Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Ukraine, Scotland, England, Spain, Italy, West Germany, East Germany, Russia... Practically, the World Cup gave me my first and only childhood world geography education. It was in the World Cup where I first saw foreign men with curly hair, skin light or dark. I even got to learn the country flags!
When I was still a little girl, in China, once every 4 years, the whole country, which was the world for me back then, went crazy about the World Cup. It was the only topic everywhere you go, and people were excited about the matches and their favorite teams and favorite players. My father and brother would get up in the middle of the night watching the matches live, which was almost always played in the other side of the earth. Yes, it was the prove that the world is round, and people of the world live and operate on different timezones. The rest of the time, one, as little as I was, didn't really have to be bothered by such complicated reality. No, the China team was never good enough to get into the World Cup, but it didn't change the people's passion with this sport.
Today, I watch the recorded World Cup final, Argentina v.s. Germany. I am not a football fan, and I don't really watch sports. I prefer doing something or reading a book in my free time. But something as big as the World Cup, or the Olympics or if SF Giants went to the final, then I would watch the games. There should be a name of someone like this. There must be, because English has a name for everything, so I just have to find it.
Anyway, at the beginning I firmly believed Germany was sure to dominate and win, because of their defeat of Brazil; then I was greatly impressed by Argentina's strong defense and tight maneuver, and their Messi! Then I thought about how Germany made Brazil bleed, and how sad it was for the host country. For the first and only time in my life, I switched to root for Argentina 30 minutes into the game. How fast I turned. Hey, the match was exciting and tight, the players both side were aggressive and physical, and nobody would care about my opinions, so why not? I had so much fun, even though Jack quietly fell asleep after 70 minutes of no score, and that the recording didn't finish the last 10 minutes or so of the overtime. And even though Argentina lost the game, I think they should be proud of themselves, because they fought hard and made it very, very difficult for the Germans.
It was The World Cup Final. Both teams should be very proud.
It was The World Cup Final. Both teams should be very proud.
