Supporters of the Brazilian national team watch a game of their team in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.Pacific Press (LightRocket via Getty Images)
In Argentina the World Cup matches are broadcast even in schools, in Brazil daily life comes to a standstill when the Canarihna plays.
In Mexico the aspirations are more conservative this year, but soccer is always enjoyed.
Ecuadorians have rushed to stores and shopping centers to buy televisions, whose sales have increased by 48%.
Meanwhile, the United States and Canada are preparing to savor a sport that, without being niche, is far from competing in popularity with American football or ice hockey.
America is preparing for the World Cup with different intensity and unequal expectations.
This is how the countries that are measured in Qatar will live it from this Sunday.
Fans of the Argentina national team watch a 2018 World Cup match in a plaza in Buenos Aires.NurPhoto (NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Argentina: see Messi from the classroom
The World Cup in Argentina is a serious thing.
So much so that the matches are seen in schools.
The ministries of the different provinces have given freedom of action to the establishments.
Those who have televisions in the classrooms will be able to follow the dates of the Argentine national team in the class schedule.
If they cannot or do not want to enable the screens, some schools in the city of Buenos Aires have already distributed a new class entry schedule to parents.
On Tuesday the 22nd, for example, students will be able to enter at the end of the first match in Argentina, that is to say at 9.30 in the morning instead of 8.00.
The most optimistic even put together schedules that reach the semifinals.
It is recommended that all of them take advantage of the event to organize educational activities.
The province of Buenos Aires,
the most populated in the country, set up a website called Golazo, the World Cup at school with some recommendations for teachers.
It calls, for example, to learn geometry from the spaces in a playing field or understand what a zone is from the time differences of the matches in Qatar and Argentina.
Those who are not of school age will also have their benefits.
The Government of the City of Buenos Aires inaugurates the Espacio Emotion Mundial on November 20, "a place where residents can go and watch all the games for free and enjoy recreational activities."
It will have two giant screens, food space, games and live shows.
to learn geometry from the spaces on a playing field or understand what a time zone is from the time differences of the matches in Qatar and Argentina.
Those who are not of school age will also have their benefits.
The Government of the City of Buenos Aires inaugurates the Espacio Emotion Mundial on November 20, "a place where residents can go and watch all the games for free and enjoy recreational activities."
It will have two giant screens, food space, games and live shows.
to learn geometry from the spaces on a playing field or understand what a time zone is from the time differences of the matches in Qatar and Argentina.
Those who are not of school age will also have their benefits.
The Government of the City of Buenos Aires inaugurates the Espacio Emotion Mundial on November 20, "a place where residents can go and watch all the games for free and enjoy recreational activities."
It will have two giant screens, food space, games and live shows.
The Government of the City of Buenos Aires inaugurates the Espacio Emotion Mundial on November 20, "a place where residents can go and watch all the games for free and enjoy recreational activities."
It will have two giant screens, food space, games and live shows.
The Government of the City of Buenos Aires inaugurates the Espacio Emotion Mundial on November 20, "a place where residents can go and watch all the games for free and enjoy recreational activities."
It will have two giant screens, food space, games and live shows.
Uruguayan fans suffer as they watch a Uruguay game in the 2014 World Cup.Mario Tama (Getty Images)
Uruguay, the small country that devotes itself to soccer
Uruguay, where his team, the Celeste, is a national cause, also opens the schools to the World Cup matches.
The national team plays the three dates of the group stage during the week and the schools have resigned themselves to the evidence: either they allow the matches to be seen in the classrooms, or that day they will be empty.
Already from this same Monday content related to Qatar began to be dictated, with details of the countries that will play against Uruguay and other aspects related to the World Cup.
Among adults the passion is the same.
Some companies have set up spaces with screens for employees to watch the games at work and others have directly granted the day off.
Uruguay stops with soccer: it has only three million inhabitants.
Fans of the Brazil national team watching a 2014 World Cup match on a beach in Rio de Janeiro.Anadolu Agency (Getty Images)
Match days are not holidays in Brazil, even if they seem so
Living in Brazil at this time is a countdown to the World Cup and of course, dreaming of the six-time championship.
On the days that the Canarihna plays, Brazil is paralyzed because everyone parks their chores and stands in front of a TV —also at work— to watch the game.
Lu, waxer, says that since the games are during working hours she will see them, like other World Cups, in the beauty salon with her teammates and popcorn.
Newspaper reports reminding workers that game days are not official holidays —although it may seem so— have been proliferating for weeks, but rather that you have to negotiate with the management to allow you to leave earlier or enter later.
Otherwise, it is unexcused absence.
But labor law experts advise bosses to be flexible,
that they do not discount the 90 minutes of the day, for the sake of harmony with the employees and so that Neymar's men feel all the warmth of the fans.
Even the banks have changed their hours so as not to interfere with that torcedor that almost every Brazilian has inside.
The question remains as to how much politics will affect this World Cup after the closest election in history and several years in which polarization has contaminated even the national team.
Most of the players, with Neymar the first, are Bolsonaristas;
the coach, Tite, more like Lula da Silva.
Will the shirt, which in these years has become synonymous with Bolsonaro, be recovered by the rest as their own?
