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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Easier said than done. Motonet. Motonet. Motonet.
Chapter 2: What controversies surround the World Cup this year?
I'm James Reynolds. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. This time in BBC Conversations, World Cup superfans share their passion for the game and we bring together excited football supporters whose countries have qualified for the first time. The FIFA Men's Football World Cup is underway now in Mexico, the US and Canada.
Over the next five weeks, 48 teams will play a total of 104 matches across 16 stadiums. In the run-up, as usual, the most watched sporting event in the world has not been without its controversies, from high ticket prices and transport costs to rows over visas and concerns about security. In our conversations, though, we wanted to hear from fans.
Later, we'll bring together three World Cup obsessives, including Craig, who's walked across the United States to see his team compete. Our first guests, though, who spoke to my colleague Rahul Tandon, are from countries which are making their World Cup debut. My name is Danny. I'm from Cape Verde, and our country is in the World Cup for the first time.
And I'm extremely excited because this is actually a country that gained independence only 50 years ago. So for a very new country that just gained independence to be on the world stage is extremely exciting. We're a small nation. We're very proud people. I mean, I'm getting goosebumps actually just talking about it right now. It definitely brings tears to my eyes.
So yeah, just a very, very exciting time to be Cape Verdean, and I'm sure these other guys can relate.
My name is John Hosseini. I'm from Jordan. We're really, really very excited. I served in the Jordan Football Association for nine years. So, I mean, we've been working on this dream to come true for 20 years. The focus was on the youth. The youth are now representing the Jordanian national team. And really, we have a lot of exciting moments here in Jordan. People are creating songs.
There are T-shirts. It's the talk of the town now. Everybody's talking about the games. And also, I'm getting goosebumps while I'm talking about that.
Hi, my name is Pedro de Souza from Curacao, a small island in the Caribbean, close to Venezuela. The population over here is only under 58,000, but we have a rich culture influenced by Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Football is deeply rooted in our culture. You'll find children playing in neighborhoods, beaches, and at football clubs as well, of course.
Despite our size, we have always believed that we could compete with bigger nations, and now we qualify for the World Cup has made that dream a reality.
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Chapter 3: What unique journeys have superfans taken to support their teams?
Do you have any songs? Do you have anything you do in particular at the ground? Yes, we started with some songs since two years now. And last weekend, we played Aruba for the farewell to the players. And they also introduced some new songs. But I'm really... I'm excited about singing those in the stadium together with all the people. You don't have to wait.
Chapter 4: How do first-time World Cup participants feel about their debut?
Come on, let's have a listen. Do you want to translate that for us? What does it mean? It means in the home of Pantera Negra, we're not making any jokes. We will defend our flag. And this is the national theme of Curacao, Curacao, Curacao. I liked it. You know, you're singing. I would give you a good 7 out of 10 maybe for that. Good attempt, Tyler. Danny, come on.
Can you beat that with your song or with your singing even? I'll be honest. Pedro, you can have that title. That's all yours. You know, we're actually known for our music in Cape Verde. It's a big staple in our culture. And being in the World Cup for the first time, there's been several songs that have come out. One of them have actually become the global World Cup song for us.
And the name of the song is called Junu Chigala, which translates to We Have Arrived. And for us, it's very... We have a few amazing Cape Verdean artists on that song and the video is amazing. It's different scenes in Cape Verde. It's just a lot of pride, a lot of passion, a lot of, you know, we are in awe to be honest. So the name for that song fits perfectly with how we all feel.
We have arrived. I'm going to try one last time, Danny. Are you going to sing it for us though? You know what? I'm going to pass on that. I'm going to pass. It's literally, you know, it's repetitive. It's the same. You know, we say the same thing repetitively. You know, we have arrived. We have arrived. We have arrived. I don't blame you.
If someone asked me to sing on the radio, I would give the same answer that you gave, to be frank. Rana, Jordan, I mean, is there a song, is there a chant that we can look out for?
There are many songs that came out so far. I shared one with, I think, your producer. It's sort of like, which means like, we are going to the World Cup. We're going to win, we're going to win, you know. And it's a nice song, you know, people waving flags and they're wearing the national team. You know, it's, you know, and so it's very, very exciting.
But I don't know which official song that is going to be used. But I saw this one and I think like it's trending now. So I think it's I hope they use it because it's nice, to be honest.
We enjoyed it. I thought you did a good job. You know, I'm going to put you above Pedro and my verb. We still need to wait for the audience. Akbar, do you want to end with Uzbekistan's? or just give us an idea of what people might be doing.
