Sports Betting Articles
Soccer A Passion
By Alejandro Guevara Onofre
“Soccer a Passion” speaks about football around the world.From my point of view, I think that “passion” is the perfect word to describe soccer…the FIFA World Cup originated in 1930 as an international tournament in Montevideo, Uruguay…Personally, I think that the sport in the Third World has been dominated by soccer…From Equatorial Guinea or Myanmar (formerly Burma) to Kyrgyztan and the United Arab Emirates.
PASSION AROUND THE WORLD I studied drawing at school for many years, but I did not like it very much. My favourite subject at school were the olympic sports. I remember when I was a child and I played soccer with my friends. My best memory was when El Salvador,a small Central American country, qualified at the World Cup in 1982.I did not think “ES” defeat Mexico, sixth place in the FIFA World Championship in 1970.
Between 1978 and 1989, El Salvador had one of the worst civil war in the modern history of Latin America.Unfortunately, more than 70,000 people were killed by anti-communist dictatorships and marxist rebels.
Certainly, I was a big fan of Salvadoran soccer. I once said: “ES ganarà el Mundial ( El Salvador will be win the FIFA Soccer World 1982..!).However, the only thing that I clearly remember is that Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in the World Cup in Spain…Good Bye ES…!
Like many people, I think that soccer is “passion” in the world since 1910. When Cameroon, ex French colony in Africa, won its first gold medal at the XXVII Summer Olympics Games in Australia (2000)…Yaoundè, the capital city of Cameroon, was carnival for days.Cameroon was the second African country to win the gold olympic…
Unfortunately, Liberia was the nightmare of the Third World…From 1980 to 2005, more than 180,000 people were killed by dictatorships and AIDS…Currently, the poverty is a plague…Its percapita income of $ 80 a year is one of the worst in the World History. Hundreds of thousands of Liberian people fled the country. Like neighboring Sierra Leone, the African country has one of the highest number of orphans in the Africa in relation to its population.
Fortunately, Liberia is home to George Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah, one of the World`s most famous and charismatic players. In 1995 the FIFA selected George Weah as the best footballer of the Year.Certainly, he became a “World Star” in the 1990s.Like Iman (former super-model from Somalia) and Dikembe Mutombo (basketball player from the Democratic Republic of Congo), George Weah is an icon in the African continent. Since then, he made a great contribution to Liberian human development. Currently, George Weah is UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He was national team captain for many years, but his country did not qualifity for the FIFA Football World. Ironically, Liberia was not one of the best teams of Africa in the 20th Century.
In 1994 Bolivia`s qualification for the finals was one of the surprises in the Third World sport. Under the leadership of Marco Etcheverry, Bolivia beat Brazil 2-0 in the Pre-World Cup in La Paz, Bolivia`s capital. I remember that Etcheverry, best known for his nickname “El Diablo”, was the idol of millions of Bolivians.It was one of the greatest sporting moments in Bolivian history since 1978. At that time, Bolivia, under the leaderships of Guadalupe Yañez, qualified for the FIBA Women`s World Championship in Seoul, South Korea´s capital.
In my opinion, the FIFA World Championship is a world without frontiers. Ferenc Puskas, was born on April, 1926, in Budapest, Hungary, made his debut in the friendly against Austria at the age of only fifteen…In the past Century, Puskas represented both Hungary, a former communist State, and Spain.At the time, Santamaria played for Uruguay and Spain. Traditionally American players have Latin American and African roots: Hugo Perez (El Salvador), Tab Ramos (Uruguay), Claudio Reyna (Argentina), Josmer Altidore (Haiti) and Freddy Addu (Ghana). Today Gerald Asamoah, was born in Accra (Ghana), is one of the best footballers in Germany at the moment. While Alex (Alessandro) Santos, was born in Brazil, is a Japanese player.Santos played many times for Japan, including appearances at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Personally, I think that this Century will be an era of “Sports Miracles” in the Third World. Cote D`Ivoire, best known as Ivory Coast, qualified for the FIFA Soccer World 2006…Angola made its debut in Germany…Trinidad-Tobago made its debut in the World Cup…Paraguay won the silver medal in football in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.
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