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The 2014 FIFA World Cup has kicked off http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-jonathan-toews-jersey , making soccer-crazy China even crazier. The tournament, which is held every four years and is one of the world's biggest sporting events and money spinners, is ubiquitous. Soccer-related articles dominate the Internet, television, radio, newspapers and social networking sites, and the competition is the main topic of conversation in cafes, bars, offices and factories across the country.


While it's ultrafashionable to talk about soccer - after all, who doesn't love "the beautiful game" http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-john-hayden-jersey , as it's known to billions across the globe - the sport's massive following in China is slightly baffling to non-aficionados. Although China is always at, or close to, the top of the medals tables at the Olympic Games, the country's national soccer team has been historically poor, and has only played in the group stages of the tournament once, way back in 2002


Although China was highly unlikely to progress to the later rounds that year - hardly surprising, given that the team played three games and didn't score a single goal - interest was at fever pitch. Even high schools, where students were under pressure just days ahead of the national university entrance exam, suspended classes so the youngsters, and http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-jeremy-roenick-jersey , one suspects, their teachers, could watch the national team play on the biggest stage of them all.


Even sports that China excels at internationally, such as table tennis, badminton, diving and volleyball, are swamped by the attention lavished on soccer. The modern game officially began in England, but, according to some Chinese historians, an ancient version was played in China more than 2 http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-jan-rutta-jersey ,000 years ago.


However, even in a country as obsessed as China, the streets suddenly seem to be even fuller of soccer fans than usual, irrespective of the national team's failure to qualify for this year's tournament and the 11-hour time difference with Brazil, which means fans will have to sit up all night to see their sporting idols. The World Cup is a huge, come-as-you-are party, during which the fans try their best to enjoy the games and never miss a chance to exercise a biting sense of humor.


Some people are even prepared to shrug off health concerns to watch the competition. On the morning of June 5, an 81-year-old man surnamed Lu, from Nanjing, Jiangsu province http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-henri-jokiharju-jersey , blacked out in the street, due to low blood pressure. He refused to be hospitalized, though, because of the inconvenience of watching soccer from a hospital bed, according to Xinhua News Agency.


In Beijing, 32 subway stations on Line 4 were temporarily to be renamed after the countries in this year's competition, although the plan has been dropped to avoid confusion among passengers. In Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, the floors of the trains on one of the city's subway lines have been decorated to resemble soccer fields.


On the Internet, people have been making jokes about players http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-gustav-forsling-jersey , teams, and coaches, or sharing photos of handsome stars and predicting the possible winners of the tournament.


Sick notes


"I will try everything to watch the games I'm really interested in, such as the one on June 16, Germany against Portugal," Xue Mangmang, 28, said. The employee of a financial services company in Suqian, Jiangsu province, has been a die-hard fan since 1998 when he watched the final between France and Brazil.


"Some of my soccer-loving friends have been adjusting their body clocks so they can stay awake between midnight and 6 am http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-graham-knott-jersey , when the games will take place. I have to work during the day, but I think I'll be able to take naps at noon, which will be very helpful," he said.


That may work for Xue, but some other fans have taken far more radical measures to ensure they get their nightly soccer fix. Some hardline supporters have turned to the Internet, where fake sick notes have been on sale on portals such as Taobao, one of China's biggest online sales platforms.


One vendor, based in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, was even offering genuine sick leave certificates he claimed to have bought from a hospital http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-glenn-hall-jersey , according to Chengdu Business Daily, which reported that a certificate covering the entirety of the monthlong tournament costs 300 yuan ($4.


"Soccer sickness" is nothing new, of course: In 2006, when the tournament was held in Germany, about 10,000 people in the Netherlands registered for a month's sick leave.


Xue fully understood why people would go to such extremes, but stressed that he wouldn't be buying a fake certificate: "It's too obvious, isn't it? Bosses will see through it easily."


For some soccer fanatics, the World Cup is a good excuse to quit their jobs. On June 7, a 27-year-old in Huangshan http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-erik-gustafsson-jersey , in East China's Anhui province, told the press that he gave up his 100,000-yuan-a-year job in Shanghai so he could watch the tournament.


"I've been working for several years, but I think something has been missing from my life. Life is not all about work, and so I've decided to take a break. Watching the World Cup relaxes me because it reminds me of my childhood when I played soccer with my pals," the young man, who used the alias Li Quan, told the Yangtze Evening Post. "I'll just have to find a new job after the competition," he said.


'Male model team'


For die-hard fans, the tournament is a matter of life and death http://www.chicagoblackhawksteamstore.com/adidas-ed-belfour-jersey , but for many people, it's simply entertainment, and a chance to indulge their wilder sides.


"I think I'm a 'real' soccer fan because all my family are. We have watched soccer together since I was little. But the fact is that I really fell in love with soccer when I saw David Beckham on TV," Zhang Leyang, 22, a government employee in Bejing, said with a chuckle. "Fine! I'm a female 'fake' soccer fan, and I love handsome men!"


Many of her peers seem to share that feeling. Photos of handsome soccer teams in their official World Cup suits have been spreading lik The roug. http://www.wholesalecheapmlbjerseyschina.com/ Wholesale Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Free Shipping Wholesale College Jerseys From China Cheap NBA Jerseys China Wholesale College Football Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China