Soccer in What is the What

                                                                                                                                Sasha Tcherepanov

                                                                                                                                                     3/6/14

       Soccer in Marial Bai sybolizes happiness and safety. While the soldiers were based in Marial Bai, soccer was an everyday tradition on the dirt soccer field near the barracks. In the begginning of this novel soccer is the only sport. When the soldiers left their base, the Arabs on horses immediately massacred the citizens and burned down almost every house. I dug further into soccer in South Sudan because it was portrayed as such a passionate event that drew the attention of all the kids of the city.

On 10 July 2012, South sudan competed in it's first international game against Uganda, the game ended in a draw. Currently now South Sudan is ranked 198 in FIFA standings. If the passion and spirit for the game continues in South Sudan as much as it resonated with me from What is the What, then South Sudan will go far and pass other countries in the rankings. South Sudan did not qualify for the 2014 Rio de Janeiro World Cup. From 1930 to 2012 South Sudan was part of Sudan and won the Africa cup once.