The MOST important question in my mind every 4 years! Turns out that English is the lingua franca of the World Cup, so to speak...

The universal language:

Any language at all, as long as they can get their point across. Many world-class players have spent time in teams around the globe and speak a variety of languages. The USA's Landon Donovan, for example, picked up some Spanish playing with Mexicans in Southern California, and then some German when he signed with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. If a player doesn't happen to share a language with the referee, he might yell in his native language just to convey that he's upset. "Any kind of fellatio comment is inevitably understood," says Alexi Lalas, who was on the U.S. World Cup roster in 1994 and 1998.