The World Cup has all the world pageantry of the Olympics, but it has wider participation in some ways.
Sohrab Ahmari asks:
Does anyone else associate World Cup summers with this deep sense of relaxation tinged with childhood nostalgia?
Is that a grew-up-in-the-Global-South thing, or do Americans feel it, too?
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) June 14, 2026
I do. It’s almost by accident. I have a few friends who were devoted supporters of Premier League teams in England and Scotland when I was young, but I wasn’t one of them. My godmother, an Irish Londoner, is a Fulham supporter. But I never clocked in to the beautiful game as a child.
As a father in 2026 in the Northeast, however, soccer is becoming serious business. At the moving-up ceremony for the elementary school, I was shocked to hear over a dozen male students say their ambition in life is to play World Cup soccer. Only two said they wanted to play professional baseball. My eldest son has a foot in both camps.
But I have extremely strong memories of the 1994 World Cup in America. Ireland played Italy at Giants Stadium. This happened to coincide with rare but intensely formative moments in my own relationship with my father (documented in my book My Father Left Me Ireland, remaindered everywhere books are sold).
The 2006 World Cup was in Germany, and I was then in Australia with the woman who would become my wife. Her months-long work stint Down Under was make or break. And I remember how insane Sydney became when the Socceroos faced Italy, keeping them in a 0–0 tie until the final five minutes when a controversial call — an Italian dive — led to a penalty shot and a 1–0 win for Italy.
After a raucous night of singing “In the Land Down Under” and “Waltzing Matilda,” that goal was like a stomach punch to the entire city. There was just silence and a sick feeling as fans poured out into the streets.
The World Cup has all the world pageantry of the Olympics, but it has wider participation in some ways. Here we see countries we associate with alpine games like Norway versus Middle Eastern states like Iraq. And soccer is such a common sport around the world, it has real passionate intensity in a way we only fake with curling or steeple chase. FIFA may be a near-criminal “nonprofit” enterprise. But World Cup years are a reminder that humans weren’t just built for work and rest, but for play.