How America is shaping the World Cup

I'm Aisha Roscoe and this is the Sunday story from Up First.

In just a few days, billions of people from around the globe will tune in to the most watched sporting event there is, the FIFA World Cup. This year, three nations will co-host the tournament, Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. And the field will be the biggest ever, expanding from 32 national teams to 48. Today on the Sunday Story, a primer on all things World Cup, from the favorites and the underdogs to Shakira and to the global reach and unifying power of soccer. And stay with us.

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At MPR, we stand for your right to be curious and indulge your cultural curiosity. Follow it's been a minute wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll break down the zeitgeisty topics that are filling your feed. We're back with a Sunday story. So it's probably not much of an exaggeration to say the world's attention is about to be on soccer or football, you know, depending on where you're from. That's because the World Cup kicks off this week. And since I'm a soccer novice, to say the least,

I'm getting some help on this subject. I'm joined today by NPR's sports correspondent Becky Sullivan and NPR's Jasmine Gars. a diehard soccer fan and host of the podcast The Last Cup. They're both covering the World Cup for NPR this year. Welcome to both of you. Hey there, Aisha. Hi!

So uh the World Cup tournament is being played in the US for the first time in over 30 years. Um, I I know a lot of people are really, really pumped about this. And help me understand like what makes people so excited. excited about this event and and what does it mean to each of you? Yeah, I mean it's the biggest sporting event in the entire world. So, you know, just to give you a sense of the context, the Super Bowl, which is the biggest.

sporting event in the US maybe averages something over a hundred million live viewers, but the World Cup final, I used to think like five times that much. So, you know, outside of the Olympics, it's basically the biggest thing. And and in fact depending on how you're calculating it, it's bigger than the Olympics. Any country with a soccer team can qualify theoretically. The qualification process takes years, so there's years of building up

excitement for this level and so yeah, I mean you've got people from Jasmine, what do you think? Like South America, Europe, Africa, Asia all tuning in, not to mention of course here in the US and and the rest of North America. Um it's just huge. Yeah. It's like the Super Bowl of the world. And I think in order to understand how huge it is, you have to understand. how enormous soccer football is uh in in countries outside of the US. In in many countries outside of the US.

Soccer is like the unofficial religion. It's also like a social mobility machine. I mean the dream, you know, the the version of the American dream is like You become a soccer player, you become a millionaire, um, you get out of poverty. I mean soccer is so much more than soccer. That makes so much sense. Like I I I have to say I'm a big fan of spectacle and people coming together. But let me ask you, like is this normal like having three countries co-hosting the tournament?

Uh actually no, this is the first time that there are three countries co-hosting, but it has gotten more common over the years to have a joint bid. I think the idea is that there's more existing infrastructure in place, more stadiums that are already built that you can use. um the more cities, the more countries you have co-hosting the bid. So this joint bid thing is definitely has gotten more common um and is gonna continue to be more common in the years to come. But

What we've got in this tournament is the US uh co-hosting alongside Mexico and Canada. So eleven cities um here in the States, two cities in Canada, three cities in Mexico.

So the opening game that's gonna be in Mexico City this Thursday night. The US will kick off for the first time in LA the next day. Canada obviously gets to play uh in Toronto and in Vancouver. So Yeah, we're just games all across the three countries, and then the final will be just outside of New York City at the NFL stadium there.

So I I'm American. I I'm gonna root for Team USA. Uh w what can you tell me about the players on this year's squad and and do they have a chance? Like are they good? Yeah. The US obviously is like historically a huge underdog compared to the traditional powerhouses of soccer, which are in Europe and in South America. So we're talking like

England, Spain, France, Argentina, Brazil, those are sort of the traditional powerhouses. The US is absolutely not on their level. And so did they have a chance to win the World Cup? Sure, they have a chance. No probably not. That's what it's saying. You hesitate. You're like Bye. as possible. Anything is possible when you are down to the eleven guys on each team and the ball and the pitch and and

Who who can say? But it would definitely be a gigantic, huge underdog story if they did pull it off. But as for the team, you know, the this group of guys and this sort of World Cup here on Home Soil has been circled on the calendar for a long time. Because um, you know, this is sort of like the first generation of American players.

who grew up playing soccer in these academies, developmental things, and then and then went overseas to play in Europe. And so our biggest stars play for some of Europe's top flight clubs. The US has players who are playing in the English Premier League, players in the top Italian league called Serie A, they have players in the top French league, et cetera, et cetera. And the key guys, you know, Christian Polisic, he's the sort of star forward, the guy who scores. Um the most goals.

