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A Brief World Cup Explainer for the Once-Every-Four-Years Soccer Fan
It’s not as complicated as it seems
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past several months, you are well aware that the World Cup starts on Sunday. For my American readers, I should probably clarify that this is the World Cup of Football (what we call soccer), not the World Cup of NASCAR or Pickleball or any of the other “sports” folks in the United States actually understand. Though the beautiful game has soared in popularity here recently, for those readers who only show an interest in soccer every four years (much like with Olympic figure skating or gymnastics) and only if the U.S. is involved, here is a brief explainer to make your World Cup 2022 experience just a little better.
First, unlike our baseball World Series, there are more than just American teams participating. To some of you that may sound like a sinister communist plot, but I suggest looking up the Webster’s definition of “world.” This means that you will see teams from countries you never even knew existed, like Croatia, Morocco, and France.
Second, and even more shocking to some, many (perhaps most) of the teams from those countries you’ve never heard of are better than the U.S. team. A lot better. Our nation of 330 million often has trouble defeating teams from nations…
