Sunday, July 24, 2011

How Soccer Explains Paraguay's Underdog Status

“Ves, Erik? Estamos subiendo, Paraguay.”

“See, Erik? We are climbing up, Paraguay.”

-Celebrating gentleman to my friend Erik after Paraguay’s shootout victory over Brazil

Dead silence alternates with wild screams of joy and hugs in the well populated mall as the soccer teams of Paraguay and Venezuela take turns shooting penalty kicks. Our group had come to an exposition to learn about reforestation, but there was no way we were leaving early when the Paraguay National team was playing a game in the semifinals. At least one hundred of us stand around watching the game on a big screen. With every Paraguay goal come screams. Venezuela’s made goals produce a reaction from the crowd not totally unlike a human imitating a cat’s hissing. Paraguay’s goalkeeper, Justo Villar, AKA The Human Wall has already shutout one of the most powerful soccer squads in the world in Brazil days before. But with penalty kicks you never know what is going to happen. Everyone is waiting for the same thing: The Human Wall has to make a save on a kick, no easy feat. If he does, Paraguay will win and cement an advance to the championship of the Latin American Cup.

I diverge for an important and revealing subplot. There is effectively one sport in Paraguay: soccer. Soccer is the sport that is played, watched, and obsessed about by everyone in Paraguay, from little munchkins learning to walk and kick a ball to elderly folks talking about their glory days, and 40 year old dudes who still got game. To help you envision how crazy Paraguay gets over soccer, imagine this: Instead of having 4 very popular sports, each of which has a large fan base, the U.S. has chosen just one sport. One sport and everyone is a part of it: there are no baseball, basketball, football, or hockey fans: only soccer fans; one outlet to channel our evolutionary longings to belong to a tribe by to investing in a sports team. This is a fact: there are no other even mildly widespread spectator sports in Paraguay: only soccer. Picture Chicago cerca 2003 when the Cubs ALMOST made it to the World Series, and you are starting to get an accurate picture of the madness that occurs when the Paraguayan national team plays. I wouldn’t doubt that if there were a Steve Bartman who interfered with Paraguay’s team he would have to get plastic surgery and move far far far away. Paraguay has made to the finals this year in the Latin American Cup, and I am not exaggerating when I say that everyone and their mother is going to be watching the final game today and living and dying with every twist or turn the game takes.

So why does Paraguay put so much stock in their soccer team’s success? To understand Paraguay’s underdog nature we have to look at its history. Paraguay used to be the most developed country in Latin America. In the 1800s it had the first train and opera house on the continent, symbols of wealth and status at that time. It seemed to be on the fast track to becoming one of the most powerful nations in South America. Unfortunately, Paraguay’s dictator in the 1860s got greedy and decided to wage war on its neighbors Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay seeking territorial expansion. The war devastated Paraguay: its population was reduced to 100,000 women and 20,000 men, almost all of them under 12 or over 50. You heard right. That’s a FIVE to ONE ratio of men (and boys) to women. Some suspect that Paraguayan machismo is still recovering from this historical imbalance, which resulted in not a few polyamorous relationships, as one might suspect.

After the Triple Alliance war, as it is called, Paraguay developed an inferiority complex as a country. With its families and infrastructure in shambles,it fought an an uphill battle to catch up to the development and industry levels of its Latin American neighbors. Brazil has 200 million people and loads of industry, on its way to becoming a world superpower. Many Paraguayans go to Argentina in search of work, where they are sometimes looked down upon as ‘indigenous’ or ‘less civilized’ just because they are from Paraguay and may speak Guarani. Somehow Paraguay is always getting the shaft. One of the wonders of the world, the waterfall Iguasu, lies on the border between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Which side has zero tourism revenue? Yep, the ‘guay. Look in any South America tourism book. I guarantee you that Paraguay has the least pages of any country. Most of the tourists that I have encountered in Paraguay are the type that love going to places where no one goes. Leading Paraguayan intellectual and journalist Benjamin Fernandez Bogado’s most recent book is titled ‘The Urgent country,” where he basically lists all the things that need to change in the country for it to catch up with other developed countries. And yea,speaking of comparing yourself to other countries around you, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina have three of the most talented, well respected soccer teams in the world.

Paraguay’s freaking amazing soccer team provides it with an outlet to gloat over these other countries. In some ways it is the same kind of gloating that I did towards my friends who are Chicago Cubs fans after the White Sox won the World Series in ’05. That is, I know the fact that the team I support has won it all doesn’t make me a superior person, and most of our jesting is in good fun. But the Paraguay vs. Argentina or Brazil or Uruguay or Venezuela or Chile games have more of a feel of the Olympic hockey games between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the cold war. (An interesting side note: none of these countries have Peace Corps volunteers anymore.) In other words, soccer is more than ‘just a game’ here. Much more. It is a status symbol, and Erik’s friend’s quote is a perfect example of this mentality: “See, we’re climbing up, Erik.” Their soccer team’s scrappy style of play aligns really well with their country’s personality: seemingly against all odds their underdog team manages to pull off victory after victory against teams much more talented and flashy. It is Paraguay’s way to gain respect in the international scene.

Now back to the story. I’m standing surrounded by one hundred or so people, no one’s eyes moving from the big screen. The Human Wall made a save against a Venezuela goal, so Paraguay’s penalty kick specialist just has to drill this goal and it’s lights out for Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. He approaches the ball, kicks left, keeper goes right...

“Goooooooooooooooool!” Pandimonium hits the crowd like we just averted a nuclear attack. A guy and gal next to me make out like it’s New Years, and total strangers are hugging each other and jumping up and down. Chants of “Par-a-guay WoooOOooo” and “He who doesn’t jump is Argentine/Uruguayan etc.” (sounds way better in Spanish, trust me) rip through the crowd.

On the five hour bus ride home, I couldn’t distinguish the college students from the volunteer network I was with from the 50 year old Agroforestry Engineers who were traveling with us. Everyone was so rowdy—they were partying as if... well, as if Paraguay had just made it to the finals of the Latin American Cup. For at least two straight hours on the bus home celebratory beers flowed and the PAR-A-GUAY chants were kept up with impressive volume; at one point people were so gleeful that they insisted I sing them English songs so they could chant along. (After hearing me, and trying once to imitate me, they reverted back to PAR-A-GUAY!). I chanted along, but I could not seem to match the intensity of these guys who poured their heart and soul into every syllable of the chants. Yea, the behavior might normally have been considered a little debaucherous or excessive by some, but who is going to be a party pooper and tell everyone to Please Keep the Volume Down when your upstart country has just made it to the finals of the most prestigious soccer tournament in Latin America?

We’ll see what happens in about an hour when Paraguay faces off against Uruguay in the battle of the ‘guays. It would be Paraguay’s first Cup win since the 1970s (while countries like Brazil have won like they are the Yankees in the World Series.) I love rooting for the underdog.