Europe's 'Revenge' Is America's Pleasure

PARIS -- If some commentators around the world are to be believed, the golden era of American cultural imperialism may finally be doomed. The arrogant superpower that projected fast food and game shows to the corners of the earth has dropped its chauvinistic guard and submitted to the seductive charms of an alien sport.More than halfway through the obsessive, month-long ritual known as the World Cup, the planet's population is reacting with surprised delight to the way in which world soccer's most prestigious tournament is unfolding in the United States."This is nothing less than a cultural revolution, a victory by the Old Continent, the revenge of the colonized," wrote Fr?d?ric Pages in France's satirical weekly Le Canard Encha?€?n?. "After Disneyland and the D-day ceremonies, after too many hamburgers swallowed in silence, today at last the conquest of the United States is in sight -- by soccer."The packed stadiums, the enormous television audience, the enthusiastic cheers, the formidable logistical achievements and the absence of hooliganism -- everything, in fact, except the stifling heat -- are drawing incredulous praise from foreign skeptics who never believed that World Cup madness could infect the States.The relative absence of violence in American stadiums has been a source of immense relief for foreigners at a time when America's reputation for violence is again grabbing headlines with the O.J. Simpson murder trial and periodic attacks on foreign tourists. The fact that Britain, whose fans are considered the rowdiest in Europe, is not participating has been cited as an important factor for the peaceful matches, as well as the prudence shown by American police.The logistics of arranging matches in nine different cities scattered across a continent 3,000 miles wide has drawn almost universal praise."I've noticed something," said German writer Timo Trageser. "Americans are organizational geniuses, and totally achievement-oriented. Even in everyday life, their motto seems to be, 'faster, higher, stronger.'"Kurt Kister, a reporter for Munich's Suedeutsche Zeitung, shared the assessment. "There is probably no one on the globe better than the Americans at organizing big events."American cultural foibles, always rich fodder for stereotypes abroad, have provided the basis for much of the background color to foreign press coverage."America, you are magnificently crazy!" blared a headline in the German tabloid Bild. The article went on to note that coffee refills are free in restaurants, that service "is a thousand times friendlier than in Germany," and that perfect strangers are not averse to pulling photographs of their wives and children from their wallets as they begin to recount their life stories.When Cup play began in mid-June, press accounts were not so forgiving about the risky experiment of staging soccer's showcase tournament in the United States. Many reports were filled with sarcastic references to American ignorance of the world's most popular sport.Surveys were trotted out showing that soccer ranked no higher than 25th place in popularity among Americans, behind bowling, water skiing and wrestling. Beer-bellied American males were quoted as deriding a sport they labeled "girl's kickball" because 40 percent of the Americans who played it were female.But the extraordinary success of the Cup has forced some foreign pundits to eat crow. Philippe Broussard, writing in the high-brow French daily Le Monde, warned that France, which will host the Cup in 1998, will find it difficult to match the attendance records."No Cup has ever seen so many spectators. What other country could hope to get 72,000 for a match between Morocco and Saudi Arabia or 75,000 for Russia against Cameroon?" Broussard wrote.Nonetheless, the enthusiasm on display in the United States still cannot compare to the feverish excitement the Cup continues to generate abroad, even in many countries where fans must stay up until dawn watching the games that are broadcast live.In Latin America, the drug scandal involving Argentina's star midfielder Diego Maradona and the grisly murder of Colombia's Andres Escobar by thugs who blamed him for the 2-1 loss to the United States have stunned an entire continent.