These days every sport aficionados' eyes are riveted to South Africa and the FIFA World Cup in soccer (in Europe, we call it football, because, indeed, it is played by kicking a ball with your foot). Every four years we get this treat and we make the most of it, after our national championships are already over and the celebration (or hurt ego nursing, as the case may be) is over and done with. I personally enjoy the World Cup even if my country's team did not qualify. Watching good football is beyond national pride. It is more a way of confirming that this sport is king of them all, and everyone from St. Vincent & Grenadines to Brazil loves and plays it. But that's the hitch. Not everyone gets the chance to prove it. The rules are simple: the world is divided by areas, and countries from each area play one against the other in preliminary groups, the best two and a few lucky losers making it to the World Cup. Fine, these are the rules, where's the problem? The problem is that nowhere in the qualifying rounds do I see names such as Afghanistan, the above named St. Vincent & Grenadines, Pakistan, the Palestine or Iraq. I wonder if this maybe, just maybe has to do with the political turmoil over there and the fact that as, the well worn phrase has it, there is no love lost for them. If this is the case, I am saddened. Saddened first of all, because those people, already suffering from war and foreign occupation, are also refused the joy of taking part in a worldwide sports event. From times immemorial sport was a means of forgetting about problems, being proud of your country, making friends and celebrating effort, dedication, talent and hard work. In the Ancient Greece, wars were stopped during the Olympic Games. Yes, just like that, the military put their weapons down and for a few weeks had a respite from blood and death. In the modern and wise times, after a rich experience in wars and diplomacy, apparently we realized that it's OK to just exclude nations you don't like from participating altogether. So I propose to change the name of the event. Instead of FIFA World Cup, it should be called FIFA Privileged Countries' Cup. I do wonder how they allowed Communist Korea to participate. They never thought they'd qualify, I bet. But they did. Fighting on with that dodged industrious skill of a nation who hasn't got many things to enjoy or feel proud of, they made it to South Africa. And they showed the world that they are people just like us, with talent, and dedication, and the ability to fight for a dream, enjoy the competition and accept defeat graciously and with dignity. Maybe THEY are afraid we might find the same things about the Afghans, the Pakistani and the Palestinians? Maybe after we see their sporting spirit, we may be less inclined to believe them the bad guys in a worldwide game of Cops and Robbers? If that is the case, then we learnt nothing from three millennia of human history. And we have no right to say who is good and who is bad.