AS THE WORLD CUP ENTERS THE HOME STRAIGHT, HOW WAS IT FOR YOU?
We are down to the last four teams in the 2026 World Cup and the end of the 104-match marathon is in sight. By the semi-final stage the magic has usually dissipated as most teams have been knocked out, the magical minnows (Cape Verde this time) have finally been found out and the wonderful fan groups (Scotland, Brazil, Norway and Colombia) have flown home.
To FIFA’s credit, they are the four countries who were kept apart in the draw, so their seeding system was correct. If the world rankings are to be be believed to the letter then the final lineup will always have been a repeat of 2022’s in Qatar. Of course, England and Spain will have something to say about that.
Three European sides and one South American feels like a reaffirmation of football’s traditional hotbeds. Despite the growing globalisation of the game, the likes of Japan, Morocco and the USA failed to threaten the status quo and we will have to wait for our first African, Asian or North/Central American finalist or winner. The Americas have provided slim pickings for UEFA in the past - only Germany in 2014 has triumphed, but this time, three out of four semi-finalists and the presence of France suggest a changing of the guard.
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| Los Angeles' Sofi Stadium impressed at the World Cup in 2026 |
If I could sum up this year’s World Cup in a word it would be spectacular. For the number of games, goals scored, plots and sub-plots (Cape Verde, Brazil's failure, Gianni Infantino's jetsetting, the VAR controversies, hydration breaks and Donald Trump’s interference for example), the millions of fans in the stadia and TV viewers worldwide, there is no doubt this has been the greatest show on earth.
As I have slumped blearly-eyed on my sofa morning and night watching the tournament unfold, I have stopped to wonder if I am taking football too seriously. Nah, I quickly remind myself, soccer is life and this is no time for half-measures.
What will I recall from this tournament, England’s triumph or tragedy apart? I think the arenas will stick in my mind. The extraordinary edifice in Los Angeles and the air-conditioned spaceships of Atlanta, Dallas and Houston have been extraordinary to behold. Modern Miami looks positively parochial with its conventionally rectangular shape. The gigantic video screens have also been much noticed on European televisions. Nowhere in the old continent comes close. Of course, these are not soccer-specific stadia we are talking about but rather arenas for American football, where games last three hours and have dozens of stoppages, hence the need for more entertainment.
Qatar set the bar very high. Since 2022, World Cup stadia are expected to be jaw-dropping. It is a shame the TV coverage has shied away from the stadia’s locations and historical contexts, apart from the inane vox-popping of a few random locals. Philadelphia for example has revolutionary history, as does New England, but we barely heard about it.
I used to live in Kansas and Massachusetts so seeing the 1970s curves of Arrowhead stadium or Foxboro’s lighthouse on television has brought back memories, but I wish more information had been given on the localities. Boston, the chief city of New England, has deep English roots, including a monument to America’s first football club of any sort, Oneida, who started in 1862.
Has America finally ‘got’ football? It will certainly keep growing after this tournament in the same way that USA ‘94 gave it a big boost. The younger generations are much more soccer-savvy than their parents and grandparents and Major League Soccer, which did not even exist in 1994, now has 30 teams averaging 23,000 crowds. The astral growth of the women’s game in the States has helped a lot too.
According to a 2026 survey, football is now third in popularity behind American football and basketball with Americans, narrowly ahead of baseball. It is still a long way from challenging the big two however, as was evident when the New York Knicks NBA triumph took over the Big Apple last month, while the US Men’s National soccer team collapsed embarrassingly 4-1 to Belgium in their home World Cup.
Still, if the American president intervened to twist FIFA’s arm and boast publicly about it, that shows the world’s favourite sport had made serious inroads on American exceptionalism. I have no idea when the USA will win the World Cup, but it looks likely they will host it again in 2038.
Sooner or later, the beautiful game will conquer all. Its beautiful simplicity and global following are just too hard to resist.
(c) Sean O'Conor & Socccerphile