Colombian celebrity Sofia Vergara is making a strong call to the Hispanic community to live a historic World Cup that forgets racial, political and religious differences, a message of unity that she promotes as an ambassador for Telemundo.
“This is a moment to have fun, happiness, peace, to be partners, to be brothers (…) to have tolerance for each other. We are not enemies in the world, it is simply a sport,” said Vergara in an interview with EFE.
The actress of iconic series such as the comedy ‘Modern Family’ or the Netflix miniseries ‘Griselada’ confesses she is impregnated with the intensity with which soccer is lived in her native Colombia, an energy that is difficult to replicate in the United States.
“The passion, energy and what we have for the sport cannot be compared to what we have in this country,” admits the Barranquilla native.
Although he qualifies that the U.S. is gradually catching the Latin spirit for soccer, in part because of the fervor that the Hispanic community, predominant in the country, injects into a sport traditionally called ‘soccer’.
The huge wave of migrants has transformed the sporting landscape, turning this great competition, which begins in Mexico on June 11 at the Azteca Stadium, into a bridge that allows him to reconnect with his childhood memories.
“When I think about the World Cup I always think about how exciting it was when I lived in Colombia,” he recalls.
For Vergara, the World Cup, which is celebrated in Mexico as well as in the U.S. and Canada, goes beyond a simple television sporting event, and is presented as a ritual rooted in family heritage.
“We always like to eat, shout, fight, (the World Cup) is to be with the family and to be able to have fun, and feel the energy, the excitement all together,” he confesses.
Looking back, he recalls the 1994 World Cup, which was held in the U.S., a golden era for the Cafeteros with stars such as Faustino ‘el Tino’ Asprilla, René Higuita and Carlos ‘el Pibe’ Valderrama.
“For us they were God and every game, every emotion of that World Cup was awesome,” he recalls.
This year will be no less for Vergara, who will be supporting the Colombian national team in its journey through the competition. “My favorite team has to be Colombia, logically. Plus this year we have James Rodríguez, who looks like this is his last World Cup, and that’s going to be very emotional for Colombians,” he adds.
Sofía Vergara and her opinion on the World Cup: Roots, emotion and a goal sung in Spanish
As an ambassador for Telemundo, the network that broadcasts the men’s and women’s national team games exclusively in Spanish throughout the United States until 2030, Vergara advocates for a tournament with a Spanish accent, a key element in the current demographic context of the United States.
“It’s not the same in English. Yes, it’s fine, but to hear the goal shout with the people we know…. Our language, our roots, everything is ours. For me, the emotion of soccer as a Latino has to be in Spanish, without a doubt,” he argues.
She also takes advantage of the massive audience of a World Cup-caliber tournament to promote a public health campaign called ‘Check: Detect the SOS’, aimed at preventing diabetes, hypertension and kidney failure among Hispanics through a urine test.
“Latinos make up a huge number of the people who suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure. And those are the people who are at risk for kidney failure, stroke, heart attack, and they don’t know it,” he warns.
In a sport historically considered a man’s sport, where women are increasingly making inroads, Vergara dissociates herself from any label of sporting reference, although she proudly applauds the rise and strength with which female players are bursting onto the scene.
“I didn’t grow up watching women playing soccer (…) At the beginning I thought ‘oh, no, it’s too rough for a woman’, but now I realize that we can do it just as well. People love it, I think they like to see more women playing soccer than men,” she said, reported Agencia EFE.
Find out more at ‘QueOnnda.com’.
