There are few sporting events that can transform an entire country quite like the FIFA World Cup.
For three years and eleven months, most Americans pay little attention to soccer. Then, seemingly overnight, everyone has a favorite national team, a hot take about formations, and a passionate opinion on whether a referee completely ruined the match.
As someone who admittedly knows very little about soccer, sorry, I mean football, I have found the whole experience entertaining.
The United States has long called American football its favorite sport, although if we are being honest, football is not really a sport on television; it is three hours of commercials occasionally interrupted by people running into each other. Soccer, on the other hand, asks for 90 mostly uninterrupted minutes of your attention. Somehow, every four years, Americans are happy to oblige.
One of the biggest reasons is accessibility. This year’s tournament has been remarkably easy to watch, even for people who were not planning on following it. Many fans have discovered that nearly every match is available on Peacock via Telemundo’s Spanish-language broadcast, meaning countless Americans who have never watched a soccer match before are suddenly tuning in daily.
An unexpected side effect? Many of us are slowly getting better at Spanish.
Even if your vocabulary begins and ends with “hola” and what you vaguely remember from high school, it does not take long before you recognize “¡GOOOOOOOL!” You start picking out words like tiempo extra, penal, tarjeta amarilla, and fuera de lugar. By the knockout stage, you convince yourself you understand far more of the broadcast than you actually do.
It turns out that listening to passionate announcers yell for two straight hours is surprisingly educational.
Then there are the players.
Every World Cup introduces Americans to athletes whom the rest of the world has been obsessed with for years. Suddenly, everyone’s social media algorithm is filled with highlights of Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior, Lamine Yamal, and countless others.
The funniest part is hearing people say, “Have you seen this Haaland guy?” as if Europe has been hiding him from us.
For billions of soccer fans across the globe, these players are already superstars. For many Americans, becoming an overnight celebrity is simply because the World Cup has taken over every television, phone screen, and group chat.
The transformation does not stop there.
Friends who could not explain the offside rule a week ago are suddenly explaining tactical formations. Your neighbor is talking about expected goals. Your boss casually asks if you watched last night’s match at work. People who have never owned a soccer jersey suddenly have strong opinions about which country is going all the way.
It is one of the few sporting events where nobody seems embarrassed to admit they are new to the game.
That is part of the beauty of the World Cup.
Unlike following a club team, where it can feel impossible to catch up on years of history and rivalries, the World Cup gives everyone a fresh start. Every four years, casual fans jump in alongside lifelong supporters. There is no gatekeeping. You pick a team, learn a few player names, celebrate every spectacular goal, and pretend you have understood the tactics all along.
By the end of the tournament, you somehow know the difference between a yellow card and a red card. You recognize half the starting lineups of Europe’s biggest countries. You have probably improved your Spanish vocabulary more than you expected, and despite insisting a month ago that you “do not really watch soccer,” you are already planning your schedule around the next match.
Then, just as quickly as it arrived, the World Cup ends.
Most Americans will go back to watching football, baseball, basketball, or whatever sport they followed before June.
The soccer jerseys will disappear. The debates about formations will quiet down. The Telemundo broadcasts will no longer be the soundtrack of our afternoons.
Until four years from now, when millions of us will once again become soccer experts overnight.
