I haven’t been fortunate enough
to see Peru play in a World Cup as an adult, since the last time our national
team made it thus far was Spain 82. That's right, 32 years and 8 World cups, including this one, have gone by. It is very disappointing indeed, but I won’t
get into why it has become one of the worst teams in the always competitive, soccer-loving
South America. Instead, I’d like to talk about why I enjoy so much following the
World Cup, even though by no means I’m an expert in this sport.
The number one reason I enjoy
this tournament so much, of course, is the fact that soccer may be the single
sport that brings all countries together and that inspires so much passion
among all sorts of people. And when I say passion, I mean PASSION, in capital
letters. Is there any other sport where fans often times forget about
rationality and objectivity so easily to get carried away by their emotions? I
don’t think so. As an example, anything can be blamed for a loss: the referee, weather,
bad luck, etc. Yet, if your team wins, they ALWAYS did deserve the victory.
There is also something about the
World Cup that will make you pick your favorite team(s) based on a series of
factors that range from mere nationalism or regionalism to technicality to historic
background. And this is the one part that I love the most because as
competitive as it can be, the World Cup actually does an excellent job bringing
people from different nationalities together to support each other. For a
month, the world becomes a big FIESTA every 4 years.
I personally have had my favorite
teams since I was a child. My rule of thumb has always been to support South
American teams, as long as they were not the ones Peru had a special rivalry
with (if you’re from that region you’ll know who I’m talking about). Therefore,
yesterday was a tough day for me because all four teams were South American so
I just hoped the ones who did best would win.
Lately, I’ve also supported teams
based on that country’s people. As a result, I’m rooting for several teams
during this World Cup. Hey, it’s not that easy to have run into such nice
people from so many different places in your life. I’m wondering if it’s
actually me, not them…I read that the most hated team in the World Cup is
Argentina and my reaction is: Why? Argentinians are actually nice people! Yes,
there are the arrogant ones but there are people like them everywhere.
And that takes me to why I am cheering
for the US in this World Cup, even though it may neither have a soccer
tradition to start with nor the best team (aside from also being one of the
most hated teams, of course). I am doing so because I’m grateful: this country
and its diverse people have welcomed me from the moment I got here so the least
I can do is reciprocate that with my support. I know, I know, soccer may not be
the most popular sport in this country but slowly we're all changing that.
So I just want to finish saying I’m
very proud to call this country home and that I expect the national team to
keep on advancing in this World Cup…GO TEAM USA!!! ¡Vamos!