World Cup Fever Hits the U.S.

Clint+Dempsey+of+the+U.S.+shoots+the+ball+against+Portugal+during+the+FIFA+World+Cup+at+the+Arena+Amazonia+Stadium+in+Manaus%2C+Brazil%2C+on+June+22%2C+2014.+%28Liu+Dawei%2FXinhua%2FZuma+Press%2FMCT%29

Liu Dawei/Xinhua/Zuma Press/MCT

Clint Dempsey of the U.S. shoots the ball against Portugal during the FIFA World Cup at the Arena Amazonia Stadium in Manaus, Brazil, on June 22, 2014. (Liu Dawei/Xinhua/Zuma Press/MCT)

Ana Lara-Cruz, Staff Writer

The Super Bowl, The World Series, and the Olympics are athletic events that excite the United States and the entire world. But there’s one event that every four years has the power to unite all nations together as one for one whole month, and that is the World Cup. Since 1930, this worldwide event has managed to captivate soccer fans all over the world and unite them in one given country.

This year, the country that had been chosen is Brazil. This is the second time Brazil has been chosen to host this prestigious event. So far, Spain, the country that won the last World Cup has been eliminated, which is big shocker to the world. Honduras, the small central American country, is also on verge of being eliminated from the second phase due to their loss against France and Ecuador, very disappointing news for the many Hondurans who were proud of the team for getting to participate for a third time in the World Cup, but the elimination was very much expected due to the fact that Honduras does not have a strong defense and has a lack of ball control.

The United States on the other hand, has been fighting hard to get their spot in the second phase of the games. So far the U.S. has defeated Ghana two to one and also, had a surprising and unexpected tie with Portugal. The U.S. has one more game and it will be a challenge considering their next opponent is Germany, which has great players such as Thomas Mueller and Mesut Ozil. Although, U.S. has some fantastic players such as Clint Dempsey, Jermaine Jones and Fabian Johnson who will pull the team through and qualify the team for the second phase.

Since the World Cup began, there has been an increase in violence and political riots throughout the country, mainly in the city of Sao Paulo. On the day of the inaugural game, about 5,000 took the streets protesting about higher wages, later in the evening, anti-World Cup protestors took to different cities in Brazil, proclaiming that the World Cup has done nothing to help them and that they will continue protest until the event is over on July 13th, 2014.

Even with the violence, The World Cup is one of the most fascinating and Adrenaline pumping Sporting events to ever take place and it’s very interesting to see which of the 32 teams competing will qualify and the outcomes can be surprising. Of the many years the world cup has been around, the outcomes have always been somewhat predictable and everyone can get an idea as to who was going to win right off the bat. But this year it’s completely different because every team has potential and any team could take the cup this year. Who knows, maybe the cup will stay in America this year, but that’s what makes the sport so beautiful and worth watching: it’s unexpected and never has a dull moment.