Frenzy Builds as World Cup Dates Draw Near : Soccer: Neighborhoods--especially those with large immigrant populations--eagerly await the games. Businesses also seek to capitalize.
When the black-and-white checkered ball kicked by a member of the Mexican national soccer team sails into the opponents’ goal, Victor Ramos jumps for joy.
The Ramos family, with a satellite dish perched on the roof of their Boyle Heights home, is dedicated to watching games being played in their native Mexico.
“When there is a score, we all get excited,” Ramos, 26, said. “Even my mom doesn’t know all the players, but she will criticize them when they do something wrong.”
By this time next week, Ramos’ beloved Mexican national team will be playing on American soil--Chicago--and competing for the World Cup soccer championship. And Ramos and his family will be gathered in front of his television, cheering them on.
Soccer mania, which has much of Los Angeles brimming with excitement, is here. As the fever spreads, neighborhoods throughout the area--especially those with large immigrant populations--are preparing for an onslaught of soccer-crazed fans who will converge on Los Angeles for the World Cup, which begins Saturday and ends next month with the championship game at the Rose Bowl.
For immigrants from Latin American countries, where soccer is king and almost everybody grows up playing on improvised fields, their passion for the world’s most popular sport is approaching a frenzy.
For Ramos, who was booting a soccer ball around by himself at the Boyle Heights Sports Center Park one afternoon last week, the World Cup is a reminder of the early passion he developed for soccer.
“My dad used to take me to this field as a child,” he said.
The soccer obsession is also evident in communities where street vendors sell World Cup T-shirts alongside mangoes. At Niky’s Sports shop in Westlake, autographed posters of soccer greats such as Pele, and Colombian, German, Dutch and Brazilian flags have helped make the small store an unofficial gathering place for impromptu soccer discussions and remarkable displays of devotion.
“This is like a fever . . . this is practically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the World Cup,” said Niky Orellana, owner of the shop and a soccer commentator on radio station KORG.
“Soccer is something powerful,” Orellana said. “You see people around here who stop by my store and they say they’ll get down on their knees and beg for a ticket. Now, that’s a sign of how hooked (Latinos) are to soccer.”
Jose Granados, a Monrovia resident, visited Niky’s shop last week to round out his soccer wardrobe with a white jacket that makes clear he is an ardent supporter of Brazil’s team. Granados and 17 of his friends were getting ready to drive to San Diego for an exhibition game between Brazil and Honduras.
“We were never able to host a World Cup in my country,” said Granados, an immigrant from El Salvador. “And this may be my first and last chance to see one.”
Like the heated discussions over the merits of the participating teams that are common among fans, the World Cup has generated a good-natured rivalry within the Granados family. Jose’s brother Salvador supports the United States team.
“I’m a U.S. citizen so I’m backing them, but we both just love to see a good game and in that respect it doesn’t matter,” Salvador Granados said as he purchased more than a dozen patches featuring flags of countries participating in the games.
“Yeah, but he still wants the U.S. to win,” said Jose.
Surrounded by posters of soccer superstars such as Argentina’s Diego Maradona, Mexico’s Hugo Sanchez and Colombia’s Carlos Alberto Valderama, the two brothers pour over schedules of games, maps and tickets in Orellana’s store.
For Raul Rodriguez, the World Cup frenzy is measured in shoes. Rodriguez, 22, an employee of Jumping Shoes on Pacific Boulevard in Huntington Park, has seen sales of cleated footwear increase with the rising interest in the tournament.
“We would have sold more if we could get more” on the shelves, he said.
The shoe store has capitalized on the commercial potential of the World Cup by featuring six or seven models of soccer shoes in its most prominent display position by the front door. Rodriguez said that interest in the world-class World Cup translates to interest in world-class shoes.
“People don’t want these $30 shoes; they are too cheap,” he said.
There are other ways to measure the World Cup’s commercial potential.
Because the games are sure to focus the world’s attention on Los Angeles, a variety of local groups are planning celebrations to improve the area’s image as well as attract tourist dollars.
South Gate merchants held a street festival earlier this month dedicated to hyping the World Cup; this weekend, Huntington Park will hold its own parade, complete with the World Cup mascot, Striker. The Los Angeles Convention Center will be the site of a soccer festival that promises instructional clinics, merchandise and food July 8-17.
Also in conjunction with the games, the nonprofit Watts Friendship Sports League said it will be handing out World Cup tickets to inner-city youths later this month, as well as helping refurbish a field in Nickerson Gardens in Watts, said George Wolfberg, of the league.
At 3rd Street between Bixel Street and Lucas Avenue, a temporary soccer field will be opened later this month that will serve as many as 3,500 youths a week. To promote the city and the sport, the Tourism Industry Development Council, a nonprofit group formed last December, is promoting tours of Central, South-Central and East Los Angeles for the international media in July.
“We want to demonstrate the positive (aspects) of these communities, said Billi Romain, project manager for the council.
