In the past few decades, the phenomenon of globalization has swept through the world. The world is more open and interconnected than any other time throughout history. Proponents of globalization argue that its effects have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, from places as diverse as China to India to South America. Opponents argue that globalization and free trade have led to rising inequality, damage to the environment, and jobs lost for millions of American workers.
Whatever the truth, globalization appears unstoppable. The greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression has barely dented the network; only another world war could truly undo its effects.
The World Cup offers a good illustration of globalization. The history of modern soccer contains a rich tradition in the veins of globalization. For decades, Third World countries have sent their best footballers to play in the First World, especially the great leagues of Europe: Italy's Serie A, La Liga of Spain, and - above all - England's Premier League. In World Cups, these players return to represent their home countries and win the World Cup championship.
With Spain's 1-0 victory over the Netherlands, the World Cup has come to a close. A spectacle watched by millions - perhaps billions - around the world, the four-year tournament constitutes the world's most popular sporting event.
In the United States, long a hold-out against football-mania, interest in the World Cup has been steadily rising. While still below Latin-American or European levels of enthusiasm, the number of people watching games has reached new degrees. In my hometown, for instance, a number of my peers expressed surprising amounts of enthusiasm about the latest soccer news. Even individuals one wouldn't expect - 10-year-old kids, young teenage girls - displayed passion throughout the event.
My hometown is also fairly liberal place. Indeed, one could get away with describing it as one of the most liberal suburbs in America. Coincidence?
Algeria's World Cup soccer team is a strange thing. Most of the players weren't actually born in Algeria, and many of them don't speak Arabic. In fact, an astonishing 17 of the 23 players on the Algerian squad were born in France - children of Algerian immigrants, who chose to play for the country of their parents instead of the country of their birth.
France's national team could use some help. Their team, which in 2006 advanced to the World Cup finals, imploded this summer in a spectacular manner. France failed to advance past the first round and did not win a single game; in total, France's prestigious squad scored one goal. Without the leadership of Zinedine Zidane, another son of Algerian immigrants, French soccer has struggled.
France has also struggled, like many continental European countries, to integrate its large population of non-white and often Muslim immigrants.
You will be sorely missed, although as as European I only have to wait two years instead of four to see my national team, Engalnd, once again spectacularly fail to deliver. Congratulations Spain, and moreover, congratulations to the many immigrants who put in jaw-dropping performances for their adopted countries, despite - in many instances - anti-immigrant rhetoric stirring political waters back home.
So the United States lost to Brazil in the final of the FIFA Confederations cup, in that thrilling but painful tale of two halves, with the U.S. up 2-0 only to see Brazil roar back (or rather dance and prance and glide with balletic ferocity) and win 3-2. All I can say is, thank god.
For the past sixty years, the powerhouses of international soccer (a.k.a. football) either have been empires past their prime and on the decline or countries that dream fruitlessly of empire - England, France, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, and Spain. To bestride the world as a soccer power is to not bestride it as an economic or military power. In its period of global hegemony, the United States was manifestly not a global powerhouse in soccer. It was mighty in everything but the sport that is played by more people in every corner of the world than any other. And so if the United States had magically defied the odds and the gods and beaten Brazil, it would have been the final sign that American is indeed in decline.
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