This summer the world will be a different place. Every four years, the people of the world are forever changed by the events of the single biggest sporting event in the world. No, its not the Indy 500 or even the Daytona 500. It is not the Super Bowl or the World Series. It is the 2006 FIFA World Cup. This year the Finals of the tournament which takes a little over two years to complete will be held in Germany.
For the lucky people attending the Finals in Germany, they will experience every emotion possible related to sport being played at its highest level. They will certainly catch World Cup fever! Those of us not so lucky to make the journey across the pond can catch World Cup fever through television. The fever will last from June 9 to July 9 and every game be shown on ESPN and ABC. For 16 million youth soccer players that call the United States home and all Americans from the Sandhills of North Carolina to the Redlands of California, the red, white and blue will be playing in their fifth straight World Cup. In the preliminary group stage, the USA will play on June 12 versus Czech Republic at 11:55 a.m., on June 17 against world power Italy at 2:30 p.m., and on June 22d versus Ghana at 9:55 a.m.
At this time, the USA is ranked 4th in the world by FIFA and has assembled its strongest team ever. This years team is made up of 11 players from Major League Soccer and 12 players from pro teams from across Europe, mainly England and Germany. Even though the USA has been drawn into a very difficult group for the first stage of the finals of the World Cup, the team is by far the most athletic and technical team ever put together by the United States Soccer Federation and has a very good chance of advancing deep into the tournament.
As you watch our team play in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, you will begin to catch the fever, the passion and the desire that the rest of the world has already caught onto, and it will pulse through your veins. I myself will be glued to the closest TV, and my heart will be beating at an abnormally fast rate as the USA gets ready to kickoff on June 12 Of course, on June 12th, I will be surrounded by over 100 little screaming soccer players at the Methodist College Soccer Camp, which will only add to my excitement for this great sport.
There are many millions of families in the USA that play soccer in backyards and on the fields of America, and they, too, will be watching with racing hearts. There will be millions of youth soccer players in the USA watching and dreaming of one day being Landon Donovan, Demarcus Beasely, Kasey Keller, or Eddie Pope (from my state of North Carolina). These wonderful young role models for American soccer were all born and bred right here on American soil, and they now represent us all on the worlds biggest stage. Those young men are living the dream of wearing the red, white and blue jersey and representing their country while playing the game they love to play, this game they learned to play right here in the United States this game we call soccer, but the world calls football.
Clear your schedule so you can watch all 64 games of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but be prepared to become attached to something you will never forget. You will see hopes and dreams crushed in one fell second and pure elation the next second. Those emotions will be attached to much more than a city or a regional fan base. Those hopes and dreams, tears and joy will be attached to countries where millions upon millions of people will celebrate for days, if not weeks, if they are so lucky as to place their hands on the 16-pound solid-gold trophy called the FIFA World Cup. Soccer will now take its rightful place on top of the world as it does every four years. Enjoy!
Justin Terranova is the Head Coach, Methodist College Mens Soccer, and Director of Coaching, Fayetteville Soccer Club, in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
