World Cup Players are Using Hands More Than Ever
Controversies have arisen in World Cups since a referee inadvertently blew the final whistle six minutes early during a match at the inaugural tournament in 1930, but the dramas of this year's event - including a bizarre bite and a backbreaking tackle - have played out with a remarkable immediacy on social media.
Zinedine Zidane of France did not apologize on MySpace after his infamous head butt in the 2006 World Cup final. Diego Maradona of Argentina did not address his 1986 knuckle-assisted Hand of God goal on America Online, a digital community that did not become prominent for another five years.
Controversies have arisen in World Cups since a referee inadvertently blew the final whistle six minutes early during a match at the inaugural tournament in 1930, but the dramas of this year's event - including a bizarre bite and a backbreaking tackle - have played out with a remarkable immediacy on social media.
Over the last month, players like Neymar, Luis Suarez and the U.S. reserve forward Chris Wondolowski have offered confessions, explanations, interpretations and amplifications using services like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
"If they can jump online, say something, and see it traverse the world in real-time, it makes life that much easier," said Peter Shankman, a social media consultant in New York.
Most recently, fans have been fretting over an injury to Neymar, Brazil's spindly star striker, who crumpled late in the second half of a quarterfinal match against Colombia after being kneed in the lower back.
Screaming and crying, Neymar was taken off the field on a stretcher, and it was later revealed that he had a fractured vertebra. He will miss the rest of the tournament, which has four teams remaining from the original 32.
The player who kneed him, Juan Camilo Zuniga, made only a fleeting comment or two as he rushed past members of the news media after the game. It did not take long for Zuniga to begin receiving death threats and racist taunts from Brazilian fans on Twitter - one of the more printable comments was that Zuniga was "the biggest villain in the history of football" - and he took to social media a day later to explain himself.
"There was no bad intention, malice or negligence on my part," he wrote in a letter posted on his Facebook page. Zuniga also addressed Neymar personally, telling him: "I admire you, respect you and consider you one of the best players in the world. I hope you recover and return quickly."
Grainy footage circulated of Neymar being rushed into an emergency room, being comforted by teammates on an airport tarmac and being loaded on a gurney into a helicopter. He did not publicly engage with Zuniga on social media, but he did address his nation of frothing fans directly.
In YouTube video, Neymar - looking rakish in a sideways hat despite his temporary incapacitation - spoke emotionally about how his "dream has not ended yet" because his teammates could go on to win the World Cup without him. "Another dream of mine was to play in the World Cup final, but I won't be able to do that now," he added.
While some professional sports teams place limits on what their athletes should share on the Internet, the Brazilian players - even before Neymar's medical journey became available for consumption - have not been shy. Instagram in particular is popular with the Brazilians, and pictures such as Dani Alves' selfie with a milk bottle and David Luiz's underwater homage to heavy-metal music have made fans feel that their beloved stars are accessible.
Neymar's injury was hardly the only story to play out on the web. When Suarez, a Uruguayan striker, sank his teeth into the left shoulder of Italy's Giorgio Chiellini during a group-stage game, theories about digitally enhanced pictures of the bite marks popped up almost immediately. Suarez and Chiellini gave brief interviews after the game, but, as is often the case, the players took to social media to offer clarifications once the emotional level of the situation had calmed. (Suarez Banned for Four Months)
After FIFA, soccer's governing body, announced a heavy punishment for Suarez that included a suspension from nine international games and a four-month ban from all soccer activities, Chiellini, who had initially called Suarez a "sneak," took to his personal website to say that he felt for Suarez and his family and hoped that Suarez "will be allowed, at least, to stay close to his teammates during the games because such a ban is really alienating for a player."
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Suarez, who at first claimed that no bite had taken place, then emerged with a Facebook post in which he apologized, somewhat, and said Chiellini had "suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision."
That prompted Chiellini to post a reply to Suarez on Twitter in which he absolved his assailant and said, "It's all forgotten." (Brazil Demand Punishment for Zuniga)