2006 World Cup Kicks Off in Germany

RAY SUAREZ: Every four years, the world comes together around the little black-and-white ball, a carnival scene mixing sport and revelry with a not-so-subtle undertone of nationalism.

The World Cup 2006 edition began today across Germany. Thirty-two teams from all around the world, Mexico, Brazil, the U.S., are all here. Even the team from Togo in West Africa qualified this time; they brought along a voodoo priest to help.

And the host country has worked hard to accommodate the peculiarities of soccer fans in celebration. Security at games and events is tight, as Germany expects some 40,000 English fans to descend on Frankfurt on Saturday. So far, there have been no major problems.

SOCCER FAN: Good humor, good fun, and just enjoy the football.

RAY SUAREZ: But Germany has called these games "A Time to make Friends," a welcoming motto meant to ease any tensions before exuberance gets out of hand. For fans and organizers alike, there's a lot at stake.

COSTA RICAN SOCCER FAN: The biggest upset of the World Cup this year: Costa Rica, 1...

COSTA RICAN SOCCER FAN: And it's happening Friday, tonight.

COSTA RICAN SOCCER FAN: ... Costa Rica 1, Germany 0.

RAY SUAREZ: Alas, that fan's hopes were dashed. In the first game of the cup, Costa Rica lost to home field Germany 4-2.

RAY SUAREZ: For more on the history and culture of the tournament, we turn to Franklin Foer, editor of The New Republic magazine and author of the book, "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization."

And Sean Wilsey, editor-at-large of the literary journal McSweeney's Quarterly, and co-editor of the book, "The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup."

And, Franklin Foer, are Americans immune to World Cup fever?

FRANKLIN FOER, Author, "How Soccer Explains the World": Well, there's certainly a subculture of us who are paying attention to what's going on in Germany now, and I think we are a growing subculture. I mean, alas, we are not swept up in World Cup fever the same way the rest of the world is.

And American soccer fans tend to be somewhat booster-ish in describing the future of the game. We sound like kind of one of those crazy radicals on a street corner in Berkeley predicting that the revolution is always about to happen, and it never seems to happen right away.

But the game is growing very slowly, very steadily. Demographics are on its side, thanks to immigration. And a lot of the kids who grew up playing the game may not follow it passionately between World Cups, but when World Cups come around they pay attention.

RAY SUAREZ: Sean Wilsey, in a world that does pay very close attention to soccer, there are national league tournaments, there are continent-wide tournaments, there are various levels of cups and international competition. What makes the World Cup so different?

SEAN WILSEY, Co-Editor, "The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup": The World Cup is different because every continent is involved; every country is involved.

Players who play for league teams may not be from the country that that league team represents, so you've got players who are playing for money in these league games -- and they play well, and they care about their teams, but it's for the paycheck -- whereas the World Cup, it's for your country. And so it's deeply symbolic and meaningful, and it can really unite nations.

I think Ivory Coast is a great example of a country that's been in a civil war for a number of years now. And when the team qualified for the World Cup, President Laurent Gbagbo, who has been persecuting the North, very anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim, embraced the whole team, gave them all villas and commendations, a very mixed Muslim team.

And the two sides in the civil war said that this could be an opportunity to actually put it behind them, so it's deeply significant, not only sporting-wise, but politically, as well.

RAY SUAREZ: So that national idea, as opposed to a club idea of Valencia or Manchester United, is what transcends the already great enthusiasm for the sport?

FRANKLIN FOER: Exactly. I think that there aren't so many -- and especially in Europe, there aren't so many outlets for nationalism, where people can feel good about feeling patriotic about their country. And the World Cup is one of the rare occasions that people feel that way.

I think one of the fascinating things about the World Cup is that it is, in a lot of ways, the ultimate expression of globalization: The entire world is united, speaking this common vernacular of soccer; the event is tied together by multinational corporations.

