![]() Who will win it all? The two teams who look levels above are Brazil in their golden jerseys, just a technicolor dream, and Argentina, always a force, with Lionel Messi, that tiny, diminutive - it looks like he's just walked out of Supercuts. And I believe, whatever happens on the field for the American team, they will be all the better off for it when they play before a home crowd then in a tournament which is really going to put the sport over the top. The World Cup is coming back to the United States in 2026. Becoming an American citizen is the greatest joy of my life.Īnd I say that because a young American team, a very raw, incredibly dynamic, but totally inexperienced collective, will face in the opening round, November 25, England, one of the powerhouses of Europe. Well, despite my accent, I ride with Team America. It really is a World Cup that is soaked in blood.Īnd for fans like me who live for the World Cup every four years, that it's the greatest creator of collective memories, we all have to now shape up and find our own moral position. They gave the 2018 World Cup to Putin's Russia, and then the 2020 World Cup to Qatar, who wanted it almost to change the way they're seen, from a state that's petro-fueled with human rights concerns, with LGBTQ concerns.Īnd what's ensued since that award in 2010 is that 6,500 human beings, workers working on the roads, the hotels, the infrastructure, the stadia are reported to have died. In a podcast that we have just made, "World Corrupt," we interviewed spokesperson for the Department of Justice who was there for the - when the award went down. It's been compared to an eclipse that hits the whole world for an entire month simultaneously.Īnd the organizing body, FIFA, who are meant to honor the good in football and safeguard it, saw fit to award the World Cup to Qatar, a tiny Gulf state smaller than Connecticut. Five billion human beings are expected to tune in. The World Cup is the spice of my life, for millions of people around the world. It's for reasons that honestly break my heart. It was a very lonely journey for Briana, but now she can look at everything that she seeded with just a sense of wonder. women's national team.Īnd when you speak to the young African-American players who now flourish on that world champion team, they all point to her as the pathfinder. And the book is also about empathy, loyalty, connection to the collective, about dreams and, most importantly, tenacity.Īnd Briana Scurry is one of the most remarkable footballers I have ever met, hailing from Minnesota, the only African-American on any team she ever played for from the youngest youth levels all the way through to the World Cup-winning U.S. ![]() There's a lot of glory in our book, the Peles, the Maradonas, the Mia Hamms, the Alex Morgans.īut, for me, football is ultimately a mirror to humanity. And so greatness can be defined in many ways. That's what makes the World Cup such a scintillating experience for the world to witness. Yes, to us, when two teams take the field, their nation's history, their nation's culture, their nation's politics take the field alongside them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |