by Ethan Johnson
June 19, 2006

I mentioned at the start of this series that World Cup soccer doesn't quite capture the imagination of the typical US citizen like the rest of the soccer-playing world because we already have war. To amend that statement somewhat, our national self-esteem is not defined on the soccer field. And notice that we insulate ourselves against being measured against the world at large in our sporting events, where we declare "world" champions in events that were restricted to teams located in the USA. Sure, the pool of players is ever-widening, but the stadiums are here.

I have been stewing on this idea from the first match I sat through during this year's World Cup. What pushed me over was the most recent Czech Republic match. After making short work of the USA, Ghana returned the favor, and the camera panned across the Czech fans to reveal a young Czech boy whose face was hot with tears. This validated my uninformed hunch: To many, the soccer team isn't "just" a team. They represent their country. If France wins, France wins. If the Czech Republic loses, the Czech Republic loses.

Small wonder that the World Cup is a magnet for "crazy" fans. We dress "crazy" for the USA too; we just save that stuff for a) the Olympics or more often b) political conventions.

I have been watching and listening to Spanish-language media for a week or so, and I understand enough to know that a particular radio spot says, essentially, "when it comes to soccer, what matters most is the passion." US media doesn't get this. Seriously. Spanish-language media and advertising doesn't generally try to awkwardly sell you something against the backdrop of soccer, though soccer-themed ads are commonplace right now. Instead, they tend to validate the "passion" of the fans, and show them how a given product or service helps enhance that experience. Contrast this to US ads, where they are the same old ads that run year-round, but awkwardly try to say something "soccer-ish" in there to establish some sort of street cred. Nobody is buying it. Hopefully literally.

I was watching a sports roundup show on Telefutura last night that featured highlights from a soccer game in Colombia. There's your street cred. In sharp contrast to the shiny stadiums and high-powered sponsorship of the World Cup, the teams played on a dirt field with rickety goals, as the fans cheered from what could best be described as rodeo bleachers. The slick signage of the Cup was replaced with hand-painted signs mostly promoting the soccer league itself. It almost seemed like the high-school production of a Broadway play.

But what struck me through the dirt and "makeshift" playing conditions was the pure love of the game.

Univision (and its sister networks) understands and embraces this. They do soccer "right" because soccer matters to them. It matters to them because they live it. That kind of credibility doesn't come from "just" putting in the winning bid to air the coverage. Univision has been there for years, airing soccer matches that the rest of us in the US didn't give a rip about.

And now the passionate fans are rewarding that commitment.

Let this be a lesson for 2010. <EM>

(PS: Apropos of nothing, this site is #3 in the Google search results for "Copa Mundial 2006" (in quotes), and #92 for "Copa Mundial". Wow. The 2nd term returns 4.8 million results. I'm a Johnny-come-lately to soccer, let alone the World Cup. Getting any ideas out there?)