Is the World Cup a good or bad thing?

At the FIFA Fan Fest on Copacabana Beach

In his splendid read Soccer in Sun and Shadow Eduardo Galeano recounts the response of a German psychologist asked to define happiness. She says you cannot define it but give a child a ball and you will see it. We set it to the test with Eloise in Brasil, with several hours of living room training each morning before her milk break.

"Balle ... balle," Eloise says as she sees the ball near the couch and moves in to strike. "Ayyy!" cries Eloise as she kicks the ball far into the couch ahead. Her still-rudimentary goal celebration involves clapping for herself with a baby tooth grin that expresses the essential joy of kicking a ball that soccer is based on.

Fast forward to our 30-something eyes following the action on the pitch below. The France-Switzerland game treated us to eight beautiful goals, but the last one didn't count. As time expired, Karim Benzema one tucks a curving ball into the upper corner and out of the goalie's reach (watch below). It is a moment of perfection. As a former player, you mentally place yourself in that position (a lot cheaper than training all those hours!), receiving a ball as the clock winds down. With one stroke of synergy, Benzema created a moment of harmony between his teammates, the ball, and all the spectators imagining themselves in his place. The moment becomes poignant as we imagine that we participate in such a beautiful act: joy!

In international competitions, these personal indulgences lead to collective feelings of pride, frustration or chagrin. Fans wear the colors of their national selection and hope that the national team performance will leave a residue of triumph on their bodies. Crowds roar as Davids take down Goliaths. Costa Rica toppled Italy and Uruguay. Chile shut out its former colonizer Spain 2-0 and underdog Greece managed to beat Cote d'Ivoire. In the streets of Algeria people chanted, "One, two, three, Vive l'Algerie!" after they qualified for the next round (where they nearly beat Germany).

Ecuadorians Storm the Sugarloaf!

For all the cutthroat competition, the World Cup also gives peoples of different languages and cultures a month-long bridge of commonality. Whether on a square in Salvador's Pelourinho or on Copacabana's long stretch, scores of striped and solid jerseys intermingle. On the top of Pão de Açúcar, Mery mixed with the scores of Ecuadorean fans and even allowed a little friendly rivalry with me. The cable car on the way down rocked with the chants of Mexican pride and Colombian confidence.

Colombian, French, Dutch, and Mexican jerseys in action

Looking forward to the game

Representing on the Pao de Acucar

France and Colombia: Both still fighting for the Rimet Trophy

One of a million reasons to come to Rio!

Some fans choose only to support their national squad. I (Stephen) always pick a handful of teams to cheer for based on the beauty of the team's style (France), the personal connections (France, US, Ecuador, Mexico, Brasil), if the coach likes to take selfies (Mexico), the national music (Brasil), and being an underdog (Costa Rica). This in-depth article even made me want to root for poor 'ol Messi. And sometimes your team might conflict with your wife's team. And the only way to up the ante and settle the score is ... betting (see below).

Whoever Loses Does the Dishes for a Year

Tension Is High
 

Thank God that game ended a tie! The games, though, are about more than just soccer and the joy of the ephemeral art of shooting and safeguarding. Suspicious of the overlap of politics and mass culture, Jorge Luis Borges wrote that "Soccer is popular because stupidity is popular." The powerful overlap of collective emotions and World Cup soccer can cut in different ways. Soccer nationalism from Iran inspired protesters to struggle against the current regime. When France won the Cup in 1998, many hoped the "Black Blanc Beur" (Black, White, and North African French, more or less) victory would lead to more inclusion for French minorities. To little avail, however, as the ever-increasing power of the racist National Front party in France shows the limits of sport to bring about substantial change.

Political parties and governments are not the only ones to exploit the World Cup to strengthen their power. At each of our games, evangelical religious groups used clever strategies to increase their membership (see the photo above). Civil rights and leftist groups also challenge the power of FIFA and of the thick corruption in Brazilian politics and business. In Rio, we came across about seventy five anti-Cup protesters--surrounded by police on both sides (see below)--marching during the Brazil-Cameroon game. 

FIFA Go Home

The Brazilian government uses police and military force to intimidate would-be protesters. Crowd control tactics by police quickly take on a fascist hue when the government tries to squash democratic practices and political rallies. Brazilian police use the same infiltration and suppression tactics used by the NYPD during Occupy Wall Street. The NYPD even sent some officers to Rio for the Cup.

Cavalry post-game in Rio

On our last night, we took a cab home from a samba party in Santa Teresa. We spoke with the cab driver about the day's Brazil-Chile encounter.  Unenthusiastic about the game, he sided with the protests about the costs of hosting the World Cup. He articulated every syllable, saying that the Brazilian government had spent "33 billion" on the World Cup. There is too much corruption amongst Brazilian politicians, he said. His estimates may be exaggerated (public infrastructure and security costs are closer to 9 billion dollars) but Brazil's World Cup is the most expensive ever, with stadiums costing four times the original estimates. He let us out of the taxi and we saw this graffiti (below) near the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. It says: "Occupy the Cup," "Go Home FIFA," and "The World Cup for Whom?"

The World Cup for Whom?

More and more students are graduating from college in Brazil (with public help), and the country has made other impressive strides to open up opportunity in the past decade. With its War on Poverty, the poverty rate has dropped to half its 2005 rate. Will the long-term effects of infrastructure investment last longer than the thrill of a World Cup victory?

In the end, the opaque governance of soccer seems at odds with the joy of those that take such pleasure from it. Do we see a dictatorship of spectacles? The players get little say in their working conditions (though they are improving) and the benefits of the host country are lopsided. And the billions will still watch the games of the final stages, imagining themselves delivering the coup de grace as the players feign, flick, and flutter their way to the goal.

Gooooolll!