Soccer and the World

With approximately 270 million players around the world, soccer is the most influential sport. On a global scale, soccer is the most heavily followed sport that has ever existed. No matter how poor a person could unfortunately be, somehow one way or another, he finds a way to watch the game. The game of soccer alone is un-comparable to anything else. In certain countries, if not all of them, soccer has been established not only as a national symbol, but it has been established as a way of life in many communities, no matter how much they can differentiate in either social class or structure. 1In many foreign countries alike, people live and breathe soccer; its that certain aspect of their lifestyle that is taken to the next extremity, where if you were to succeed in the sport you can classify your life as a success, or on the other hand if you didn’t excel and succeed then you believe yourself to be nothing. It makes their veins boil and brings out the true passion for their country and their club team alike. The game arouses passionate devotion in its fans and great riches for its players and team owners, with impacts that can uplift or disrupt lives and nations. Societies are greatly impacted with what soccer brings to them.

                         The World Cup’s impact on society is astronomical. Every 4 years, as soon as it’s time for the opening ceremonies, entire countries come to a stop and just take in the beauty of the game in its entirety. In certain countries that have made soccer a lifestyle and not just a recreational activity that people play in one’s free time, many business hours are altered in order to work around the World Cups’ games. The World Cup has the greatest affect on societies because it can either unite a nation or it can cause turmoil. To root for your home team is basically saying that you’re proud to live in your country. People that are located in heavy soccer countries that say they oppose their countries team can be subjects to being vilified and shown hatred, because a time such as the World Cup should be used for complete unity. It seems like that the entire month that takes place; all peoples of a country are united, no matter their ethnic race, their social class standards or their economic situation. Nationalism is the one aspect of a person that really shows the most. For the die-hard fans, extremities of fandom are shown. These are the people who look forward to these 4 years every day, every minute, and every second. This is true nationalism.

            To some countries, soccer is the only thing they live for. In America, it’s the complete opposite. In soccer-dominate nations, when someone plays a soccer match, they make it out to be like a matter of life or death and play with that extreme of a mentality because in their culture, soccer is their future, and if they don’t end up excelling in the sport and pursuing it as a futuristic career, then they believe they have ultimately failed in life. Soccer in American society is mostly a middle class suburban game played by boys and girls recreationally just for the purpose of pleasure and a time killer. Its absurd to the average American because soccer hasn’t developed enough into one of the mainstream sports therefore hasn’t had the same affect that it has in other countries. Most of the people couldn’t care less about soccer. Many parents in the United States get their kids involved in soccer at an early age, just for recreational purposes, and then as soon as they get old enough to play a more popular sport, they drop it. This is the problem with this nation.

 Basically, the American culture will never embrace the sport of soccer. The United States national team, when competing in the World Cup, is the only team and time when soccer gets the respect it properly deserves. Even though during this time the entire country is united as one and cheer for them like it’s the last game they’ll ever play, the team hasn’t produced enough wins to gain interest and fandom. If the national team can compete with the monstrous giants of the soccer world like Spain and Germany, then popularity will grow. However, whenever it is time to play these crucial games against these European teams, we face detrimental annihilation as we end up losing every time by the scores of 4-0 and so on. This could be the sole reason why American culture has never experienced or found it appealing nationwide. Our main sport is football. Football is popular because we, as a nation in unity, are simply just really good at it and vast majorities of athletic people play it. The correlation is the more people who play, the more people who will be interested and watch. On a bigger scale, every continent and country has its sport. Americans are grown up in a football environment in which it's everywhere. Canada, our neighbor to the north, has its main sport as hockey, and the people that live there absolutely idolize it. America has many mixed opinions on soccer, because we are the most mixed ethnic group in the world, but what people don’t realize is that soccer can unite the world.

No matter one goes in this world, whether the location is war torn or not, there is always one thing that seems to be in common, and that is the game of soccer. Soccer has always been able to over politics and break down barriers wherever problems are. Even though this sport has caused some violence through riots, more unity occurred in these rivalries. In impoverished nations, soccer serves as a way to escape the life of poverty and hunger. Soccer establishes hope. Soccer creates the dreams of a better life for everyone. The World Cup is a prime example of the benefits of how soccer can help the world. Watching soccer, as a whole, can be the only place one will be able to find world peace, because it is actually shown. The World Cup is the only place where the entire world can agree on one thing. Soccer can either destroy the world and cause turmoil and violence or it can unite the world and promote peace, all it needs is time.

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