More World Cup Babble

I would just like to quickly quote something that I saw in an article in our local newspaper today in regards to the spirit of the World Cup in Canada. I found that this quote speaks not only for me as a soccer fan, but for the rest of my fellow Canadians without a home team to support.

"...This Beautiful Game is able to dissolve, or should I say absorb, all our complexities and contradictions...Because I don't have a team to speak of that makes it to the World Cup, I live and die with an oddball mix of loyalties and affiliations that are curious and make sense only to me. It's part of the magic."

This is a beautiful quote because it describes how the lack of a home team can unite us all, not through the bond of shared nationality as in the case of Brazil or Korea, for example, but the sheer love of the sport and the exhileration we feel through seeing the world join hands over something so simple as a game.

The author then goes on to describe his experience with a Portuguese man he met on the streets of Toronto...

"The Portuguese man and I talked football. He asked me which team I supported. I began to explain but then stopped. It would take too long. I said I hadn't yet settled on a team. That's when he lowered his voice in a hushed conspiratorial tone, looking this way and that. 'To tell you the truth, I don't really care who wins, not even Portugal - just so long as it's not Italy' he said, a huge smile breaking out across his face. A Toronto moment, I thought to myself. There was something sweet about it. I don't know why. I just felt happy and giddy and told myself it was going to be a good World Cup - once again."

'A Toronto moment.' I just love that. I know exactly how the author feels. We, as Canadians, pride ourselves on the multiculturalism of our nation, and the spirit of the World Cup is the epitome of this pride. Though I will undoubtably be excited once Canada's team gets into the World Cup (we are getting a massive stadium apparently!), there will be a certain something missing when the sea of different coloured flags on people's cars and windows will be washed out by a wave of Canadian nationalism. After all, is it really right to cheer for another team when yours is in the ranking? In short, I feel that it's good to be Canadian, but it's also good to experience nationalism as it is experienced by the rest of the world.