Whether your team is still playing or didn’t make it past the round-robin stage, the World Cup in South Africa has had something for everyone this year.
Armed with thousands of vuvuzelas (loud, buzzing horns), soccer fans from around the world are displaying a frenetic energy that hasn’t been seen at a sporting event in a long time.
The World Cup provides an excellent dynamic of mixed cultures, with fans of different social classes and socioeconomic statuses blending to form one giant, passionate group. They might be divided by borders, but everyone is connected by one common goal: to see some great futbol.
Even celebrities have been appearing in droves at the World Cup in South Africa this year — and perhaps none has been more controversial than Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger.
The 67-year-old rock ‘n’ roll legend has shown up for four different matches, supporting three different clubs. What do all three of those squads have in common? They all were eliminated in Jagger’s presence.
First, the United States fell to Ghana 2-1 in the Round of 16 on June 26, as Jagger cheered for the stars and stripes while sitting next to former President Bill Clinton.
The next day, Jagger returned to his roots and watched his home country, England, lose 4-1 to rival Germany (does fighting two World Wars against each other constitute a rivalry?) in Round of 16 play.
The day after that, the curse appeared to be turning around, as Jagger supported his model ex-girlfriend Luciana Gimenez’s Brazilian squad during a 3-0 rout of Chile. But four days later, with Jagger on hand, Brazil suffered the biggest upset of the World Cup, losing to the Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Jagger isn’t the only big star to show up to South Africa. Last week, Paris Hilton put up a twitpic of all her luggage as she got ready to head to the World Cup.
Celebrities certainly have been noticed in South Africa over the past few weeks, but they are just a small number of bright faces in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of international soccer nuts.
