Landon Donovan Can Teach Us More Than How to Save the Day

Right now, Landon Donovan is best-known for how he scored some epic goals in this year’s World Cup. Internet traffic in the moments following Donovan’s historic goal spiked to a record not seen since the 2008 presidential election, while online chatter even took down the indefatigable Twitter (only briefly, of course). In fact, the Cup has dominated the front page of what I can only imagine is every major newspaper and eaten up plenty of TV time around the world since the first game kicked off earlier this month. Why, then, is there seldom any mention of what's going on outside the stadium walls?

Perhaps the media would do better to focus on moments like these, when he and teammate Clarence Goodson signed autographs for a group of young South Africans before his last-minute triumph made him an American hero. Such off-field encounters are an important reminder of the fact that once the curtain falls on the Cup's final match in July, such young South Africans and the nation they represent are literally in for the fight of their lives.

In a country in which some half of the population falls below the poverty line, and nearly 1 in 6 people are living with HIV, you'd think we'd hear more about such issues, and less about who’s advancing to the next round (or how annoying the vuvuzelas are, for that matter).

If that was a storyline the media was interested in, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign’s Poor People’s World Cup would certainly be a place to start. The fans at this event — which is running concurrent with the FIFA games — stand in stark contrast to those attending the show just around the corner.

At these games, the poor and homeless are in the majority. As individuals, they’re far removed from the ability to reap any benefits from the real World Cup.

Right now, there’s talk of South Africa playing host to the 2020 Olympic Games. But first, South Africa's leaders and the rest of the world must come to terms with how to aggressively fight challenges of poverty, education and disease — questions that are particularly important in this climate of global recession and donor pullback. World sporting events can be an incredible vehicle through which to help raise awareness about issues in their host countries. Unfortunately, whether by design or because people simply care more about soccer balls than starvation, the spotlight hasn’t strayed far from the pitch this time around.

Photo Credit: jasonwhat