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World Cup Appeal

Two articles by Drezner (2020) and Rice-Oxley (2020) describe World Cup Soccer appeal.

World Appeal

The Christian Science Monitor (2020), has calculated the attendance of the final championship soccer games on July 9, will have approximately one billion people watching or listening. The world appeal of soccer can be measured or interpreted as one-sixth of the world's population will be tuned into the final games.

The Washington Post (2020), has quoted the band U2's singer in commercial ads stating world appeal. In one ad, the singer states that the World Cup "closes the schools, closes the shops, closes a city, and stops a war." (paragraph 1). World appeal may be interpreted by viewers as valid, if the information describing world appeal is coming from entertainers, sports figures, or political figures.

Common Themes

The common themes both articles discuss are world appeal, politics and war, and an American misunderstanding of soccer popularity and philosophy. These common themes are discussed and regarded as important, or more important than international economics or elections, according to the authors. Small countries, poor countries, developing countries, and countries divided by religion all have a voice and representation in the world and the appeal of soccer is regarded as very high. In one example given in an article, the soccer ball represented a common meeting ground for all nations. This equality sounded throughout the two articles.

Politics and War

War and soccer have been connected for many years according to the articles. Listed, are examples of these connections by both articles. In each case, one can interpret politics and beliefs of right versus wrong being expressed on the playing field.

The Christian Science Monitor

(1) "Certain matches have hyped national rivalries, in one case even triggering a "Soccer War" between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969."

(2) "The international soccer federation FIFA has more members than the United Nations (207 vs. 191)."

(3) "Watch Ivory Coast.....but one with a wretched recent history of civil war."

The Washington Post

(1) "The British and Germans played a famous soccer game across the trenches during the 1914 Christmas truce."

(2) "In June 1969, a game between El Salvador and Honduras and while having immigration and border disputes, engaged in a "soccer war" resulting in about 2000 casualties."

(3) "Soccer also played a role in the run-up to the Balkan wars of the 1990s."

Content Analysis

Further study in word count and by grouping themes demonstrated the articles were more informational and exploratory than the articles were persuasive. Both articles represented a large quantity of information devoted to world countries, cities, and continents. The Washington Post article sited 35 references representing 48 percent of the themes, and The Christian Science Monitor article sited 47 references representing 62 percent of the themes.

The second largest quantity of information was devoted to war, fighting, and postwar activities. The Washington Post article sited 26 references representing 35 percent of the themes, and The Christian Science Monitor article sited 14 references representing 18 percent of the themes (Chart 1 and 2).

Interpretation of this data helps form a conclusion that both articles were similar in demonstrating world appeal to the sport of soccer. The frequency of word usage referring to other countries, cites, continents, war, fighting, and postwar activities represented the highest usage in the two articles.

The American or United States connection was a minor theme and not well represented in both articles indicating the authors were more focused on world appeal, than they were focused on United States appeal. The Washington Post article sited 4 references representing 5 percent of the themes, and The Christian Science Monitor article sited 3 references representing 4 percent of the themes (Chart 1 and 2).

The interpretation of the data demonstrates these articles are of a similar nature. Both articles contained similar themes and information providing the readers or audience, the same perspective from the authors.

References

Drezner, D. (2020). The Soccer Wars. The Washington Post. Retrieved from the world

wide web, June 22, 2020. -

dyn/content/article/2020/06/02/AR2020060202001.html

Rice-Oxley, M. (2020). World Cup Boosts Growth, Binds Ties, Even Sparks War. The

Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from the world wide web, June 22, 2020.