The following are excerpts from The American Fan's World Cup Handbook.
Introduction
I wrote this handbook to help maximize the World Cup watching experience for the average American sports fan who doesn’t really watch soccer except during the World Cup.
Not long ago I was one of these average American sports fans. After high school I spent a few years abroad. As I was expo-sed to foreigners and foreign culture, I could not help but notice how big a deal soccer was considered. I was aware of the World Cup, like most Americans, but I had not been aware of the form of soccer played on a weekly basis. The first person to really talk to me in depth about this form of the game was a British room-mate. Aside from teaching me a lot about the structure of soccer he also introduced me to a lot of soccer’s personalities.
By January 2007, I had been back in the States for over six months, the 2006 World Cup a distant memory. I was still an average American sports fan, my soccer consumption still limited to just the World Cup. Then, an unbelievable headline ran across the ticker tape: “David Beckham signs to play in USA.”
Now, I, as most sports fans, had heard of David Beckham. I knew he had played on some famous teams but I had no idea what was so special about him. I did comprehend, though, that it was a big deal for a player of his stature to be playing in the United States. I started learning about the fascinating legend of David Beckham and about soccer in the United States. The more I learned, the more questions I had. That is how I morphed from a typical American sports fan into an American soccer fan.
Because I used to not be a soccer fan and a majority of my family and friends are not soccer fans, I have a good perspect-ive of all that is confusing about soccer. If this handbook is used to its full potential, though, you will discover why soccer is called “the beautiful game” and you will seek out opportunities to watch soccer again before the 2014 World Cup.
All World Cup games broadcast on the ESPN family of networks will be called by experienced British broadcasters who will primarily be catering to viewers familiar with the game. This approach is likely a response to the backlash from American soccer fans who were appalled at ESPN’s decision to cater to non-soccer fans in their presentation of the 2006 World Cup by assigning a baseball broadcaster to the most important games. The aforementioned British broadcasters are not going to dumb down the game by explaining how many yellow cards it takes to get a red card and what it all means. Having said that, I am sure you will enjoy the sophistication British broadcasters are known for, a certain quality you will not hear watching any American sport. Reading this handbook in advance of the World Cup and keeping it handy while you watch will help you keep up with the game and the play-by-play. To that end, I recommend, in particul-ar, studying the American English – Soccer dictionary found in Appendix I and the list of vocabulary terms in Appendix II.
Chapter I outlines soccer’s unique organizational struct-ure. When trying to explain why soccer hasn’t gained a foothold in America, people often like to theorize that it is because Ameri-cans don’t understand a certain aspect of soccer that differentia-tes the game from the major American sports. As opposed to a single major aspect, my belief is that soccer has not yet reached mainstream status because of the complete collection of differen-ces between soccer and the major American sports. Chapter II goes through a large amount of these differences in detail. Chapt-er III names some U.S. players you will see in South Africa. Chapter IV will walk you through the maze that is the World Cup and includes space to record predictions. In Chapter V, I provide some advice on how to retain all the knowledge you will gain from this handbook. Finally, do not overlook the appendixes, which include vital resources. Explanations of the italicized words in the text can be found in Appendix II.
Chapter I: The Organizational Structure of Soccer
It is important to understand the difference between nati-onal teams and clubs. National teams represent countries and can only consist of players who are citizens of that country. Clubs play in a particular country’s league but may include players from anywhere in the world. A player may play for his national team even if he plays for a club in another country.
The Federation International de Football Association (FIFA, pronounced “FEE-fah”) operates under the umbrella of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the IOC-recogni-zed international governing body of soccer. The disciplines of beach soccer and futsal (floor soccer) are also governed by FIFA.
As will be explained in Chapter II, FIFA is uniquely involved in both the international game (USA vs. Mexico) and the club game (Manchester United vs. Liverpool). FIFA is also uniq-ue in that it does not by itself control the rules of the sport it governs. The rules of soccer are determined by the International Football Association Board (IFAB). The IFAB consists of four FIFA representatives and one representative from each of the four UK home nations that first standardized international rules back in 1882: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Any rule changes must be approved by six of the board’s eight members.
Chapter II: American Sports vs. Soccer
Below you will find a detailed comparison between speci-fic aspects of soccer and the major American sports of baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey. Understanding the obvious and more subtle differences presented will help develop your soccer palate and enhance your World Cup experience. One by one, I will describe an aspect of American sports and follow it up with an explanation of how that aspect is different in soccer. This chapter is divided into three sections: Organizational Aspects, Rules, and Cultural Aspects.
