Blog

World Cup 2026 Act 1: Reality Check

Forty-eight teams arrived at the 2026 FIFA World Cup believing years of preparation had brought them to football’s highest level.

Ecuador did not arrive at the World Cup as one of South America’s most entertaining teams. They arrived as one

Football identity is often mistaken for repetition. It. Is. Not. Doing the same thing against every opponent is not identity.

Norway entered World Cup 2026 carrying a strange reputation. Everybody knew the names. Everybody knew the talent. Erling Haaland and

Hajime Moriyasu’s side had announced themselves to much of the football world with a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands. That

Before the tournament, Ivory Coast appeared in my World Cup Dark Horses article because they checked many of the historical

Americans often ask why soccer never fully conquered the United States, and this is a reasonable question, though perhaps not

One of the biggest lessons of the opening round of World Cup 2026 is that there is more than one

Football spends most of its life pretending to be an industry, which is adorable when viewed from a safe distance