Pulisik driving through. Still Pulisic. He's got there. And he scored. You have two midfielders, Tyler Adams and Weston McKinney, who are sort of like the heart and soul of the team. Weston mechanic Stunning from Tyler Adams. That really is a wonderful goal from Western McKenna. He's back. All three of those guys.

are now 27. They're basically the three most important players on the team. And so they're in their prime. The World Cup is on home soil. That's like why people have been looking at this team and this opportunity for many years now. I think like realistically in terms of a realistic goal, you hear people talk about a quarter final that would match the best finish for the US in the sort of modern World Cup era. Uh they reached a quarter final back in two thousand two.

So if they can do that again, I think that would be just an enormous achievement. I think anything beyond that would be gravy.

And so so briefly, like who who are the front runners in this year's tournament? Ooh, well um I think uh, you know, uh being a journalist who predicts uh Um, who's gonna win the World Cup is a fool's errand. But I'll tell you, I think there's some really strong teams. I think Spain is super strong. a young, hungry team that has just been killing it in the lead up to the World Cup. They are the reigning Euro champions. Um, and they have um

this super young guy, eighteen years old, Lamine Yamal, who is just extraordinary. People are always comparing him to Massey, um, and saying he's like the next big king of soccer. Drop of the shoulder from Laminabale. He keeps his. Balance his head and Um, so I would definitely be looking out for them. France always has an extraordinary team and they play

so cohesively, you know, like you can take out one player and just put in another one and the machine keeps working. And they have uh the the superstar Kylian Mbappe, the captain of the team, and he's just someone to look for with with for beautiful soccer. Mbappé. Oh, what a finish that is from Kylian Mbappé. And it seems like those opportunities for beautiful soccer are are growing, right? Uh the the World Cup is getting bigger.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, very much literally so. I mean, as you mentioned earlier, like in the past the tournament um was limited to thirty two teams and now this is for the first time it's expanding to forty eight teams, which means that we're getting some fresh faces in here. I mean

Among countries that are showing up this time, um there are a handful who have never played in the World Cup before. That includes Uzbekistan, Curacao, Cabo Verde, and Jordan. Um and then there's also national teams that have played in the World Cup before. But um don't show up very often. They haven't played in decades, and that includes Scotland and Iraq, which I know are two fan bases that are super fired up about this.

And these are countries that uh soccer is like really part of the fabric of the culture, you know? And so to be able to make it um into the cup, um, that's that's gonna be wild. The fandom is gonna be pretty wild. And and and what's up with the music this year? Because I'm seeing Shakira is involved again. I also saw some Muppets and and stuff like that, but I don't know if they're singing and like he is a wide range of people.

Um but but I think we all remember Shakira had that Waka Waka song from the twenty ten World Cup in South Africa. Cause this is Africa. That song was a a colossal hit worldwide, which does make me think about the power of this particular stage, but also like how in the world is Shakira gonna like top that this time around.

I don't know if it ill if it's gonna top that, but it it really does seem like FIFA has Shakira on speed dial. Um it is true Waka Waka really resonated with people. It was a huge hit and You know, who knows if this new song is gonna do that, but FIFA is pulling out all the stops. Um, they're having a halftime show for the first time. It's it's the first time there will be a halftime show in a World Cup.

Um, and it has been a little bit polarizing between traditional fans who say, you know, this is like the NFLization, the Americanization of the sport, and newer fans who are really excited about a halftime show. I think that it's important to know that the pace of soccer, the pace of football is really different from the pace of American football. And so it's like a really interesting commentary like on how FIFA is packaging this World Cup to really appeal to an American audience.

