My World Cup

 

   When I heard a few years ago that the World Cup Tournament would be in North America in 2026 and that several of the games would be in Boston, I realized this would be my best chance to attend a World Cup game. A year and a half before the tournament, I checked ticket prices. The first tickets I found were for $1,000 each, but as I dug deeper I found tickets for as little as the cost of a Taylor Swift concert. Still a rip-off, but it would be a once in a lifetime experience. Of course I did nothing. I'm just a casual soccer fan. I don't really get "the beautiful game".

   I take an interest in soccer every four years during the World Cup. I root for the underdog until they're knocked out, then I follow the next underdog, especially if they upset a kingpin team. Of course I want the US to do well, also Sweden because we have relatives in Sweden. Cousin Tobias in Stockholm gives me the true fan's point of view.

   My first underdog to root for was the Caribbean nation of Curaçao, who were in the World Cup for the first time. In addition to being the smallest country in the games (pop. 185,000), they had the oldest manager (age 78). There were 48 teams playing for the cup. The 48 are divided into 12 groups of four teams each. The four teams play each other once. They get three points for a win, one point for a draw, and nothing for a loss. The two teams with the best records move on to the round of 32. The other teams in Curaçao's group were Germany, Ecuador, and Ivory Coast. Curaçao immediately lost to Germany 7-1. Curaçao's one goal was scored by Livano Comenencia.

   This is the crazy thing to me about World Cup teams.  Livano Comenencia was born in the Netherlands and plays for a professional soccer team in Switzerland. Curaçao had been a Dutch colony and his parents had moved to the Netherlands seeking a better life for their children. When Curaçao failed to move on, I switched my allegiance to Cape Verde, a small island nation off the west coast of Africa. This was also their first World Cup appearance. One of Cape Verde's best players, Roberto Lopes, was born in Dublin and plays professionally in Ireland. Another of their players lives near Boston. If a player has one parent from whatever country, he can play for that country's national team. Cape Verde got into the round of 32 and almost upset Argentina.

   But Cape Verde lost to Argentina so my team became the Vikings from Norway. Norway made it to the round of 16, where they shocked Brazil. This was a major upset. Everyone except the English, was rooting for Norway against England in the Quarterfinals. But England won. The game was controversial as so many are. But I like England, so I rooted for them against Argentina. To no avail. I would have then given  my allegiance to France, but they had lost to Spain the day before.

   I watched very little of the tournament. When we were visiting relatives in Boston this month, the game was usually on in the background. Soccer games are notoriously low scoring so the final score can be decided in the last seconds. A group of casual fans would always gather around the TV to watch the last few minutes. Another wierd thing is that there are no timeouts during a ninety minute match. If there's an injury or a penalty, the clock keeps running and more or less of the lost time is tracked by the ref and added on at the end of the game. But you don't really know exactly how much time. Soccer can be arbitrary.

   Well Spain, the best team, beat the scruffy Argentinians 1-0 in the final. I wasn't able to watch the match. That would have required a subscription and I won't do that. I'm saving my money for the Taylor Swift tour.

Post-Tournament Bargains at Dollar General in Roseau