World Cup Soccer: The Not-So-Beautiful Game

Foto da minha viagem de helicóptero pelo Rio. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From the jungles of the Amazon to the clothes-optional beaches of Rio de Janeiro, everyone in Brazil is waiting with bated breath as the 2014 FIFA Men's World Cup begins.  Because, in the land of Pele, they've had several years to prepare for this and the 2016 Summer Olympics.  From what we're hearing, they're still not ready.

What will greet visitors and a worldwide TV audience are the unfinished stadiums (nothing says unfinished like uninstalled toilets), the possible violence and political unrest, because the government in Brazil was apparently too slow and corrupt to deal with the challenges that came with hosting such an event.

Brazil, being the world soccer power that they've been for decades, is considered the favorite to win this year's Cup.  That's what people thought back in 1950, the last time the Brazilians hosted this tournament, before Uruguay walked off with the trophy.   Should that happen again . . .well, you don't want to know what's going to happen.

As for the United States men's soccer team (also known as USMNT, which sounds like an old Lucky Strike cigarette ad if you say it a few times), coach Jurgen Klinsmann is charged with leading them to respectability and nothing more.  Klinsmann hasn't made many friends doing it, having bounced Landon Donovan (its best-known player) from the team, and suggesting that the U.S. has no shot at winning the World Cup.  It may not be politically correct, but Klinsmann is just stating the obvious for a soccer-indifferent nation.   Oh, and they also happen to play in the so-called "Group of Death" in the first round, facing Germany, Ghana and Portugal.

For FIFA, the governing body that runs the World Cup, Brazil is only the beginning.  In 2018, the tournament goes to Russia, where Vladimir Putin's land grab in Ukraine is a sore spot.  In 2022, it goes to Qatar. 

Most soccer observers believe putting the World Cup in Qatar, a country based near the Persian Gulf, in the middle of summer is a recipe for disaster.  Temperatures hovering near the top end of the thermometer could be dangerous for players and spectators, meaning many matches would have to be be played late at night and early in the morning.  There have also been reports of alleged bribery involving FIFA and Qatar officials, which might have influenced the vote in awarding the World Cup to that country.  Efforts to move the tournament out of Qatar have so far been unsuccessful.

So that's how it is prior to one of the biggest sporting events in the world.  With any luck, what goes on the field during the next month should overshadow anything that occurs off of it.