uniforms that my Dad bought for us from a street vendor.  If I could go back and relive certain moments in my life, this would be one of them, as it represents a time when the world felt as though it was opening up to us. Sometimes I watch youtube videos of the matches I attended, and I feel moved at the thought that I was there.

I was 10 years old when the World Cup took place in Italy in 1990 (the 14th World Cup).  Days before the tournament began, I was due to graduate from elementary school.  I had been chosen to deliver a speech at the graduation ceremony, but an appendectomy on the day of my graduation made that impossible.  I came home after a couple days in the hospital, and while being bedridden for a month is something I would have normally fought, I knew the World Cup was about to begin.  As I recovered over the next weeks, I watched all 52 matches that summer.  Waking up everyday for a month, with the knowledge that there'd be one or two or three games, was like waking up on Christmas morning every single day.  I was now 10 years old and had played some organized soccer at this point, so I understood a lot more about the game.  I became very familiar with the players, and my favorite ones were Roberto Baggio of Italy, Maradona of Argentina, and Jurgen Klinsmann of Germany, who will be coaching the U.S. in Brazil in 2014. 

When I was 14 years in 1994, the World Cup came to the United States (the 15th World Cup).  There was a lot buzz surrounding soccer for the first time in this country, leading to the creation of Major League Soccer (MLS) two years later.  I had just finished my freshman year in high school and I had been diagnosed with a tumor early that summer.  I remember feeling that my life could potentially come to an end that year.  Luckily, the tumor was found to be benign, although my mind would constantly think the worst and I spent time crying about all the things I thought I would never get a chance to do.  The World Cup came as highly welcomed distraction.  On June 22nd, almost exactly 8 years since that memorable quarterfinal match in Guadalajara as a 6 year old, my Dad took my brother Oscar and I to the Rose Bowl to see the U.S. defeat Colombia, a game that landed the U.S. in the second round of the World Cup for the first time in history.   Approximately 40 yards from where we were sitting, I'll never forget Marcelo Balboa doing a bicycle kick that bounced off the cross bar, leaving us all our feet in anticipation.  And who could forget players like Alexi Lalas, Tony Meola and Cobi Jones!  Unfortunately, this was the same game were Colombian Andres Escober shot an auto-goal and was killed weeks later after exiting a bar late one night in his home country, causing many to view soccer as a violent sport for years to come. 

In 1998 I had just finished my first year at UCLA when the World Cup took place in France (the 16th World Cup).  Most of the games were in the morning and I remember doing my best to see as many games as I could.  In 2002 I was heading into final exams at the end of my last year at UCLA when the World Cup began.  Hosted in Japan and South Korea, games on most days started around mid-night and ended at about 6am.  Finals week was especially tough, but I found a group of friends who were in the same boat and we all decided to study and watch soccer around the clock, making runs to 7-11 for coke slurpees at 2 or 3 in the morning.

  
In 2006 I backpacked alone throughout 9 Western European countries in the midst of the World Cup.  I had designed my itinerary so that I could catch the matches of certain countries while visiting those very countries, many times watching games at bars with the locals.  My friend Nathan Nowack joined me in London with his cousin, as both caught their first glimpse of what the World Cup euphoria was all about.  On June 10th we went to a bar called The Crooked Surgeon, where locals fans tore the place up as we watched England beat Paraguay. Though some fans were out of control, the euphoria was enough to captivate my friend and his cousin.  

We traveled for a few days to Amsterdam next, where we attended a local bar to watched Mexico beat Angola on June 11th.  Days later I joined up with my Dad for game in Hannover, Germany.  We then took a flight to Pisa and Cinque Terra for a two day visit, and when we were delighted to see that a large screen on the front lawn of the airport entrance was playing the second round match between Holland and Portugal.  We grabbed beers and sat on the lawn watching as the match broke records for having 14 yellow cards and 4 players being ejected.

I'll never forget the day I was in Leipzig for a match between Mexico and Argentina (the 18th World Cup).  After spending a couple of hours with my Dad and two locals from East Germany, and after sharing some laughs and talking about soccer and our families, the time soon came for the game to start and we all started heading towards the stadium.  At that point, the two men, near tears, began to express how special it was for them to have spent time with us in East Germany.  For their entire lives, they've dealt with the fact that the world typically associates them with the atrocities that took place during World War II.  I will never forget those men and their hospitality, and with tears of my own I look back at that moment as one of the most culturally touching moments of my life.  And I'm not saying these interactions can't happen without sports, but in a world where people increasingly operate within the mostly-private realm of cyberspace, sports are often an easy way to create a collective experience that humbles us into realizing that there are dynamics and phenomenons much bigger than any one of us.  Being in such a diverse and friendly environment has made for moments where I am most reminded that I am part of a beautiful thing known as humanity, and that despite our politics, our levels of income, and our ancestry, we can still have moments when we can experience life together.  

I was working for Johns Hopkins University as an educational adviser in 2010 when the World Cup took place in South Africa (the 19th World Cup).  Due to the difference in time zone, games typically started at 4am and continued throughout the morning.  I was sharing an apartment with my friend Somjita at the time, and remember preparing her for the World Cup by sharing everything I knew with her.  She quickly got into it, and before long, we were having discussions about many of the players and issues that surround the tournament.  We watched a lot of games together that summer, and we also made it a point to watch matches at culturally-relevant locations, watching a Brazilian match at a Brazilian bar and a quarterfinal match between Germany and Argentina at the Red Lion, an awesome German bar in Silver Lake.  My friend Joe Magazenni joined us that day as we watched Germany advance.  On a separate occasion, another friend of mine and I went to Plaza Mexico to watch Mexico play Uruguay, an occasion in which I ended up being interviewed by a Channel 11 reporter. (the link is here:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEj1bNypkuc

In the next 300 days, I will post 300 blog entries in an attempt to fully encapsulate the type of information that may elevate your enjoyment and understanding of this event.  I'll be begin by profiling 100 of the top players in the world, briefly describing their style of play, linking to highlight videos, citing some career highlights and linking to upcoming games where you can follow these players in the months to come, both on the international and club stage.  After these initial 100 entries, I have various ideas for what other types of information might be fun to further explore, including host cities in Brazil, brief histories of the countries who will ultimately qualify, etc.  I welcome anyone to pitch any additional ideas and I'll be more than happy to consider them.  Here's to many new memories still to come!  Cheers!