Organizational Aspects
International Governing Body
American Sports: The international governing bodies of baseball, basketball and ice hockey have no jurisdiction over MLB, the NBA, the NHL, respectively, or their teams. A practical ramification of this is that if, for example, the Japanese national baseball team had wanted Hideki Matsui to play for them at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, there would be no way to force the Yank-ees to allow Matsui to go to Beijing in the middle of the season because the Yankees are not governed by the international federation. The international governing body of football only deals with the amateur game and is not recognized by the IOC.
Soccer: FIFA, the international soccer governing body, has jurisdiction over both international soccer and club soccer. Because of this, FIFA is able to restrict clubs from disallowing their players to play for their national team during the club seas-on. This also means that FIFA is able to organize global compet-itions for both sectors: the Confederations Cup and the World Cup for national teams and the Club World Cup for clubs.
Rules
Clock
American Sports: The clock in basketball, football and hockey runs down. The clock is stopped when there are breaks in the game. Each period ends when the clock reaches zero, so everyone knows exactly when the game will end.
Soccer: The clock counts up and does not stop until the end of the half. The referee calculates the amount of time in each half wasted by interruptions, such as injuries, substitutions, etc. After 45 minutes have passed, he tacks on the calculated stoppage time to account for these interruptions. Naturally, further interru-ptions may occur during stoppage time that the referee may add time for. The referee usually will not end a half while a team is in the midst of clear offensive thrust. All these factors go into the referee’s decision of when to indicate with his whistle the conclu-sion of each half.
Substitutions
American Sports: Basketball, football and ice hockey all have unlimited substitutions. The only limitation that baseball has is that once a player is substituted he may not re-enter the game.
Soccer: Each team may make three substitutions during each game, including substitutions made for injured players. Each team has seven players on the bench from which to select for substitutions. Once a player has been substituted he may not re-enter the game.
Cultural Aspects
Player Introductions
American Sports: Players are introduced individually at basketball, football, ice hockey and important baseball games. Individual singers perform the national anthem before the game.
Soccer: Players do not receive individual recognition when starting line-ups are announced. Each team’s eleven starters form a single-file line and march onto the field behind the refer-ees. It is common for the players to march onto the field holding the hand of a child. Some competitions have a specific theme song that plays while the referees and players march. Most of the time they march from the field entrance towards the intersection of the midfield line and the sideline, usually on the side closest to the team benches. The referees stop at that point and face the stands. Each team will stand on either side of the referees, also facing the stands. If a national anthem is part of the protocol, instead of a performer singing, often an instrumental will be played over the public address, and the spectators will sing the lyrics together. Afterwards, one team will go down the line shak-ing hands with the referees and then the opposing players. Then the other team will go down the line shaking hands with the referees. Before taking the field for kickoff, each team’s starting line-up poses for a picture.
Chapter III: The Yanks
Bob Bradley, who was hired after the 2006 World Cup, coaches the U.S. national team. His previous experience includes stints with Chicago, New York and Chivas USA.
Bradley will name a World Cup roster of 23 players. Below are some players who will probably be named to the team. Each player’s club and country they play in appear in parenthesis.
The starting goalkeeper is Tim Howard (Everton, England). He is backed up by Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England).
Chapter IV: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
The World Cup, which is played in four-year cycles, has two major segments: the qualifying round and the final round. The tournament that will take place during June and July of 2010 in South Africa is the final round of the World Cup tournament. Every team besides the host country, which qualifies automatic-ally, enters the World Cup tournament in the qualifying round. By the conclusion of the qualifying round 31 teams earn qualification to the final round for a total field of 32.
Qualifying Round
One reason why the World Cup is considered so prestigious is because of how many countries participate. 204 of FIFA’s 208 member nations entered the 2010 tournament. Over a number of years each country plays a series of games. The results from these games determine which 31 teams qualify for the final round of the World Cup.
The final round of the World Cup garners so much hype and media attention in part because it is practically the only time when national teams from different continents play each other in competitive, non-exhibition matches. The only other time inter-continental matches occur is either during the less prestigious Confederations Cup or in international friendlies. Inter-continental matches are not part of the World Cup qualifying round.
Each national team plays a series of games against opponents from their continental confederation (see page 2) in a fight to earn one of the qualification spots allotted to their confederation.