And yet, despite all this globalization, it is still this incredible festival of nationalism. And a lot of people thought that globalization would smoosh nationalism, but the World Cup, in a weird way, shows that the two can coexist.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, that's kind of the paradox though. I mean, we were told for a long time by big thinkers that countries would matter less in the 21st century, as currencies became common, as borders were being erased. You've got the rising E.U., and here countries matter a great deal.

FRANKLIN FOER: Yes, try telling that to England fans who are living and dying for what happens in this tournament and are walking around with their country's standard.

RAY SUAREZ: Sean Wilsey, when you look at the club sides, the players come from all over. I mean, the players for a famous side in France or Italy might not have very many Frenchmen or Italians on it. Is that part of the attraction, to have a unified national side?

SEAN WILSEY: It very much is. One of the funniest pieces in "The Thinking Fans Guide" is by Nick Hornby. And Nick writes about how, when he was young, his idea of a fantasy team would have been the national team, because that's when all the English players who played for all the different league teams would come together and all the best ones would be on the national team, whereas now it's almost a nostalgic and different kind of experience.

While the most star-filled team in England is a club team, it's all foreigners -- not all, but largely foreigners. It's called Chelsea. And it's owned by a Russian, and it is dominant. It just won the English League.

So now you only really do see English players playing together, and they're not always the best players in the English leagues, because a lot of them are foreign, but you do get to see an all-English team on the national team. So those two things have switched, you know, in the last 10 years.

RAY SUAREZ: Is there an ugly side or a darker side to that nationalism and what it brings out during an event like the World Cup?

FRANKLIN FOER: Yes, sure. I mean, over the course of the next month, I guarantee you we'll see fans from losing teams go on rampages across their country. They may even beat up some immigrants who are living within their midst, and this happens in every tournament. And I'm sure in some of the stadiums we may see some traces of racism.

But on the other hand, I think that what the World Cup shows is that nationalism is not a pure evil, that it can also be a wonderful, beautiful sort of thing, and not at all harmful.

RAY SUAREZ: Sean, what about on the field of play itself, rather than in the stands, when former imperial powers play one of their colonies, or a former invader plays a former occupied country?

SEAN WILSEY: Well, there's a potential for a lot of games that fit that description. Trinidad and Tobago are going to be playing England, and so that's colony versus colonizer.

And, as Frank actually pointed out in a piece he wrote for the book, surprisingly enough, you would think that the colony would actually tend to be more inspired to actually best their former colonizer. But the way it often works out historically is that the former colonizer really has a lot to prove.

And, throughout past World Cups, colonizers have usually actually defeated their former colonies. Trinidad and Tobago does not have a very good chance. They are the longest odds in the entire tournament at 1,000 to 1. So England thinks they're going to win that one.

But you never know: Underdogs do triumph in the World Cup, and Trinidad and Tobago could be surprising this year. I hope they are.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, long odds, but also the smallest country in the tournament at the same time.

SEAN WILSEY: Exactly.

RAY SUAREZ: It's a tiny place.

RAY SUAREZ: Franklin, the cup being played for the first time in a unified Germany.

FRANKLIN FOER: That's right.

RAY SUAREZ: How is that important?

FRANKLIN FOER: Well, Germany has actually used soccer as a way of reintegrating themselves into the community of nations. After the war, they won the 1954 World Cup, surprisingly, and this was a great psychological boost to the country, in which they felt like they were able to feel good about Germany in a publicly, internationally acceptable sort of way.

Then, in 1990, they won the World Cup again, which was a triumph that occurred just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and there was a certain sense of national euphoria that came with this.

And this World Cup is, I think, an example of a very mature Germany that really doesn't have a lot of angst about the past, showing itself off in a very modern, proud way.

RAY SUAREZ: And quickly, a pick, do you have one?

FRANKLIN FOER: Listen, I hate going with the over-dog all the time, but I've got to say Brazil.

RAY SUAREZ: And Sean?

SEAN WILSEY: You know, this is a totally imbecilic pick, but I actually think the U.S. has a real chance of going all the way. And it would be shocking, but it could happen.

RAY SUAREZ: Sean Wilsey, Franklin Foer, thank you, both.