Lula has already warned his faithful that he plans to sheath it.
After a long season marked by political tension, the Brazilians are ready to focus on the national passion.
Ecuadorian fans gathered on a street in Quito to follow their team. Hector Vivas (Getty Images)
Ecuador is painted yellow, blue and red
Since the weekend the first flights to Qatar began to leave with Ecuadorian fans who will support the Ecuadorian team.
According to the Embassy of Ecuador in that country, 5,215 people have bought the packages to attend the World Cup.
While in Guayaquil, informal commerce has flooded the streets with national team jerseys, flags, vuvuzelas, and yellow, blue, and red Ecuadorian flag hats.
In shopping centers, people leave appliance stores with televisions, which have increased sales by up to 48% this year, compared to the previous one.
The Ecuadorian team has attended three World Cups throughout its history.
Korea-Japan in 2002, Germany 2006 and the last one in Brazil 2014. In 2006, the Tri achieved its best participation, reaching the round of 16,
El Tri fans gathered in the Zócalo of the Mexican capital. Carlos Tischler (Getty Images)
In case of feat, Mexico has the party ready
Soccer in Mexico is enjoyed and cried in company.
If it is necessary to miss school or work, it is okay because, according to what the Mexicans say, this World Cup could be the good one.
Good for what?
To break the mental bar that managers and footballers set: the fifth game.
Reaching the quarterfinals is perhaps even more important than aiming to win the World Cup.
El Tri hasn't reached that round since 1986, when they hosted it.
For this reason, it doesn't matter if you lose your pre-Hispanic history lessons or fill out an Excel document at the office when it comes to the World Cup matches.
The local governments of Mexican cities put up giant screens so that Mexican fans can follow their selection.
In Qatar the games will be around between 10:00 and 13:00.
In case of victory, the places of celebration are in the symbols of each city: from the Minerva in Guadalajara to the Angel of Independence in the capital.
Mexico's biggest victory was four years ago against Germany (0-1) and a whole feast broke out on the main avenue of the city.
In cases of unexpected celebrations, there are fans who go to the embassies of the countries that favor El Tri in some way, as happened four years ago when a victory by South Korea against the Germans gave Mexico a pass to the round of 16.
That time the ambassador came out on the shoulders of the Mexicans to the chant: "Korean, brother, you're already Mexican!"
This year, they admit, it will be difficult to think of going to celebrate with the Polish consuls,
A fan of the Costa Rican national team celebrates their team's qualification to the 2022 World Cup, in San José, on June 14, 2022. Manuel Arnoldo Robert Batalla (Getty Images)
Costa Rica requests permission to celebrate the generation of Navas
Costa Rican joy is enjoyed at the Fuente de la Hispanidad, the obligatory place to honor the victories of Costa Rica.
And boy have they had reasons.
The Costa Rican team goes to Qatar for just its sixth World Cup, the best participation occurred in 2014 under the Brazilian heat when they reached the quarterfinals after defeating Italy and Uruguay.
This year seems to be the sunset of that dazzling generation of Keylor Navas, Celso Borges and Bryan Ruiz who had to play the play-off against New Zealand.
For this reason, the Ticos devote themselves to their team to celebrate each of their games from the National Stadium of Costa Rica, where a blue and red festival is set up in its surroundings.
The intensity of watching the Costa Rican team forced President Rodrigo Chaves to issue a holiday decree so that all public servants in the country would take an extra hour from their lunch hour so that they could watch the playoff match against the New Zealanders.
The permit excluded sanitation workers, airport workers and all members of the police.
Before the
Sele
, as they nicknamed it, traveled to Qatar, it was sheltered with a spectacle of musical bands, dancing and fireworks in a friendly against Nigeria.
The party is not for a country that knows it has a tough challenge against Germany, Spain and Japan.
Some of the entertainers of the American group in the city of Orlando.Brad Smith/ISI Photos (Getty Images)
USA and Canada: soccer begins to take shape
In the English-speaking portion of the continent, while the most anticipated sporting event of the year globally generates anticipation, it does not paralyze the nation in the same way.
In the United States, soccer is the fifth most popular sport, behind American football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey.
The millions of
soccer fans
they will have to actively look for the World Cup, because they will not find it around every corner.
The games will be broadcast on FOX Sports in English and Telemundo in Spanish.
For the most enthusiastic fans, the federation - known as the USMNT (US Men's National Team) - sponsors official viewing parties throughout the country.
There will be hundreds of events of different types, since anyone can request to host a Watch Party: there will be thousands of broadcasts in bars or restaurants, but the biggest parties have been organized by MLS clubs, which in some cases will open the doors of the stadiums or training complexes of the teams to enjoy that special World Cup atmosphere.
Attention is focused on the matches of the US team,
In Canada, soccer is not even close to a national sport, so much so that the country will barely be playing the second World Cup in its history - the first was in 1986, when it lost all the games and did not score a single goal.
However, precisely for this reason, there is a little more attention on this edition than any of the previous ones.
There will also be Watch Parties at hundreds of venues across the country, but overall, the World Cup raises little enthusiasm among Canadians.
Having said all this, in both countries there is an attempt to cultivate soccer culture ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Here the highlight is not next week, but in four years.
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