The 31 qualification spots are not divided among the six confederations equally, not because you get a crooked number when you divide 31 by 6, but because the six confederations are not the same. They vary in number of tournament entrants and historical success. These factors play a major role in how FIFA allots qualification spots to each confederation.
Chapter V: Now What?
So you’ve followed the World Cup for a month. By now you hopefully have a good feel for how the game and tournament work. Wouldn’t it be a shame if you had to re-learn everything you’ve digested four years from now? You’ve undoubtedly spott-ed a few players you would like to watch again before the next World Cup.
Games are played in leagues and competitions around the world on a weekly basis. Many World Cup players can be seen playing for their clubs (and less frequently for their national teams) on U.S. airwaves and internet streams.
As I mentioned in the introduction, it was not until David Beckham signed to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy that I started to really become a soccer fan. While learning about Beck-ham I came to understand that his career in Spain was coming to a very dramatic close. This led me to watch some of his last few games with Real Madrid. While watching those games I noticed a more entertaining tempo and more goals than the World Cup games I was used to. After watching Real Madrid win the Spanish league on the last day of the 2007 season I was hooked. I am probably not the only person who finds the club game more entertaining. There are several reasons for this that could be suggested, but my feeling is that the club game is more entertaining because club players have more chemistry with their teammates due to the fact that they play together the whole year; national teams only play together at the most for weeks at a time.
Appendix I: American English-Soccer Dictionary
Broadcaster = Commentator
Cleats = Boots
Championship/Title = Trophy
Cross-town Rivalry Game = Derby (“DAR-bee”)
Defending Champions = Holders
Ejection = Sending-off
Exhibition = Friendly
Appendix II: Vocabulary terms
Advantage – when a referee recognizes that a foul has been committed but allows play to continue because the victimized team will benefit by having play continue
Away goals rule – if a two-legged playoff ends tied on aggregate, each team’s score is recalculated so that goals scored as the visitor count double (page 11)
Back-pass rule – a goalkeeper may not handle a ball deliberately passed to him from his teammate’s foot or directly from a throw-in; he may handle a pass made with any other part of the body
Cap – when a player makes an appearance on the field for his national team, he is said to have earned a cap, or to have been capped
Introduction
I wrote this handbook to help maximize the World Cup watching experience for the average American sports fan who doesn’t really watch soccer except during the World Cup.
Not long ago I was one of these average American sports fans. After high school I spent a few years abroad. As I was expo-sed to foreigners and foreign culture, I could not help but notice how big a deal soccer was considered. I was aware of the World Cup, like most Americans, but I had not been aware of the form of soccer played on a weekly basis. The first person to really talk to me in depth about this form of the game was a British room-mate. Aside from teaching me a lot about the structure of soccer he also introduced me to a lot of soccer’s personalities.
By January 2007, I had been back in the States for over six months, the 2006 World Cup a distant memory. I was still an average American sports fan, my soccer consumption still limited to just the World Cup. Then, an unbelievable headline ran across the ticker tape: “David Beckham signs to play in USA.”
Now, I, as most sports fans, had heard of David Beckham. I knew he had played on some famous teams but I had no idea what was so special about him. I did comprehend, though, that it was a big deal for a player of his stature to be playing in the United States. I started learning about the fascinating legend of David Beckham and about soccer in the United States. The more I learned, the more questions I had. That is how I morphed from a typical American sports fan into an American soccer fan.
Because I used to not be a soccer fan and a majority of my family and friends are not soccer fans, I have a good perspect-ive of all that is confusing about soccer. If this handbook is used to its full potential, though, you will discover why soccer is called “the beautiful game” and you will seek out opportunities to watch soccer again before the 2014 World Cup.
All World Cup games broadcast on the ESPN family of networks will be called by experienced British broadcasters who will primarily be catering to viewers familiar with the game. This approach is likely a response to the backlash from American soccer fans who were appalled at ESPN’s decision to cater to non-soccer fans in their presentation of the 2006 World Cup by assigning a baseball broadcaster to the most important games. The aforementioned British broadcasters are not going to dumb down the game by explaining how many yellow cards it takes to get a red card and what it all means. Having said that, I am sure you will enjoy the sophistication British broadcasters are known for, a certain quality you will not hear watching any American sport. Reading this handbook in advance of the World Cup and keeping it handy while you watch will help you keep up with the game and the play-by-play. To that end, I recommend, in particul-ar, studying the American English – Soccer dictionary found in Appendix I and the list of vocabulary terms in Appendix II.
