Dallas, TX – “Football (Soccer) is a pleasure that hurts,” said Eduardo Galeano, the Uruguayan journalist and writer. In many ways this statement is true.

The World Cup has caught on here in the USA. The soccer matches are on flat screen televisions in sports taverns across the country. The right wing xenophobes that denounced soccer find themselves in a pickle. Americans, like everyone else in the world, actually enjoy the game.

Joy. Not just for communists, but anyone. You could see it when New Zealand’s Winston Reid surprised everyone with his first international goal as time ran out on the match against Slovakia. It was a good goal, but his joy, that of his teammates and ‘Kiwis’ everywhere was unsurpassed. Celebration at its best! This is repeated over and over at each World Cup.