Football

While America was watching the Superbowl,  I was caught in a downpour on the field of Liga vs. Barcelona. Barcelona is a soccer team based in Guayaquil, Liga from Quito. Thousand of fans in white and yellow cheered from the cement, white for Liga. Some climbed the wire fence and sat above the bleachers, others danced to the constant singing of Ecuadoran songs, and the rest held their beer in their hand waiting for a goal.

There are a few reasons why soccer is superior to other sports.

1) The game is constantly moving. There is so much to watch! The ball dribbles down the field, being passed from guy to guy, the crowd shouting “Ole!” with every pass.

2) The players themselves must be the most fit of any athlete. They are strong and lean, kicking the ball with incredible strength down the field. The only guts they have are made of adrenaline and emotional gusto.

3) The whole world watches soccer and loves it. America is mostly on the outs of the international energy that surrounds the game and especially the World Cup. They even give it a completely different name.

4) It’s hard to get a goal, requiring a whole field of teamwork and careful foot work. When one is actually scored, it is a feat worthy of cheering! Though other sports may be high scoring, it takes more skill to actually achieve that goal in soccer.

5) Time actually matters. 45 minutes is 45 minutes. If there are 3 minutes left in the game, it won’t take another hour. You know when it will start and when it will end. This helps when it’s raining outside yet you know that in 45 minutes exactly you will be drying off.

To sit in the rain and watch it must mean that I really care about it. Prior to actually getting into the stadium we literally ran around the entire place one and half times, at high altitude, through legions of police on motorcycles and horses, trying to find our group that held our tickets. From inside the stadium I could hear the resounding cheering of the first goal, yelling to Jen about the absurdness of the situation and lack of effective communication.

I believe in soccer. Leave your American football behind! Your padding, your helmets, your steroid muscles! You have four years to gather yourselves and get excited about the World Cup in Brazil. Yes, you can!