That foreign investors have found British teams attractive investments in the past few years is obvious given their increasing numbers. Less clear is why these wealthy men have decided to invest their money in British soccer clubs.
In case you haven’t heard the news (but you probably have; it’s been everywhere), Iraq won the Asian Cup today, beating Saudi Arabia 1-0. The story is, of course, good news in a country that has known little of the sort in recent years. Perhaps the best coverage of the tournament came from the New York Times’ Goal blog, which had several posts from correspondents in Iraq and in the region. I would also recommend the website Global Voices, which collects the accounts of several Iraqi bloggers offering first-hand accounts of the post-game celebrations. Yahoo! has some great pictures both from the game and from fans celebrating the victory. Reading about and seeing the outpouring of emotion almost makes me want to be in the country, just to experience it.
Iraqi goalkeeper Noor Hassan falls to his knees after the final whistle is blown (photo: AP / Irwin Fedriansyah)
During qualifying matches for the 1998 World Cup, I had an argument with some friends about how to pronounce the last name of Costa Rican forward Paulo Wanchope. They said that since Wanchope (who just signed with the Chicago Fire) was from a Spanish-speaking country, the e at the end of his last name had to be pronounced. I claimed it was silent, but I couldn’t explain why. It was only when I went to Costa Rica in 1997 that I came to understand the reason why the e is indeed silent. The reason has everything to do with the history of the Central American country.
Paulo Wanchope (photo: AP / Deutsche Welle)
very once in a while, stories pop up in the Western press about odd goings-on at a soccer match in a remote part of the world. These stories contain sordid details of spells placed by witch doctors, animals sacrificed by fans, or objects burned by those seeking to affect the outcome of a game.
An African witch doctor (photo: Moonbattery.com)
This week I’m going to focus on some stories that you may not have read (if you have come across these stories then consider yourself as nerdy as me).
Let’s start with David Beckham. Surely, you’ve read a story or two (or sixty) about his coming to the US (even my non-soccer liking friend watched Posh’s reality show on NBC and said it was “hilarious” – although probably not in the way she intended it to be funny).
But did you hear the public radio show Marketplace’s take on Becks’ arrival? Or how about NPR’s show News and Notes, in which host Farai Chideya and Newsweek entertainment writer Allison Samuels discuss how Beckham is perceived in Britian’s black community (quite positively, even calling him “an honorary black man” a la Bill Clinton) and whether he will appeal to African-Americans. Even Steven Colbert offered his take on Beckham, naming him “Alpha Dog of the Week” for earning a huge salary and then not practicing (albeit because he was hurt).
Soccer may have gained some popularity among Venezuelans after their country’s successful hosting of the Copa America this summer, but baseball remains king in that country. While the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is staking out strong anti-American policies, he is a professed lover of the yanquis’ game (his attempts at soccer consist primarily of passing the ball to his buddy Diego Maradona).
It is odd that Chavez, who often gives hour-long speeches railing against what he sees as American imperialism, is, like many Venezuelans, a huge baseball fan. Chavez sees American hegemony in multinational institutions like the World Bank (see his attempts to set up a regional bank doing similar work) and its media (and has created his own TV station to counteract its influence), but doesn’t mind playing the hegemon’s sport. Chavez would never be seen with a Big Mac in his hand, but he loves to pick up a bat.
