For those of you in the US, the news of football might not have gone much further than previews of NFL training camps. Here in Kenya, there’s all kinds of hype with the beginning of the World Cup, and its one fever that has no remedy.
Men are going out to buy TVs they can ill-afford. Women are seeking counseling for spousal neglect. Students argue who is the best team (England or Brazil) and player (Rooney or Ronaldhino). While other nations are talked about, England, Brazil and perhaps the host country Germany are the only ones in contention for the title in Kenyan’s minds.
They will, of course, be rooting for one of the five African teams to qualify: Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Tunisia, Togo and Ghana. None of the traditional African powerhouses made it this year (Senegal, Nigeria or Cameroon), so I’m interested to see if this is a changing of the guard.
My prediction: not a single win by an African team. And still I’ll be rooting for them. [Later turns out I'm wrong: Ghana stunned Czech. Rep. 2-0 June 17th.]
The team to watch: Ecuador. That’s right, folks, you heard it here. While I have some partiality to this small South American country, having lived/studied there for 4 months, they deserve to be rooted for. They’re the only team to have beaten both Brazil (1-0) and Argentina (2-0) during qualifying matches. People say they can only play in their 9,000-ft high city, Quito, but I think they have a shot of causing some chaos in their second World Cup Finals.
With 3 games daily, beginning at 4 PM and lasting until midnight, I won’t be surprised if Kenya’s overall GDP decreases during this period. I know my productive output will…
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