I’m now a little bit closer to understanding some of the fanaticism felt by followers of the world’s most popular sport. The 90 minute build-up towards the inevitable victory or defeat surely imparts on the fan one of the most intense feelings of anticipation in all of sportsdom. FIFA could get away with selling just edges of seats and still turn an ungodly profit.

The anticipation of such victory felt by the six million or so of us inside this little know country faded away somewhere around the 83rd minute of today’s game. But for the kids across the street, their front yard game continues on, just as it has – seemingly without end – for the past month.

Many reasons and explanations will be thrown out there in the days to come as to why the end result was what it is: a missed penalty, a bad call, an injured player, plain old bad luck. I can only hope that someone has the sense too to float the idea the 2010 World Cup a tremendous success for the nation of Paraguay.

Like the US team’s display and departure last week, this team too has brought a light into an otherwise dark corner. One country a superpower inspiring a country to be passionate about a game, another country intensely passionate about its own game inspiring the superpowers to be able to find it on a map.

US viewership of the this World Cup was the highest in history and statistics aside, a palpable interest was felt for the first time in a good while to hear something good (or at least genuine) coming out of the nightly news.

While it’s probably not true that Paraguay jersey sales were up anywhere farther away the Buenos Aries, Paraguay’s advancement to the quarter-finals for the first time in history resulted in the highest number of hits for the country on Google in a single day on June 29th.  I’m thankful I now have a couple million less people to explain to where this tropical getaway is. And that’s a good start. Doubtful any of it has the makings of something Clint Eastwood is jumping to direct, but it would be wrong to call it anything other then what it is – an enormous success for a small country.

Football, soccer, fútbol – whatever you want to call it – got it’s job right this month: showing people from all over what more they have in common then they have apart. That’s a tall order for a game – which is probably why so many think of it as so much more.

paz

kb