Believe it or not, but the world outside the U.S. is excited about the start of the FIFA 2010 World Cup this weekend.
In what is essentially the most watched competition in the world — even beyond the Olympics — the soccer tournament to end all soccer tournaments is being hosted in South Africa this year.
… And yes, the U.S. team is indeed in the mix, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.
In every nation but the U.S., fanaticism for the game they know as football is comparable to releasing rabid beavers in a balsa wood factory.
In fact, people are so crazed about the World Cup that they write songs about it.
They write oodles of songs about how they can cheer their country on.
Some of the songs are made by big names, like this one by Shakira.
That video, I believe, is the 100 percent official World Cup song.
But being official doesn’t mean a thing, because like we said, everybody’s getting into the act, including Rik Mayall, the guy most people know as “Drop Dead Fred.”
His song fuses a spirited reworking of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” with some English national pride.
Lots of English performers are vying for their countrymen’s support, and the Daily Telegraph offers this list of some of the best and worst.
Fans from around the world are further rallied by World Cup Song 2010, a Web site dedicated to collecting all the anthems it can.
And the U.S.?
Well we’ll just stick with our own football song.
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