Word: worldly
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...There are many terrific teams and no clear favorite South Africa 2010 is already shaping up to be one of the more unpredictable World Cups in recent memory. As many as 10 of the 32 teams arguably have the talent and experience to win the tournament, and a host of others have the ability to cause upsets. There are no runaway favorites for the trophy, either. Few would pick the defending champion, Italy, to repeat next year, and neither Brazil nor Argentina are anywhere near their scintillating best. All of Europe's leading football nations - France, England, Germany, the Netherlands...
...good teams have good stories Take New Zealand, probably the worst team heading to the World Cup. While the country has excelled at cricket and rugby - its "All Blacks" team is a perennial powerhouse in the latter - it has had far less success in soccer. The New Zealand team traveling to South Africa may feel uncomfortable not just because they're known as the "All Whites." In a tournament filled with millionaire, jet-setting athletes, the bulk of the Kiwi squad is made up of journeymen who toil in obscurity in lower-tier leagues in Europe and others who until...
...More intriguing is the presence of North Korea, a team that, despite the odiousness of the regime in Pyongyang, carries more than a little World Cup goodwill. The country's last appearance in the tournament was in 1966 in England where, as complete outsiders with 1000-1 odds to win the trophy, its team shocked the world by reaching the quarterfinals, beating Italy along the way and capturing the hearts of the English public. The current North Korean team lacks flair, but has shown a dogged resilience in qualification matches. A latter-stage match-up against South Korea, though unlikely...
...host is unpredictable South Africa Following the sleek, well-organized World Cups hosted by Germany in 2006 and co-hosted by Japan and South Korea in 2002, South Africa has been beset by difficulties from the beginning, including construction delays, labor strikes and questions over adequate transportation links and security for hundreds of thousands of fans. But the tournament's organizers are confident these problems will be resolved in time. Since the end of apartheid, the country has hosted successful cricket and rugby World Cups, and the country hopes the soccer tournament will mark a new moment of unity...
...Nothing matters more Quite simply, no other sporting event in the world comes close to matching the spirit of the World Cup. The Olympics may garner the attention of more global leaders and media outlets, but its myriad competitions and choreographed pageantry can never generate the unifying, almost cosmic passion that envelops the World Cup. As David Goldblatt asks in his definitive history of soccer, The Ball Is Round, "Is there any cultural practice more global than football?" It has more followers than any one religion and is more universal than any one language. Even Americans - some of whom still...