To grasp the significance of the World Cup returning to the US of A, consider this . In much of the world, association football fans are born, not made. Children typically have a favorite club before they can speak, whether they know it or not. In the USA, association football fans are often converts. And a lot of us have origin stories. Which is why I’m starting my contributions to these proceedings with something from my inbox from Peter Rehwaldt in Kansas City, who describes
living in an apartment building with some Dutch students during the 1982 World Cup, when the only coverage they could find was on a Spanish-language station in Chicago: “The three of us took over the common lounge area, and since none of us could speak Spanish, we just turned off the sound,” Peter writes. “The Dutch guys knew a lot of the players, and would give their own play-by-play commentary, which was often both hilarious and not fit for a family setting. In short, World
Cup 1982 was a blast.” Happily for Peter, the Netherlands chose the Kansas City Current’s practice facility as their US home base. (The Current stand sixth in the NWSL at the moment.) That year was pivotal for me as well. I discovered to my horror that my summer camp experience took place during most of the World Cup. My mother clipped the scores out of the newspaper each day and dropped in the mail, and I had a notebook on which I tracked the group
standings. I got home in time to see the final. In 1994, when I could afford tickets, I found a game I could attend. That’s how I ended up seeing the goal of the tournament, when Saudi Arabia’s Saeed Al-Owairan slalomed through the Belgian defense and scored. And yet, seven years later, association football was all but dead again. Major League Soccer was hanging by a thread. The first attempt at a women’s league had started well but would soon collapse. Then came 2002, the
best World Cup run any living US citizen has seen, unless that person is roughly 100-110 years old and happened to be in Uruguay at a young age. Since then, the sport has gone onward and upward. At my age, kids were ridiculed for following soccer. Today, when I do substitute teaching assignments, people argue with me over Messi vs. Ronaldo or Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. It’s easy to be cynical about this World Cup. Being ambivalent seems perfectly rational. This country may only be
unified by one thing . Messi, of course. Ronaldo? Really? The last World Cup showed that this sport had support in the US. The attendance records still stand. This one won’t be as special. But at least it reminds us of the days when it became cool to support soccer. (Yes, soccer. We’re going for a non-pedantic stance at the moment.)
World Cup 2026, USA, Kansas City, Netherlands, Kansas City Current, NWSL, 1982 World Cup, Peter Rehwaldt, Saeed Al-Owairan, Major League Soccer, women’s league
So is this saying soccer fans are just… converted? I mean my nephew was born liking it so idk.
I don’t get why everyone’s acting like the World Cup coming back to the US is some miracle. Like we already had it? Also Messi vs Ronaldo is dumb, both overrated.
Wait Kansas City Current? Isn’t that like a basketball thing? Or am I mixing stuff up. Either way, the part about Dutch students watching on a Spanish station is kinda wild lol. But honestly, when MLS was “hanging by a thread” that sounds like fake news, because I swear it was always huge.
The article’s talking about kids being ridiculed for soccer like that doesn’t still happen. My cousin gets made fun of for watching games and then somehow the same people are loud about it when they’re winning. Also the whole “unified by one thing: Messi” part… that’s kinda cringe, like what about the whole “Saudi Arabia player goal” story? idk I just clicked because World Cup in the US sounds good and now I’m reading soccer history.