Chapter I outlines soccer’s unique organizational struct-ure. When trying to explain why soccer hasn’t gained a foothold in America, people often like to theorize that it is because Ameri-cans don’t understand a certain aspect of soccer that differentia-tes the game from the major American sports. As opposed to a single major aspect, my belief is that soccer has not yet reached mainstream status because of the complete collection of differen-ces between soccer and the major American sports. Chapter II goes through a large amount of these differences in detail. Chapt-er III names some U.S. players you will see in South Africa. Chapter IV will walk you through the maze that is the World Cup and includes space to record predictions. In Chapter V, I provide some advice on how to retain all the knowledge you will gain from this handbook. Finally, do not overlook the appendixes, which include vital resources. Explanations of the italicized words in the text can be found in Appendix II.
Chapter I: The Organizational Structure of Soccer
It is important to understand the difference between nati-onal teams and clubs. National teams represent countries and can only consist of players who are citizens of that country. Clubs play in a particular country’s league but may include players from anywhere in the world. A player may play for his national team even if he plays for a club in another country.
The Federation International de Football Association (FIFA, pronounced “FEE-fah”) operates under the umbrella of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the IOC-recogni-zed international governing body of soccer. The disciplines of beach soccer and futsal (floor soccer) are also governed by FIFA.
As will be explained in Chapter II, FIFA is uniquely involved in both the international game (USA vs. Mexico) and the club game (Manchester United vs. Liverpool). FIFA is also uniq-ue in that it does not by itself control the rules of the sport it governs. The rules of soccer are determined by the International Football Association Board (IFAB). The IFAB consists of four FIFA representatives and one representative from each of the four UK home nations that first standardized international rules back in 1882: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Any rule changes must be approved by six of the board’s eight members.
Chapter II: American Sports vs. Soccer
Below you will find a detailed comparison between speci-fic aspects of soccer and the major American sports of baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey. Understanding the obvious and more subtle differences presented will help develop your soccer palate and enhance your World Cup experience. One by one, I will describe an aspect of American sports and follow it up with an explanation of how that aspect is different in soccer. This chapter is divided into three sections: Organizational Aspects, Rules, and Cultural Aspects.
Organizational Aspects
International Governing Body
American Sports: The international governing bodies of baseball, basketball and ice hockey have no jurisdiction over MLB, the NBA, the NHL, respectively, or their teams. A practical ramification of this is that if, for example, the Japanese national baseball team had wanted Hideki Matsui to play for them at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, there would be no way to force the Yank-ees to allow Matsui to go to Beijing in the middle of the season because the Yankees are not governed by the international federation. The international governing body of football only deals with the amateur game and is not recognized by the IOC.
Soccer: FIFA, the international soccer governing body, has jurisdiction over both international soccer and club soccer. Because of this, FIFA is able to restrict clubs from disallowing their players to play for their national team during the club seas-on. This also means that FIFA is able to organize global compet-itions for both sectors: the Confederations Cup and the World Cup for national teams and the Club World Cup for clubs.
Rules
Clock
American Sports: The clock in basketball, football and hockey runs down. The clock is stopped when there are breaks in the game. Each period ends when the clock reaches zero, so everyone knows exactly when the game will end.
Soccer: The clock counts up and does not stop until the end of the half. The referee calculates the amount of time in each half wasted by interruptions, such as injuries, substitutions, etc. After 45 minutes have passed, he tacks on the calculated stoppage time to account for these interruptions. Naturally, further interru-ptions may occur during stoppage time that the referee may add time for. The referee usually will not end a half while a team is in the midst of clear offensive thrust. All these factors go into the referee’s decision of when to indicate with his whistle the conclu-sion of each half.
Substitutions
American Sports: Basketball, football and ice hockey all have unlimited substitutions. The only limitation that baseball has is that once a player is substituted he may not re-enter the game.
Soccer: Each team may make three substitutions during each game, including substitutions made for injured players. Each team has seven players on the bench from which to select for substitutions. Once a player has been substituted he may not re-enter the game.
Cultural Aspects
Player Introductions
American Sports: Players are introduced individually at basketball, football, ice hockey and important baseball games. Individual singers perform the national anthem before the game.
