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World Cup: It all started with a skull
By the time the World Cup final between Brazil and Germany wraps up Sunday, nearly a third of the people on the planet will probably have tuned in. After waking at all hours to track the progress of their surprising team, some Americans will catch a break. The championship match will be served up at 7 a.m. EDT with breakfast. The game once described as "rude turbulence" has become sport's grandest global spectacle. It used to be played down alleyways, over roads and across the countryside by teams ranging in size from a dozen soldiers to entire villages. Codified in England and carried to the corners of the world on the wings of an empire, no matchup better highlights the state of the modern game as a new century finds its legs. "For me," said Pele, the game's most magical player ever, "the two strongest teams are here." Brazil is soccer's only four-time World Cup champion; Germany has won three. The South Americans are an offensive juggernaut, stylish, high-flying proponents of "o jogo bonito" -- the beautiful game -- as played in the sunshine; the Europeans are masters of the direct, pragmatic version necessary to succeed in cold and wet northern climes. Both have suffered in comparison to the great teams of their pasts, and each survived a rocky, two-year qualifying process to make the 32-nation field. Neither has lost a game since the monthlong tournament began. "If we win the title there will be three months of euphoria," Brazilian forward Denilson said, "and then the demands will start again. That's just the way it is." What makes the epic clash of soccer cultures more anticipated still is that it marks the first time the two powers have met in a World Cup game, on a continent where the sport is just taking off. Further, the presence of traditional powers in the final -- both for a record seventh time -- restores order to a soccer universe turned upside down by a series of stunning upsets. World Cup newcomer Senegal defeated defending champion France in the opening game. By the time the first round closed, the other favorite, Argentina, also was eliminated. In the past two World Cups, every quarterfinalist was from Europe or South America. This time, teams from Asia, Africa and North America found their way into the final eight. A U.S. team used to being ignored back home suddenly turned up on magazine covers, network TV and President Bush's call list -- the last just 41/2 hours before it played Mexico in the second round. "We were thinking -- which president?" Landon Donovan recalled. The 20-year-old star attacker is part of a generation that has benefitted from sponsorship dollars and the creation of a league in the United States. Whether that provides a foundation for the U.S. team to follow up on its success in the next World Cup remains to be seen. After overpowering Mexico, the Americans' heady run through the tournament ended 1-0 against the Germans. Afterward, coach Bruce Arena said with some resignation, "The big countries still get a lot of calls." Try telling that to traditional European powers Portugal, Italy and Spain. All of them lost to surprising South Korea and left irate over what they said was bad officiating. Unfazed, millions of South Koreans donned the red shirts of their heroes, packed sparkling new stadiums and chanted "Dae-han-min-guk" -- Republic of Korea -- for hours without pause. Almost as satisfying was seeing rival Japan knocked out in the second round by Turkey. Newspapers took advantage of the turn of events to gloat at Korea's one-time occupier: "Korea Makes History, Japan Is History," one headline read. Italian fans who contended there was a conspiracy to make sure South Korea won bombarded FIFA with 400,000 angry e-mails, crashing its Web site. Spanish newspapers put the headline "Robbed!" across the top. "Conspiracy theories crop up in all walks of life and they are 99 percent of the time totally unfounded," FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said. "This is one of the 99 percent." The Germans ended all talk of conspiracy soon enough with their 1-0 victory Tuesday night over South Korea in the semifinals. A day later, the Brazilians beat Turkey. The Germans' march to the final was seen as vindication, the reward for the traditional virtues of discipline and hard work. But it was a pleasant surprise, too. Coach Rudi Voeller's team was being groomed to peak in 2006, when the Germans play host to the World Cup for the second time. In Brazil, the championship is considered almost a birthright. But this year, it carries even greater weight. Brazil's stock market is reeling, its currency is plunging and the thrills provided by the "Three Rs" -- the high-scoring Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho -- provides a much-needed distraction. More important, perhaps, a study by HSBC Bank found the stock markets of developed countries that won the World Cup since 1966 outperformed the global average by 9 percent. "What makes Brazil a star in the world is soccer," said Ronaldo Helal, a sociology professor who specializes in soccer studies at Rio de Janeiro State University. "So there's a feeling if we can't win at soccer we can't do anything right." |
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