Our classic fan chant is Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan, which is simple, powerful, and also sing Olga Okborlar, which means go white wolves, which is a nod to the team's nickname. We also have Olga Uzbek, which means go Uzbek. I'm now visioning the whole neighborhood out in the street, car horns blaring, people chanting, firing up.
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Chapter 5: How does football influence cultural identity in small nations?
Hello, everyone. This is Yassin from Iraq. Of course, I'm going to support my national team, Iraq. And also, to be honest, I like Messi, so I'm going to support Argentina. We are very excited to see our national team playing in the World Cup after like near 40 years. Hello, this is Petra speaking from Tenerife, Canary Islands.
In our place, Spain, because the Canaries are Spanish, there is a very famous football player, which is from Tenerife. His name is Pedro. And of course, I am very much supporting him. We hope, all of us, that our teams which we choose to support have the best of the time and God bless them all. My name is Joe Kasia from Lusaka, Zambia. I'll be supporting Portugal in the World Cup.
I would like to see Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes win this World Cup. My name is Eugene from Nigeria. I'll be supporting Portugal because of Cristiano Ronaldo. And I'll be watching the match with my friends at the bar. We're going to have a nice time. Hello, this is Philippa. I'm calling from Germany. I'm Portuguese by birth and German by marriage.
If it happens that one of these countries goes to the final, I might watch it, yes. Or if it just happens that I'm in front of the television set when one of the games is taking place, but I'm not planning to watch any of them, no. I find it boring to watch football, I must say.
What?
Even penalty shootouts?
Football's not for everyone, although the World Cup is going to be hard to avoid, whether or not you think it's boring. I'm James Reynolds. You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
I've been thinking about fish luck. What about it? How do you catch so well?
Even though we have the same stuff and the same promises, and the boat sinks into the same water, as soon as these fish bite me, and not the other way around. How do they know who's the other way around? Am I so obvious? Don't think too much. Easier said than done. Motonet. Motonet. Motonet.
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Chapter 6: What are the expectations of fans for their teams in this World Cup?
Thank you. What is it about football, do you think, in particular, that makes you do what you all do, that you are super fans, that you give up your hard-earned money, your time to go and follow your teams? It's not just about the team. It's about the sport as well, isn't it, Andy? Football, it's such a simple sport, isn't it?
If you have a footballer on your own, you can play around with the football. If there's two of you, you can have a little game together.
Chapter 7: How do superfans celebrate their team's achievements?
If there's five a side, 10 a side, 30 a side, you can play the game. You don't need a referee. You don't need someone to tell you whether you've gone eight yards or seven yards. You don't need an umpire. It's just a very, very simple game that is played all... Because it's simple, it's played all over the world. So everybody understands the same language, the language of football. When you meet...
on the terraces, whether you're talking to somebody or you just stood next to them, you share the same passion. You share the same gasps when, uh, you know, there's a moment of brilliance or, uh, when there's a moment of, um, you know, craziness on the pitch. Everybody understands the game. As Andy said, it's just a simple game. I mean, you can go anywhere and jump into a game.
I've gone, I mean, just in Africa, I was in Zanzibar and a bunch of kids were playing and I just approached and jumped in. They invited me and within an hour, you know, we were sharing a beer after that. It's just a very inviting sport. It's so simple to just touch a ball.
It's not something, you know, like any other sport, if you were to pass a ball to somebody, it would be kind of intimidating because throwing a ball at somebody is not very, you know, it's not a peace offering. Whereas, you know, if you're rolling a ball towards somebody at their feet, it's not a threatening activity.
And really, I think instinctually, when we're born, if there's a ball at your feet, you're going to kick it before you're going to pick it up. I think just to build off what the two guys have said is football is the universal language of the world. And that is just fact. No matter where you travel, no matter where you go, people know about football. People play football and it connects everyone.
I have stories similar to the both of you. But to tie it back into my nation and why it means so much, you know, it does run deeper than sport. It really does. It's that.
is the outlet to celebrate that national pride and identity and take that to the world and mix with different cultures and different fans from all walks of life and being able to do that with the heart of it being the biggest tournament in sporting history with the World Cup I think that it's just you know there's nothing more special than that and being able to take that that sort of national pride onto the world stage through the medium of football it's the perfect opportunity to do so I think yeah if FIFA just
steps out of the way and just allows the passion to flow, then this will be a really amazing World Cup. World Cup superfans Chris, Andy and Craig. Our thanks to them and to all of our guests this week. We wish them the very best of luck. I'm James Reynolds. You've been listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
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