The world together

The 2026 edition of the World Cup is over. Congratulations to the Spain national team on a truly dominant showing. Ignore the low final one-nil score: Argentina got utterly spanked in the Final.

Congratulations also to the stadium food vendors. Selling beers for $22 is just excellent business. Exploitive capitalism will continue so long as there are willing participants. Consumers have clearly shown a high price inelasticity, no matter how much they may grumble externally.

The magic of the World Cup happens when the games are on during the workday. The collective attention is drawn to the games. Productivity drops down as close to zero as allowed. (Sorry and thank you, bus drivers.) Even the casual sports observer is glued to the screen. The best games are those that go on to penalty kicks as the decider. During which the entire office comes to a screeching halt to watch the nail-biting tension.

Seismic sporting events like the World Cup and Super Bowl are truly awe-inspiring when you zoom out and think about just how huge a population is tuning into the matches. So it’s no wonder FIFA instituted a hydration break in the middle of each half: the advertising dollars for those three minutes of stoppage must be profitably enormous. Who run the world? Girls marketing.

But for us Americans, it’s back to ignoring the sport of soccer for another four years. I think that’s a good thing. America’s Major League Soccer should remain the relative niche that it is: for the die-hard football fans. This keeps the matches accessible and affordable for attendees. Can you imagine how much tickets would be if El Trafico had the same cachet as El Clasico? Capitalism will get its grubby hands on MLS and price out the peasants.

Until four years later, world.

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Secret signal.

World Cup fever

Attending a World Cup game has certainly lived up to the hype.

The rowdiness of the Australian contingent was something to behold. Lacking a rooting interesting in the game between the Socceroos and Paraguay, I was just content to revel in rowdy atmosphere. The concourses at Levi’s San Francisco Bay Area Stadium was jammed with cheers, songs, and copious beer drinking. To be amongst the festivities alone was worth the hefty price of admission.

The Paraguayan fans were equally as vocal. The World Cup is truly sports fanaticism at its very best.

Because the game itself was certainly not all that entertaining. That’s the trap of drawing the third match of the group stage. The stakes can either be high, or non existing. Australia and Paraguay could both advance to the next round with a draw, and the two teams played to that advantage. Neither side seems to press forwards with any verve, and the few actual shots on goal were right to the goalkeeper. If this were a normal football game, I’d ask for my $500 back.

But how often can you say you’ve attended an actual World Cup match? Probably just this once, in my lifetime. I’m very happy to have ticked this box on the kick-the-bucket list.

And good on the live audience to boo the hydration break in between the halves for exactly what it is: a blatant money grab. The American broadcast partner wanted to sell more ads. In no circumstances do the best in the world need a mandatory break from the action in dry, breezy, 72 degrees °F weather. (Shoutout to our European cousins weathering a tremendous heatwave currently.)

The United States really might be the best country to host the World Cup. I’m pretty sure America has the largest diaspora of many nations. It’s that diversity that makes hosting this international event so convenient. The traveling contingent is mixed in together with a sizable group locally. Take Iran, a team with very little to no traveling supporters from the home country due to the ongoing war, was able to find their tribe in Iranian Americans living in Southern California.

That’s pretty beautiful.

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A great ole party.

World Cup fever

It is World Cup season, and it’s fantastic to once again the event hosted on this side of the globe. There’s no need to wake up - or stay awake - at ungodly hours just to see some football magic. Instead we get to pretend we’re working at work, only to be otherwise glued to the television screen.

I fondly remember one childhood summer where all I did was watch World Cup matches for the entire day. Ah, to be young and have zero responsibilities. We can’t quite do that anymore.

Great shame to the Chinese people that even with the first ever expanded field from 32 to 48 countries, the Chinese national team has, once again, failed to qualify for the tournament. The second most populous country on this planet and yet we can’t find 11 blokes with enough talent to make some noise on the world stage. The only way this could be worst is if the most populous country - India - made it in. Good thing they didn’t.

Come on, China. Let’s get it together. Spend some money, put some academies together.

In the meantime, I will be rooting for my adopted Asian country, Korea. Let’s go Tigers!

I am greatly looking forward to attending a group stage game here locally. A once in a lifetime opportunity and experience for sure. Never mind that we have zero rooting interest between Australia and Paraguay. To quote Hamilton, we just want to be in the room where it happened. A solid match between the two countries is what we can ask for.

Picking a winner for the 2026 edition? I have to say the French team looks really good. They’ve go the reigning Ballon d'Or winner, and Kylian Mbappe. Three straight World Cup finals for Les Bleus looks to be a lock.

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Ornately.

World Cup fever

It's World Cup season once again and it's always a special time because I get to enjoy watching the games with my father. Every four years we'd spend the month of June in front of the television taking in all the matches - or at least endeavor to. The 2018 edition is held in mother Russia and the time-difference makes things difficult: the games are held during the day our timezone so we can only properly watch on the weekends.

On campus the games are shown at the Student Union which is great because none of us need to work during the Summer, right? (Wrong). 

Attending a World Cup game is on the bucket list so I am happy about the announcement the the 2026 games will be cohosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. it's Great news for America because Team U.S.A won't have to worry about not qualifying because host countries receive automatic berths - a genius move by our soccer federation. Anyways, I look forward to going to a live match with my father in eight year's time.

Might even kill two birds with one stone and go to a game in Canada because I've yet to travel to our northern neighbor. 

FiveThirtyEight has a quiz that will tell you which team you should root for in the World Cup. I got team Deutschland so I shall root for them since USA is not in the tournament. Sadly Germany's first match against Mexico didn't go so well (spectacular game, though) but it's still early days for the defending champions. 

The next three weeks should be quite exciting. 

The many shades of purple.