UN Jealous of FIFA

tsk, poor Kofi Annan. In Italy's win against France in what was a last-minute debacle of a game (Zidane's infamous head-butt red card), Mr. Annan was interviewed. Yahoo!s Official World Cup website.
In his interview, he mentioned that "The World Cup makes us in the UN green with envy." He continues..

The World Cup makes us in the UN green with envy. As the pinnacle of the only truly global game, played in every country by every race and religion, it is one of the few phenomena as universal as the United Nations. You could even say it's more universal. FIFA has 207 members; we have only 191. But there are far better reasons to be envious.

His reasoning is a little flawed, I'm unsure (I'm too lazy to check) if areas such as Puerto Rico, Guam and Hong Kong have their own UN observer at least or not, but they are all 3 FIFA members, for example. But he is right, it is completely universal, and the one sport that is played worldwide where each player literally represents his or her country. One could talk about the Olympics, tennis, or golf and such. However those players don't really represent their country, sure its international, but they only mention where they're from as an afterthought. Only in Football (in the international sense of the term) where each national team represents that country, and a nation can feel national pride or national shame at their team's win or loss. I remember when Paul Caliguri scored against Trinidad & Tobago to bring the US to the world cup for the first time since 1950, T&T felt a national loss and the sport didn't regain in that country for a few years, and finally were able to show up in the world cup this year in Germany.

Another interview was done by our "hero",(sarcasm intended)Bill Clinton. Most of his was political bsh*t, but he made some good comments about it being hosted in Africa.

Looking ahead now, I think you would have to say that the first-ever World Cup in Africa in 2010 provides a unique opportunity to focus the world's attention on the potential of Africa and the challenges faced by the African people. I’m certainly thrilled that my foundation (The Clinton Foundation) will be joining in this effort to translate the global appeal of soccer into tangible programs that will benefit the children of Africa.

Although do you notice how he quickly moves to "tootin' his own horn", and any time you mention international politics, you have to mention the poor children(Sally Struthers anyone?).