The US won! Fútbol or Soccer?
June 24th, 2010data-via=”" >
Irish culture is very rich in their sporting activities, as are many cultures. But when it comes to addressing these sporting events, the difference can be a bit confusing. In the US we have football, or as the rest of the world would address it, American football. Then we have soccer or what the rest of the world calls fútbol. But in Ireland, they have Gaelic football, so they call ‘fútbol’ soccer, like we do in the states.
When arriving here we were a bit naïve in assuming that everyone in Europe called soccer, fútbol. In the almost two weeks we have been here in Ireland we have noticed that fútbol is not the term for soccer in Ireland, it is soccer. We were going around the city saying ‘We can’t wait for the fútbol match today!’ The Irish people just smile and nod. It wasn’t until recently we figured out it was actually called soccer by the Irish. And all this time we were trying to not look like the ignorant Americans and it back fired.
Americans are known for having a distance from the largest sporting event in the world, but we the interns do not know what that is like. We are avid soccer fans, so we decided to ask Conor if we could leave early from work to go enjoy the game at a local pub in Temple Bar. He was excited to see that we enjoyed soccer (as if he couldn’t tell from the USA jersey Andy was wearing) and let us excuse ourselves. We wandered down to the Hard Rock Café where we met some of Andy’s friends, grabbed a few Guinness’ and attempted to find seats.
Since Shelsea is not as avid of a US fan as Andy, she gave up looking for seats and decided to go home. Andy, like a true fan, stood around for all ninety plus minutes hanging on every moment (and watching another disallowed goal that was perfectly legit). Finally when almost all hope was lost, Landon Donovan scored in the 91+ minute. It was a special moment of pure joy watching the US win the game and their group in the World Cup in a foreign country.
We have heard news from back in the United States and it sounds like soccer is gaining a good foothold with all the great news of the US doing well in South Africa. We can only hope that eventually people in the United States will become as passionate about soccer as we do. But for now, we will settle with living in a country that loves the beautiful game like we do.