{"id":221,"date":"2014-06-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yule-tide.generalsemiotics.net\/index.php\/2014\/06\/25\/post-214-world-cup-2014-and-southern-european-political-pessimism\/"},"modified":"2014-06-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-25T00:00:00","slug":"post-214-world-cup-2014-and-southern-european-political-pessimism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/2014\/06\/25\/post-214-world-cup-2014-and-southern-european-political-pessimism\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-214: World Cup 2014 and Southern European Political Pessimism"},"content":{"rendered":"
I wrote the following to my (one and only) Singaporean friend, A.L., yesterday: <\/div>\n

“The World Cup is seriously negatively affecting my life!”<\/span><\/font><\/strong> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How might I describe my mornings these past two weeks? A drowsy haze of soccer punctuated by frustrated sleep and confusion. You see, the games are shown from 1 AM to 8 AM. “Life is too short to sleep through the World Cup”, is my feeling. I don’t follow soccer whatsoever otherwise, so this may not be my most rational decision.\n<\/div>\n
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\"Picture\"<\/a> <\/p>\n
Dutch player Robben, who resembles Captain Picard, shoots past a Spain player. (Netherlands won 5-1). <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
This Sunday\/Monday, I got to sleep at 12:30 AM and woke up at 3:00 AM, shaved\/showered, packed up my things, and walked over to my friend J.H.’s home to watch the Korea game and then the USA vs. Portgual game. Korea had a terrible first half in which they conceded four goals and lost. They are probably out. As for the USA game, I had to leave before the second half began to go to our class’ last day. The USA and Portugal tied due to a last-second Portugal goal, which I thus missed.

Political Influences on World Cup Results<\/strong>;<\/font><\/span><\/span> Speculative<\/strong><\/font>
<\/span>The appeal of the World Cup is definitely “political'”<\/em> in the sense of it being all about national pride. Within Europe, I cannot help but think of the political situation since the 2008 Economic Crisis. <\/div>\n

<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a>FIFA Ranking Table<\/a>, June 5th 2014<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

Southern Europeans<\/strong><\/font>
The European “PIIGS”, who fast approach a decade of unending economic unpleasantness and pessimism, did remarkably poorly in the Group Stage:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spain:<\/strong> Out.<\/em> Two losses.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> Italy:<\/strong> Out.<\/em> Two losses.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> Greece:<\/strong> Out.<\/em> Two losses.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> Porutgal:<\/strong> Probably Out.<\/em> N<\/span>early two losses (tied USA at last second).

<\/span><\/span>Now, consider that Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece respectively rank #1, #4, #9, #12 in the world!

<\/span><\/span>“On paper”, as they say, each of these teams should be in the final 16, i.e., the second round in the World Cup. Three are out for sure and one teeters on the brink. What, then, is the statistical chance, in a 32-team tournament, that the #1, #4, #9, and #12 ranked teams are all eliminated before going onto the second round of 16 teams? The odds have to be very low, in which case we can speculate about a general explanation. Here is mine: As the contest is heavily influenced by national pride, teams from politically-pessimistic societies<\/strong> do more poorly than they should.

Vis-a-vis the “PIIGS”, who are more politically optimistic?
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Read More<\/font><\/strong><\/font><\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a>Netherlands’ Robin Van Persie scores a “header” goal<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

Northern Europeans<\/strong><\/font>
With one glaring exception, Northwestern Europe has done\u00a0 very. Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and England<\/strong> are all there. England was knocked out (and somewhere a dog was biting a man; England usually does poorly at the World Cup; England couldn’t even beat Costa Rica this time).

Germany:<\/strong> Probably advancing
Netherlands:<\/strong> Definitely advancing<\/span><\/span><\/span>
Belgium:<\/strong> Definitely advancing<\/span>
<\/span>Switzerland:<\/strong> May advance with a final win
England:<\/strong> Out<\/em>; scored only two goals in three games.<\/span>

There is talk that certain of England’s potential players refused to<\/span><\/span> play for the national team as they’d prefer a vacation, which points to a kind of cynical political pessimism and anti-patriotism, too.<\/p>\n

I saw a surreal vieo-game-esque goal by Dutch star Van Persie, in Netherlands’ 5-1 win over Spain.\n<\/div>\n

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