World Cup More than a Game — Cultural Identity in Age of Diversity at Stake

by Andres T. Tapia –It used to be fútbol gospel that the national German soccer team was good at winning but did so in a soulless style reflecting archetypical German stripped down efficiency and speed. Fútbol fans, particularly we Latin Americans, would groan at the double whammy of having our teams scored against by the German goal machine in such an unfeeling, unadorned way. Long passes down the field to super speedy, long-legged Germans who centered the ball toward the penalty box to tall forwards who would head it in. Time after time after time. Una maquina! A machine.

By contrast there was the South American style, epitomized by the Brazilian joie de cintura, game of the waist, full of flourishes, feints, dips, sashays, and, yes, goals too. A soccer detente emerged between the German Luftwaffe and the Brazilian samba. Both approaches yielded winning results, with the Brazilian and German teams equally strong, tied for the top 2 places in the history of World Cup final standings with 9 each. But when it came to superb entertainment and art, the German style was the loser in the eyes of many fútbol aficionados.

Then after Germany’s last title in 1990, the one-dimensional German style stopped working for them. The internationalization of soccer exploded, and Latin teams got stronger as they began taking some elements from the German playbook. The great stars from developing nations joined a Diaspora of professional soccer players who cut their teeth in the European EUFA. As more money went into the development of national teams, the Latin dependency on spontaneous improvisation or relying on art at the expense of conditioning began to change. Due to their cross-soccer European experiences, South Americans began to match the Germans on speed, endurance, and long passes — without losing the chispa, spark. After a 36-year-long period with 7 first, second, or third place finishes, the Germans went on a 16-year World Cup drought of not placing at all in any of the top three places.

And here’s where diversity began to save German soccer–not only in terms of winning, but in terms of soul. The team began to reflect the increased ethnic diversity in German demographics. By December 2004, 19% of the total number of residents in Germany had foreign or partially foreign descent. The largest group was from Turkey (2.3 million) while the rest were from Serbia, Greece, Italy, Poland and Croatia, making Germany the country with the third-highest number of immigrants worldwide. And so the team Germany fielded for the 2006 tournament they happened to host now featured players with Asamoah, Nowotny, and Odonkor stitched on the back of their jerseys.

German Diversity, German Loosening Up

Something important happened not only to German soccer, but also to German self-identity during that 2006 World Cup. Not only did the German team look different, but their coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, a German soccer legend who in the final phase of  his career had played in Major League Soccer in the US, brought with him a new perspective he forged where futbol is called soccer and is a near perfect blend of European and Latin styles. Using a top down, bottom up philosophy I usually urge when it comes to allowing diversity to transform organizations, he called his team to loosen up, to show passion, and to spice up their pattern of long passes with shorter ones, using the diversity on the team to help make it happen.

During the 2006 World Cup the German team ignited a passion never before seen among its fans. German cool calculation gave way to explicit expressions of joy as the team got deeper and deeper into the tournament. Were those German fans doing the wave and bursting with enthusiasm? Wow.

German soccer was transformed.  I remember catching myself — the one who saw German fútbol as the antifútbol — marveling at the great, creative German play. Before, fútbol fans like me never cheered for the Germans. Now we couldn’t help but feel the excitement.

The German team ended up taking 3rd place, but in the process it helped usher in a new sense of German identity — an inclusive German identity encompassing East and West Germans, in whose psyches the fallen Berlin Wall still existed, as well as Turkish, Spanish, and African immigrants.

An idealistic notion of identity, yes, but in the circle of life, cultures need to affirm who they are. And when there has been much demographic change, countries often struggle with how to evolve their identity to also include the newcomers. Soccer as a national sport provides a vision of what is possible. If players wearing German colors can be this diverse and play together this well, goes the thinking, new ideas about national identity and societal roles can begin to gain traction.

Now during the 2010 Cup, the German team is even more ethnically diverse with surnames such as Cacau, Gomez, and Podolski.  Brandishing the new style they displayed in 2006, they demolished Australia 4-0 in the most lopsided score so far in this World Cup.

How will the 2010 World Cup transform what we believe is possible? It’s the first World Cup played in an African country. The South African Bafana Bafana squad carries the aspirations of a nation still finding its footing as a black majority led nation.  The French again show up with a diverse team at a time when native born and immigrant frictions are creating heat. The Chileans come to play and show national mettle while their country still reconstructs from last year’s major earthquake.

National identities, of course, rely on much more than how a game is played, since life is not a game. But it’s a game — the beautiful game – that can help breathe life into a new national self image.

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