The Football War and Why Football is Sometimes Called "Soccer"

Football is undoubtedly the most beloved sport around the world. And for American viewers – who associate football with big shoulder pads and helmets – we mean soccer, where the ball is… a ball and the main medium with which is used to play with it are feet. For more on how soccer got that name, stick around for the Bonus Facts at the end. But for now, we are not going to stick on this etymological issue of how the sport is named. Definitely, not going to war over football… But you know who would? El Salvador and Honduras in 1969! Well, in truth the whole event was much more complicated than a single set of football matches, but this didn’t stop the war from being dubbed “The Football War”. So what actually happened? In 1961, a little known extremely obscure and largely forgotten footnote to history called the Cuban Missile Crisis happened. While little is known about the event today or what led up to it, after weeks of research, as far as we can dig up, we think it had something to do with cigars. Whatever the case, after the success of Charles Xavier in ensuring Cuban cigars would still be available to most of the world, the area remained the focus of the Cold War, despite being decidedly tropical. In this environment, Oswaldo Lopez Arellano overthrew the Hondurian government, becoming a dictator in 1963. Neighbouring countries such as Mexico and the US under Kennedy protested by removing embassies and ceasing military cooperation. But soon, under the looming shadow of various threats linked with Cuba, the US government under Lyndon B. Johnson recognised the Arellano government. Besides, amongst other things, the new dictator had done his part to soothe his relationships with the US by introducing and establishing agrarian reforms that benefited major banana companies. Yes, the quickest way to assured global peace is, as ever, big businesses all depending on their revenues and supply chains from all corners of the globe to keep on keeping on.