For the past three weeks most of the world has placed enthusiastic focus on a spotted ball. People has gathered enthusiastically to see their favorite team and/or player work magic with their feet to win a game that has been played in yards nationally and internationally for ages.
Today, July 15, the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament will climax with the championship match in Russia between France and Croatia. After this highly anticipated match, billions of people who have been fortunate to have watched this quadrennial tournament will lose their temporary opiate.
More FIFA members than in the UN
The football World Cup is actually a three-year tournament in which more than 200 Federal International Football Association (FIFA) nations – more members than the membership of the United Nations are given the chance to make it as one of the current 32 national teams that make it to the quadrennial final tournament.
The tournament builds more national hope than any other sport as the teams plays over 850 qualifying matches to qualify for the finals. This is a tournament that supersedes economic, class, racial, color, religion, and political background, and has more effective in bringing people together in a way that no politician has been able to do.
Difficult task
Getting to the final 32 teams, to be expanded to 48 in 2026, is an extremely difficult task. Indicative of this difficulty is that of some 280 million people that play football professionally, 4 percent of the world’s population, just over 700 (first team members ad reserves) actually make it to the finals of the tournament).
Another indication of the difficulty to make it to the finals is that several national teams, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Honduras have made it to the finals only once. And, only eight teams, to date, Brazil (5 times), Germany and Italy (4 times each), Argentina and Uruguay (twice each), France, England, Spain (once each), have won the tournament.
Hope still persists
However, the difficulty of making it to the final tournament has in no way daunted the hopes and ambitions of young football players to make their national team, and be a member of the team that advances to the finals. But, even when a national team does not advance hope still persists that the team could make it in another four years.
This year’s tournament has inspired that hope as teams like Mexico, Croatia, Belgium, Japan, Russia have played inspirational football, sending home more traditional winners like Germany, Argentina, Brazil and Spain. Moreover, this year power house teams like Italy and the Netherlands did not even make it to Russia.
Quality of football has improved worldwide
This year’s tournament has shown definite signs that the quality of football has improved worldwide, and the former national icons of the game cannot take winning for granted. This augers well for small nation nationalism.
Aside from the quality of the game played, the World Cup, even more so than the Olympic Games, offers young men a rare chance to perform on a vast international stage before billions of people. The national drive behind advancing to the final 32 teams offers several youth with football skills the opportunity to overcome their challenging individual backgrounds to play on a national team.
Countries like England and France are not inhibited to giving citizen status to talented immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa, making it possible to play on their national football teams.
World Cup crosses social barriers
During the final World Cup tournament people within nations find it possible to cross racial, tribal, political and other social barriers to coalesce around the national team. National teams do promote a sense of unity and collective identity, which intensifies if the teams wins their games, or as seen in the 2018 World Cup, even if the team scores a goal. On the other hand, losing can prompt a time of national mourning.
But, despite one’s national team failing to make it the final tournament of the World Cup, the enthusiasm for other teams isn’t thwarted. People in each country, invariable, have their favorite team which they support and follow relentlessly throughout the tournament.
Caribbean fans are perennial Brazilian supporters
In Jamaica, and most other Caribbean countries, Brazil continues to be the perennial favorite. When Brazil won its games in Russia, Jamaicans marched through communities singing and beating pans and drums as if it was the Jamaican team that won. When Brazil lost to Belgium some people vowed not to watch the remaining games in the tournament.
One thing is definite, during the World Cup final tournament most people find a welcome distraction from the challenges of everyday life. Now that another tournament is coming to end, already there is melancholy.
The national impact of the World Cup may have best been described by British authors Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski in their 2009 book “Why England Lose” writing “…there may be nothing that brings a society together like a World Cup ….. only war and catastrophe can create this sort of national unity.”
