World Cup Fever Hits South Dade

If you happen to have seen a large number of fans around South Florida screaming at random times throughout the day at bars and restaurants, odds are they have World Cup fever.

While the sight of kids wearing their favorite team or player’s jersey around Homestead while playing with friends isn’t a new sight, the palpable buzz in the air is hard to ignore.

South Florida has erupted with excitement since the opening of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, with fans from all over showing the allegiances to their home countries.

Alfredo Ramos, originally from Bogota, Colombia, is a graduate of Robert Morgan Educational Center, and a diehard soccer fan.

For Ramos, the World Cup provides a chance for people to come together no matter who they are or where they are from.

“The World Cup is that one event that unites us all no matter where in the world you are,” said Ramos. “As a Colombian in Miami, I love going to watch the games with other Colombians in restaurants or bars. Although I don’t know them, once Colombia scores we all hug and jump in happiness.”

Ramos is one of a growing number of young soccer enthusiasts in South Florida, playing recreationally as a boy.

“In Homestead, I played in a league at Benito Juarez,” recalled Ramos. “I also used to play intramurals in my university.”

South Florida’s latin influence is perhaps most evident when international soccer takes over.

Before the World Cup began, the England squad played two games, first against Ecuador and then Honduras, in Miami where the Three Lions’ fans were in the vast minority.

When Ecuador scored, Sun Life Stadium erupted.

For South Dade graduate Luis Zintzun, watching international soccer brings out a level of pride no other sport can.

“When I was six my parents put me in a soccer team in my neighborhood called ‘Redlands Sharks’ and I played with them for about eight years,” recalled Zintzun. “I’m from Mexico, so rooting for them while I live in Miami is a pretty cool experience because I feel that I have more of a sense of pride for the fact that I’m not in my country but I’m still rooting for them.”

Lucas Di Croce, a former star for FIU’s soccer team as well as a frequent player in two Kendall competitive leagues, also feels the same pride when rooting for his home team, Argentina.

“It’s a bit different than being home in Argentina where you are surrounded by people rooting for them,” he said. “Here you have to find your people, but it is still an amazing feeling to see how the World Cup brings a country together. It doesn’t matter where you are.”

Despite the international flair, nobody has been more exuberant this World Cup so far as the American fans.

Robert Morgan graduate and University of Miami student Winston Bernard says the World Cup serves as a perfect starting point for someone who is only recently getting soccer fever.

I never played and only recently started watching club soccer,” said Bernard. “But I get really into the World Cup because you’re rooting for your national team as opposed to a specific club, so that’s always exciting.”