Italy, the reigning world champion by dint of its victory in the 2006 World Cup, takes soccer deadly seriously. The nation abounds with legendary clubs owned by extravagantly rich magnates who have spent the last 50 years luring the world’s finest players with offers they cannot refuse. So where is today’s highest-paid player in Italy from? Not from Brazil or Argentina, the planet’s most prolific footballing factories; nor from France, Germany or Spain. Neither, for that matter, is he Italian. The player with the highest salary in Italy is a Cameroonian called Samuel Eto’o, the spearhead of an African contingent that has taken Europe’s soccer citadel by storm.
Unlike many in the money-mad soccer world, or in banking, Eto’o has earned every penny. Three times African player of the year, Eto’o goes into the first World Cup on African soil as captain, and uncrowned king, of Cameroon, armed with a statistic that he alone owns: Eto’o is the first player ever to have won the treble of National League, National Cup and European Champions League ”” soccer’s royal flush ”” with two different teams. And he has done it (the odds have to be mightily long on this happening again anytime soon) in successive seasons, the first with Barcelona and the second, in May, with Inter Milan.
Now Eto’o will get a chance to perform on the biggest stage the world has ever seen. Soccer is the great secular religion. Some 30% of the world’s people declare themselves Christian; 20%, Muslim. But people’s devotion to soccer transcends all creeds, races, tongues. The World Cup in South Africa will generate more intense planetary babble ”” will be dissected, tweeted, Facebooked, Googled, SMSed and scrutinized by billions on 400 TV channels in 208 countries ”” than any other event in human history. The 2006 World Cup in Germany had a total cumulative TV audience of more than 26 billion, according to official FIFA figures. The big-smiling, boyish Eto’o, whose country brought African soccer to the world’s attention when it reached the quarterfinals of the 1990 Cup, will loom large in the conversation. How he got there ”” how he managed his ascent to the pantheon of humanity’s most popular divinities alongside other African players such as Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast and Michael Essien of Ghana ”” is an unbeatable tale of rags to riches. It’s little wonder that during the hour we spoke recently, Eto’o used the word dream 14 times. As in, “My whole life is a dream, a dream come true, a dream I’ll only wake up from the day I stop playing football.”
I would be excited if soccer were not so dull dull dull. Larry
Ditto. Rugby might be worth watching, but just plain soccer isn’t for me. I would rather spend the time playing Fußball.
I’m excited about it, too, but I root for England. Having been in England during the World Cup in previous years, I caught football fever. It was great fun to watch matches in the pubs (even if service was haphazard!) and then join in the on-street festivities when England won. This is a big deal in England, most Americans don’t really care about it, so I root for England. (And Arsenal in the premier league.)
Oooops, forgot to add that it’s quite easy to sing along with English football songs if you’re Anglican. The tune used for a lot of them is “Bread of Heaven.” I’m sure that doesn’t please the C of E overmuch, but there it is.
[Edited by Elf]