Soccer: Players do not receive individual recognition when starting line-ups are announced. Each team’s eleven starters form a single-file line and march onto the field behind the refer-ees. It is common for the players to march onto the field holding the hand of a child. Some competitions have a specific theme song that plays while the referees and players march. Most of the time they march from the field entrance towards the intersection of the midfield line and the sideline, usually on the side closest to the team benches. The referees stop at that point and face the stands. Each team will stand on either side of the referees, also facing the stands. If a national anthem is part of the protocol, instead of a performer singing, often an instrumental will be played over the public address, and the spectators will sing the lyrics together. Afterwards, one team will go down the line shak-ing hands with the referees and then the opposing players. Then the other team will go down the line shaking hands with the referees. Before taking the field for kickoff, each team’s starting line-up poses for a picture.
Chapter III: The Yanks
Bob Bradley, who was hired after the 2006 World Cup, coaches the U.S. national team. His previous experience includes stints with Chicago, New York and Chivas USA.
Bradley will name a World Cup roster of 23 players. Below are some players who will probably be named to the team. Each player’s club and country they play in appear in parenthesis.
The starting goalkeeper is Tim Howard (Everton, England). He is backed up by Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England).
Chapter IV: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
The World Cup, which is played in four-year cycles, has two major segments: the qualifying round and the final round. The tournament that will take place during June and July of 2010 in South Africa is the final round of the World Cup tournament. Every team besides the host country, which qualifies automatic-ally, enters the World Cup tournament in the qualifying round. By the conclusion of the qualifying round 31 teams earn qualification to the final round for a total field of 32.
Qualifying Round
One reason why the World Cup is considered so prestigious is because of how many countries participate. 204 of FIFA’s 208 member nations entered the 2010 tournament. Over a number of years each country plays a series of games. The results from these games determine which 31 teams qualify for the final round of the World Cup.
The final round of the World Cup garners so much hype and media attention in part because it is practically the only time when national teams from different continents play each other in competitive, non-exhibition matches. The only other time inter-continental matches occur is either during the less prestigious Confederations Cup or in international friendlies. Inter-continental matches are not part of the World Cup qualifying round.
Each national team plays a series of games against opponents from their continental confederation (see page 2) in a fight to earn one of the qualification spots allotted to their confederation.
The 31 qualification spots are not divided among the six confederations equally, not because you get a crooked number when you divide 31 by 6, but because the six confederations are not the same. They vary in number of tournament entrants and historical success. These factors play a major role in how FIFA allots qualification spots to each confederation.
Chapter V: Now What?
So you’ve followed the World Cup for a month. By now you hopefully have a good feel for how the game and tournament work. Wouldn’t it be a shame if you had to re-learn everything you’ve digested four years from now? You’ve undoubtedly spott-ed a few players you would like to watch again before the next World Cup.
Games are played in leagues and competitions around the world on a weekly basis. Many World Cup players can be seen playing for their clubs (and less frequently for their national teams) on U.S. airwaves and internet streams.
As I mentioned in the introduction, it was not until David Beckham signed to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy that I started to really become a soccer fan. While learning about Beck-ham I came to understand that his career in Spain was coming to a very dramatic close. This led me to watch some of his last few games with Real Madrid. While watching those games I noticed a more entertaining tempo and more goals than the World Cup games I was used to. After watching Real Madrid win the Spanish league on the last day of the 2007 season I was hooked. I am probably not the only person who finds the club game more entertaining. There are several reasons for this that could be suggested, but my feeling is that the club game is more entertaining because club players have more chemistry with their teammates due to the fact that they play together the whole year; national teams only play together at the most for weeks at a time.
Appendix I: American English-Soccer Dictionary
Broadcaster = Commentator
Cleats = Boots
Championship/Title = Trophy
Cross-town Rivalry Game = Derby (“DAR-bee”)
Defending Champions = Holders
Ejection = Sending-off
Exhibition = Friendly
Appendix II: Vocabulary terms
Advantage – when a referee recognizes that a foul has been committed but allows play to continue because the victimized team will benefit by having play continue
Away goals rule – if a two-legged playoff ends tied on aggregate, each team’s score is recalculated so that goals scored as the visitor count double (page 11)
Back-pass rule – a goalkeeper may not handle a ball deliberately passed to him from his teammate’s foot or directly from a throw-in; he may handle a pass made with any other part of the body
Cap – when a player makes an appearance on the field for his national team, he is said to have earned a cap, or to have been capped
