CITY TIMES COVER STORY : CUP FEVER
THERE’S NOTHING IN the world like it.
By the time it’s over, it will have touched the hearts of one-third of the planet’s population. Two billion people. One event: the World Cup soccer championship.
Every four years, one country transforms itself into the soccer capital of the planet. This summer, the United States is host, and the worldwide television audience is expected to reach more than an aggregate 30 billion during the monthlong event. From a field of 24 teams playing in nine stadiums across the nation, two will meet in the final match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on July 17.
For many Angelenos, this, the globe’s largest single-sport event, remains a curious sideshow meriting less attention than David Letterman coming to town to boost his sweeps-week ratings.
But not so for thousands in Central Los Angeles, where many communities have high concentrations of immigrants who have brought their deep love of the sport from their native lands. A microcosm of the frenzy that has swept the world, neighborhoods such as South-Central, Pico-Union, East Los Angeles and Koreatown are rife with nationalistic pride and American commercialism.
Vendors sell flags and pennants of the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria and others in the Cup field to soccer fans eager to pledge their allegiance. Shouts and cheers spill from restaurants and bars where the games play on television.
Typical is the Little Siberia bar in Huntington Park, where walls plastered with Cup posters and photos act as a backdrop to standing-room-only crowds intensely watching a futbol match.
For soccer followers here and from abroad, the spectacle transcends everything.
Children around the globe dream of becoming soccer heroes like Colombia’s Carlos Valderrama or Brazil’s Romario in the same tradition American youths aspire to become the next Joe Montana or Michael Jordan.
World Cuppers live to see the clash of divergent styles of soccer: the artistry of the Brazilians; the precision of the Germans; the elegance of the Italians or the pageantry of the Colombians.
Cameroonians, meanwhile, roar for their “Indomitable Lions.” Spaniards cheer their toreros with “ Ole !” Dutch fans count on the clockwork of their orange team.
The Super Bowl, the World Series and the NBA finals: Combine the passion and glory of these events and it’s only a glimpse of what the finals are for the most popular sport in the world.
There is nothing like the World Cup. Not one thing.
* OFF-THE-FIELD MANIA: World Cup-related events. Page 14