Okay, so it sounds like this is gonna be an interesting new experiment. We'll see how it plays out. When we come back, a look at some of the political forces shaped. Stay with us. Hey it's Robin Hilton from NPR Music with some big news for everyone who loves the Tiny Desk. We're giving away a trip to DC to see a tiny desk concert in person, hotel and flights included.

Learn more and enter for free at NPR. org slash tiny desk giveaway. No purchase or donation required for entry must be eighteen years or older to enter. Links to the entry page and official rules can be found at NPR.org slash tiny desk giveaway. We're back with the Sunday story. I'm talking about the World Cup with NPRs Jasmine Garst and Becky Sullivan.

So uh the timing of this World Cup is uh a little problematic in in terms of it's happening as the Trump administration is doing this very robust crackdown on immigrants. And part of that crackdown is new scrutiny for people seeking tourist visas. So are are there indications that people from abroad aren't getting their visas or are facing delays to come see the games?

Well, this has been a issue that has been, you know, months, even years in the making at this point. You know, like we were talking about this last year when the Trump administration had to roll out sort of an expedited visa process for People who are verified world There's been a few other updates like that along the way because the Trump administration obviously has tighter policies around immigration. They have travel bans.

From a number of countries around the world, including several that are participating in the World Cup, whether that Whether that's Haiti, whether that's a partial ban on travelers from countries like Senegal, all three of these are teams participating in the World Cup. And then even for countries where there aren't such restrictions on visitors, the visa wait times, the processing times at embassies and consulates around the world are months long in some cases. And so

The Trump administration has been working with FIFA on this for verified ticket holders. There were also a lot of questions around some of the teams from from some of these places, like There was just this hiccup in the last week or two with the South African team. They had to leave an assistant coach behind initially.

after there were some issues securing their travel visas. That kind of thing is exactly what people were sort of expecting with this. And then not to mention obviously um everything about the Iran team. Well well, z zooming in on Iran, um they they've got a team in the tournament. Are any Iranian fans at all allowed into the US?

Well, traveling from Iran, no. But obviously there's a huge Iranian diaspora um in the United States, in North America and specifically in the United States, and even more specifically in Los Angeles. which is where Iran is scheduled to play uh two of their group stage games.

I mean, Iran was supposed to be like have their base camp be in the United States, like the team. Um, and obviously with everything that was going on, there were questions about whether they would even come to participate in the tournament at all. Um, after the Trump administration working with Israel um started uh a conflict earlier this year in Iran.

So, you know, the team is coming. They are participating in the tournament. None of that sort of worries about whether they would have to pull out. None of that came to pass. But they are instead going to be base camp in Mexico. They're gonna fly into the US just for games. And leave immediately.

That's definitely something that team is gonna have to deal with given that, you know, in a situation like the United States, they're based in Irvine, which is near LA. So they have two of their own group stage games in LA. They get to be based nearby. They don't have to have any significant travel time at all.

Um, so obviously that's a setback for Iran's team, which is actually quite good and has a has a really good chance of making it out of the group stage if they're able to perform well. Um, so that's definitely something to be keeping an eye on for sure.

For the US, this is a a big cultural moment where you have many diverse communities around the country. who are going to be tuned into this and and and this is something um jasmine that you've been reporting on like talk to me about some of these communities that are really excited and why this is such a big deal for them.

Well, you know, I think we were just talking about visas and the Trump administration's uh policy towards travel to the US and immigration. I think one of the big concerns that many advocates and and frankly communities have is uh ICE. Presence and ice raids at and around the stadiums, right? Soccer is huge in immigrant communities across the U.S. And these are communities that have been uh targeted extensively in in in a historic way. Really we're talking about unprecedented numbers.

Throughout the last year or so. So this has been a big concern. DHS has said it will have presence at games. um in in the same way that it would have presence at any international event being held in the US. There have been indications that there won't be ice raids at the event. Having said that, I think, you know, for the last year and a half or so, there's already been this climate has been created, right? Around immigrant communities being quite afraid to do basic things like

going to school or going to work. And so that really leaves sporting events off the table for for a lot of of people. So I think the the question of immigration and immigrants in America and what kind of access they might have to a sporting event like this um is gonna be a big one for coverage for sure. And and I feel like we can't have a conversation about the World Cup.

without at least mentioning the organization behind it all. FIFA. FIFA has been facing huge criticism around ticket sales. They're so expensive. Like where has that landed? Yeah, I mean, it hasn't landed yet. Like it's still going. I mean, I think uh the ticket price thing is gonna continue to be a story right up until every game.

