It's Almost Time

1 official ball

32 teams

736 players

12 venues

64 matches played over 32 days

25 officiating teams

20 official sponsors 
3.3 million tickets to be sold

Add to that list

One official mascot and one official song  One World  (Ole Ola) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W3sWiZ-iO8&index=2&list=PLCGIzmTE4d0jH6o_hGC1Rsv1-QgS2jnoC

45 million or more who will view the games on television

Even before the first match on  June 12,  the World Cup 2014 experience begins – shared around the world.  According to an article in the Wall Street Journal  for people in more than 100 countries the games begin with the effort to fill the Panini World Cup sticker album.  Sharing, talking, trading.   http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304422704579572040518126308

We could fill pages with lists of World Cup statistics.  Costs and protests.  Hot dogs and beer consumed.  Flights taken.  Hotels booked.  Souvenirs acquired.  Yellow cards.  Red cards.  Goals scored and missed.  But for a moment, let’s stop counting.  Texting. Tweeting.

For a few minutes, days, weeks, let’s recognize that around the world, wherever we are , we'll be linked by a shared focus.  In person, on line, watching, talking, arguing, rooting for and against the same teams.  We will be, as the official song says, One World (Ole Ola)