I am currently in Montevideo, Uruguay. Yesterday, the country held a huge reception for their World Cup team, who placed fourth in the tournament, with their only two losses being incredibly close heartbreakers at the end. I cannot imagine that the country could have shown more support for their team even if it won the World Cup. Here is a good video summarizing the reception the country provided for its team:
Please keep in mind that this was done in around 42 degree weather with around 70% humidity and a wind chill reaching close to freezing. They were out there for hours upon hours waiting for the plane to land and then the caravan to bring them from the airport to the legislative building. All for a team that placed FOURTH in the World Cup. You think anyone in Germany is doing anything close to this for their third place finish?
When comparing with any other country, though, it's important to keep in mind that Uruguay was the second smallest country to even qualify for the World Cup (Slovenia was smallest) and by far the smallest country to qualify for the Round of 16. How small? Only 3.3 million people in the whole country! That's approximately 1/90th the size of the United States. That's smaller than Los Angeles proper at 3.8 million (as opposed to "greater Los Angeles") and just slightly bigger than Chicago proper at 2.9 million.
At any rate, I just wanted to share that I'm here experiencing it and I cannot envision a greater argument for why the human race even plays sports than the completely effusive pride and gratitude that this country is showing for it's futbol team. It's like watching Hoosiers in real life. Whether it's deserved or not, I must tip my hat to Uruguay's team and the Uruguayan fans. Tomorrow I go looking for my own Forlan jersey!
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