KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – As the American players saluted their fans, jumped into each other’s arms in celebration and soaked up the adulation, you wondered what the dumpy guy in the Elvis sequined suit and glasses, the one outside the gates of the Fritz Walter Stadion entertaining everyone before kickoff, thought of it all.

And so it begins. A hiatus of soccer enthusiasm so that Canadians can return to their cultivated indifference by the middle of July.

The most anticipated, most watched, most popular, most debated sporting extravaganza known to man.

The World Cup of Soccer is the most anticipated, watched, popular and debated sporting extravaganza known to man.

“People tend to value things more when they’re made by hand,” reasons Maria Gisella.

Once regarded as the John F. Kennedy of Latin America, a charismatic leftist who proclaimed a new socialist deal for the poor, Alan Garcia swept to power on a wave of populist enthusiasm in 1985, becoming Peru’s youngest president at age 36.