World Cup 2014

In the sports world, there’s only one real “World Cup.” You’ll hear a lot about world cups of different sports, but at the end of the day, football’s World Cup is the real thing. It’s the biggest and most watched event of  this magnitude, bigger than basketball, boxing, volleyball or any American sport. It happens every four years and brings together the world’s 32 best football teams coming from different zones. For the next three weeks, all eyes, thoughts and concerns of football fans are directed at Brazil as it hosts the FIFA World Cup. So what’s happening?

For the group stages, eight groups of four teams each are playing games in different key cities of  Brazil. Group A is composed of  Brazil, Mexico, Croatia and Cameroon are played in Sao Paolo. Group B has Netherlands, Spain, Chile and Australia. Group C is composed of Colombia, Japan, Ivory Coast and Greece. Group D has Costa Rica, Italy, England, and Uruguay. Group E is made up of France, Ecuador, Honduras and Switzerland. Group F teams are Argentina, Iran, Nigeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Group G contenders are Germany, USA, Ghana, Portugal. And Group H is composed of  Belgium, Korea, Russia and Algeria.

This early, the biggest news is how defending champion Spain has lost two straight games and has been eliminated from the tournament. Even if they win their last game, they won’t make it to the next round. On a smaller scale of a surprise, England is also out of the running. While they weren’t expected to win it all, neither were they expected to lose two quick games and be out of the running. Outside of these, the usual suspects in the traditional powers are still safe for now: Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany. Minor surprises are the “not so popular” countries that have made it closer to the next round: Colombia and Costa Rica. Among the biggest questions also arising is which major continent will win it. Will the champion come from the Europe or will it come from the Americas side: South or Central America?

From the tourism side, Brazil has suddenly become the summer vacation capital of thousands of football fans who have made the trip to Brazil from all over the world. The cities of  Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio De Janeiro, Salvador and Sao Paulo have suddenly become big fiesta celebrations by themselves will all the visitors from out of town. We must all remember that Brazil’s stadiums can accommodate anywhere between 50,000 to 80,000 spectators per game. You can then imagine how all the major and minor hotels, motels and pension houses are all full-house. Restaurants, public transportation, stores and malls are also sure to generate unusually high revenues, which mean a booming local economy for every host city and its nearby cities towns or towns. After all, a major city might not be able to host the sudden influx of sports tourists. Everything from food, to local souvenirs, team merchandising, and drinks will be hot items. Bars and clubs will also be filled with nightly parties. If you want to take a picture of what’s happening, just imagine Cebu’s Sinulog taking place in the different city hosts of Brazil.

Another highlight that fans are looking out for are the performances of their idols. They are now playing for their respective countries and not ballclubs. How will Lionel Messi play for Argentina? Did he have enough practice time with the team? Will Neymar finally shine for Brazil? Did you see Robin Van Pierse’s goal against Spain? How could Iker Casillas commit such a mistake in the game against Netherlands? Was that Casillas or a twin brother who never knew about? The Americans are questioning why Lander Donovan is out of the line-up, but is he that indispensable of a player? Portugal lost its first game and needs to win its next two games to qualify for the next round. Where is Ronaldo in all this? Will the Germans be just that: typically Germans who are systematic, efficient and well-disciplined? And how can we forget Asia? While nobody expects Korea and Japan to win the World Cup, we have to cheer for them and pray that make it as far as possible.

The irony of it all is that as a basketball nation, the Philippines isn’t as mad about football as our neighbors in Asia or the rest of the world. But we’re slowly but surely picking up. Awareness is at a higher level now and with the help of the Azkals, football as a sport is now on the rise. Will we ever make it to the World Cup? We’ll take it one game at a time. Meanwhile we’ll sit back and enjoy the show.

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Time-out: You can reach me at [email protected].