Spectacular events seem to occur consistently in four-year intervals. The U.S. presidential elections, the Olympics and the leap year continuously provide controversy or excitement for many. Although these three are the first things that come to mind, there is one that blows all of them out of the water: soccer’s greatest event, the World Cup.

The competition that truly acknowledges the winner as the “world champion,” unlike the championships of the NFL, MLB or NBA that are all focused in the United States, the World Cup is a summer tournament every four years that displays 32 nations from around the globe competing for the ultimate prize.

After the long road of nearly a year and a half of teams playing to qualify for the glamorous event by playing 12 to 15 games against other hopefuls in their region, nations will soon enter the preparation stage for games that will start in early June.

The 2006 World Cup will be held in Germany, with the host nation earning automatic qualification. Sixty-four games will be played in 12 different cities in one month, with Berlin hosting the long-awaited final. The tournament is divided up into eight groups, consisting of four teams each. The teams play three games total within the group stage, with the top two advancing to the knockout stage. During the knockout stage, each match is in the one-game elimination style.

This year’s tournament represents teams from six continents. The field of teams breaks down to the Australian team, four teams from North America, four from South America, five from Africa, five from Asia and 14 from Europe. The majority of the global soccer powers are back again in Brazil, Argentina, England, Italy, France, Spain, Holland and, of course, Germany rounding out the list.

The United States continues to flex its muscles on the global stage as it hopes to emulate and improve on its 2002 quarter-final finish. The defending champions, Brazil, who defeated Germany 2-0 in the finals in Korea and Japan, are back again with a star-studded line-up that will entertain even the least interested spectator.

While there are lots of experienced teams, there are also a solid number of newcomers who will be playing in their first cup. These consist of Trinidad and Tobago, Ivory Coast, Angola, Toga, Ghana, Ukraine and Serbia and Montenegro.

Millions of people will be flocking to friends’ houses, bars and street corners to catch all of the excitement. According to the FIFA World Cup website, over one billion people watched the tournament in 2002. That number shows how popular soccer — football, as it’s known internationally — is on the world stage.

World Cup Fever is spreading to many individuals, especially here at Oberlin. First-year midfielder for the men’s soccer team, Zach “Lulu” Lewis, is over the moon on the upcoming tournament and plans for it to consume his entire first month of summer.

“It is going to be the best month of my life. I’m not doing anything for the first month of summer except watch and play soccer. I’m going to wake up at 8 a.m. everyday and watch with my friends until 4 [p.m.],” said Lewis.

Lewis is also excited about all of the young players in the tournament who get to showcase their skills on the world’s largest stage, along with a final he hopes will feature Brazil and Argentina.

Although he is not going to get a job this summer, he is taking classes at NYU, but “made sure all of the classes started after the games.”

While the main focus is on how the top teams will perform or if Brazil will win the cup for a third time in four tournaments, people are excited to see the U.S. in action. Despite tough competition in the group stage, people are holding out hope for a miracle.

“I think they have a very good, young team. But it is unfortunate they are grouped in such a hard bracket. They might have to play Brazil in the second round,” said Lewis.

Fellow soccer teammate and first-year John Lindner also voiced his opinion on watching the U.S. in action, saying, “I get the chills watching the U.S. play.”

A good team can go far in a tournament, but it takes individuals to produce something a little special sometimes for the team to get those lucky bounces. The list of talented and exciting players could fill another two pages of this article, so the focus will only be on one Brazilian for the moment. Ronaldinho, currently deemed one of the most talented players in the world, brings an arsenal of unbelievable skills to the tournament.

Lewis feels he will win the World Cup’s golden ball, which represents the most valuable individual. “Some people look at the Mona Lisa and say masterpiece; Ronaldinho is the masterpiece,” he said.

While Lindner does not use cheap lines to describe the Brazilian, he supports Lewis’s argument that Ronaldinho will give some incredible performances, despite his much talked-about looks. “Ronaldinho is not as good looking as the Mona Lisa, but the way he plays makes him look that much better, much like the effects of beer goggles.”

The fact remains that many are eager for the World Cup, which starts on Friday, June 9. This was only an overview of what is to come at the tournament, part one of a three part World Cup series. Team and player analysis will follow in the next few weeks.

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Part one of a three-part series.