Um, but yeah, I mean FIFA, they look this is an organization that is here to make money. They're here to make as much money as they can off of this event. And so what they've been doing is they're tapping into a trend that we're seeing across All sorts of things, whether that's ticket prices for the Taylor Swift AirStwo, or whether that's ticket prices for New York Knicks courtside seats in the NBA finals.

World Cup. Uh they are just trying to cash in as much as they can. So yeah, the tickets have been extremely expensive, especially for sort of marquee. games like those that the host countries are playing in. Like I was uh with the US men's team last week and the players were talking about how the tickets are so expensive that they can't even afford to send, you know, all of the friends and family who have asked.

them if they can come to the games they can't afford them all because the tickets are like a thousand dollars, fifteen hundred dollars and even professional soccer players are like, I don't know if I can afford a ton of these. Those big highlight games with the US playing, like those ones might not get too much cheaper. But for some of the more accessible group stage games, I think those'll those'll come back down to earth.

And you know, this has really been one of the big critiques of how FIFA has handled this. The key criticism here is that soccer is a sport that is so democratic. You know, if you have something shaped sort of like a a ball. you can play a soccer game and people do. And I think so many communities that participate are effectively being um kept out of it, kept out of of the

game and and and of this cup. And I think that's one of the big critiques, right? That like it's all good and well to have a a theme song about all of us together, but really who can afford uh to be all of us together with those prices?

W well well finally, like w what are you two most excited about in this tournament? Like like what what are the the matches that you're really looking forward to? I mean, I'm from Argentina originally, so I would be so excited to see the classic clash of Titans, Argentina, Brazil. Um Argentina, England. I'm also like, I'm just super excited about teams that in the last cup were kind of underdogs that did really well. Like, I'm excited to see Morocco play.

Yeah, I'm excited to just see the United States get so activated for this thing. I've covered a couple of Olympics now and I think there can be a similar story. Where there's a lot of anxiety before the event happens. But I think when the time actually arrives and these games actually happen in these cities all across not just the United States, but

Canada and Mexico too. I think it's gonna be a really amazing thing for a lot of our cities to experience this. Just like influx of visitors. It's gonna be really thrilling. Like I'm here in Kansas City right now, um, the Argentinian national team. uh touchdown uh here in case, you know, just just the other day, last week.

And that's already gotten people excited. Like I think that kind of experience, we're gonna have a lot of memories made here in the United States over the next month or two. And I think that's gonna be a really cool experience for a lot of people. Well, uh, Becky and Jasmine, uh, thank you for taking the time to break down this year's tournament and

Now that you've laid it all out, I'm I'm rooting for the fans, you know. I'm rooting for the people that are into it and that this would be just a great time for all, you know? And let yourself get swept up in it too, Aisha. You know, I know you said I know you said you're not a soccer fan, but just try that hat on this summer and I think you're gonna have a good time with it.

Oh okay. All right. You never you never know. That was NPR's Becky Sullivan and Jasmine Garst. Thank you so much. Really appreciate your reporting. You're welcome. Thank you. You can find more of NPR's coverage of the World Cup at npr.org slash World Cup. This episode of The Sunday Story was produced by Andrew Mambo. It was edited by Jenny Schmidt and Liana Simstrom. Special thanks to Jennifer Portman, Russell Lewis, and Ben Rappaport. The engineer of this episode.

Jimmy Keeley. The Sunday story team also includes Justine Yan. Irene Nagucci is our executive producer. I'm Aisha Roscoe. Up first, we'll be back tomorrow with all the news you need to start your week. Until then, have a great rest of your weekend. Richard Reeves is unimpressed by online influencers who peddle ideas about hyper masculinity.

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