{"id":4925,"date":"2026-07-04T04:07:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T04:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=4925"},"modified":"2026-07-04T04:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T04:07:56","slug":"america-held-a-big-birthday-party-and-a-soccer-extravaganza-broke-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=4925","title":{"rendered":"America held a big birthday party \u2014 and a soccer extravaganza broke out"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The game the rest of the world knows as football is teaching America something about itself on its 250th birthday and reminding international visitors that the nation is far more welcoming and complex than its bitter political caricature.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump posts new image of $100 bill with his signature<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The World Cup\u2019s gift of joy is a unifying distraction after tough years marked by ideological divides and a pandemic\u2019s economic fallout.\n <\/p>\n

\n And its blend of European and South American superstars and rising African and Asian teams is also holding up a mirror to the country\u2019s own diversity and its enduring political experiment, enriched by immigration.\n <\/p>\n

\n The run-up to the tournament was fueled by concerns about over-commercialization, exorbitant ticket prices and the political expediency often shown by its governing body, FIFA.\n <\/p>\n

\n But once the first ball was kicked, the players\u2019 effervescence and the off-field party they conjured started to reveal a broader truth: The country is more layered and generous than endless feuding over Donald Trump\u2019s turbulent presidency and anti-US attitudes abroad might suggest.\n <\/p>\n

\n Multiple diasporas that call America home are thronging the streets after games, reflecting the nation\u2019s ethnic patchwork and its elasticity as people whose origins trace to Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and the old world celebrate their heritage in the melting pot of their new homeland.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a poignant scene at a time when immigrants have been demonized and many have been living in fear amid the administration\u2019s hardline rhetoric and seemingly random crackdowns.\n <\/p>\n

\n The idea of \u201cfrom many, one\u201d is epitomized by Team USA, which is managed by an Argentinian and has homegrown pros lining up with more recent recruits from elsewhere. Left-back Antonee Robinson, whose dad was a college soccer standout, speaks in the tones of the north of England, where he was raised. Midfielder Malik Tillman is the son of an American serviceman and a German mom and grew up in her country\u2019s youth soccer system.\n <\/p>\n

\n And Brooklyn-born Folarin Balogun, the son of Nigerian parents, who was brought up in England and now plays for Monaco, wouldn\u2019t have been in the red, white and blue but for birthright citizenship. The bedrock constitutional principle has been under unprecedented challenge but was upheld by the US Supreme Court the day before Balogun scored for the US on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n

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\nTeam USA fans during a watch party in Houston on Wednesday, July 1, 2026.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Team USA has been a huge reason for the nationwide party \u2014 but far from the only one.\n <\/p>\n

\n Bars and restaurants are crammed day and night for games, and are being invaded by visiting fans. Some US cities, hollowed out by economic change and remote work policies, haven\u2019t buzzed like this since before the pandemic, as fans in the shirts of multiple national teams pack the streets. The simple, cathartic ritual of gathering together for a common event, which feels quaint in an age of endless thumb-swiping, is the craze of the summer.\n <\/p>\n

\n What\u2019s refreshing about the USA\u2019s success is that the team \u2014 like its more decorated women\u2019s counterpart \u2014 is a rare common cause that anyone can bandwagon. Sports, like everything else in American life, is now part of a culture war after debates over players taking a knee or stars using their platforms to mock Trump. With luck, the USA can avoid the fate of their ice hockey compatriots, whose stirring Olympic gold medal triumph over Canada was soon tainted by politics.\n <\/p>\n

\nA unifying force in a divided nation<\/strong>\n<\/h2>\n

\n In its European and South American heartlands, football is a deeply political game. Religious bigotry rains down from the terraces in Glasgow when the city\u2019s big clubs, Rangers and Celtic, play. FC Barcelona has long been a hub for Catalan nationalism. But the USA has the potential to do something the NFL has mastered: creating an experience that can be appreciated by all the country\u2019s political tribes in polarized times.\n <\/p>\n

\n FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has been criticized for cozying up to totalitarian regimes and alienated many fans who don\u2019t vote MAGA by awarding Trump a peace prize.\n <\/p>\n

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\"FIFA<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nFIFA President Gianni Infantino and US President Donald Trump during the FIFA World Cup 2026 official draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 5, 2025, in Washington, DC.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Tasos Katopodis\/FIFA\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n But he had a point last year in Los Angeles when lauding football\u2019s capacity to bring people together. \u201cWe can see, well, actually this other person from this other part of the world, he\u2019s not so bad or she\u2019s not so bad as described, right?\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The global soccer supremo envisioned this year\u2019s World Cup boosting the nationwide commemoration of the revolution. \u201cWhen we learned that in 2026, there is the 250th anniversary of the United States, we thought, well, you know, you have a celebration \u2014 we organize a party,\u201d Infantino said.\n <\/p>\n

\n He didn\u2019t anticipate that the World Cup would not just enhance the observance, but in its unifying potential, would stand in contrast to it.\n <\/p>\n

\n In days running up to July 4, official US semiquincentennial celebrations have been consumed by political controversy, fueled by Trump\u2019s decision to take control of celebrations from a bipartisan congressional commission.\n <\/p>\n

\n In contrast with the crowds spilling out of World Cup stadiums, official 250th anniversary events have been comparatively sparsely attended. CNN reported that Trump vented about attendance at his speech launching the Great American State Fair last week, which has hardly been packing out pavilions set out on the National Mall.\n <\/p>\n

\n One reason for the underwhelming response might be that the president has not hidden his desire to make himself the center of the 250th. He delivered an intensely political speech on the Mall, declaring himself the equal of the founders in fostering American greatness. Millions of Americans who voted for him in three elections might agree. But the president\u2019s approval ratings are below 40%. His injecting of political rhetoric into the big national party is bound to push away citizens who have a different definition of patriotism.\n <\/p>\n

\nChanging views of the US abroad <\/strong>\n<\/h2>\n

\n Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d rhetoric has negatively reshaped many perceptions of the United States abroad, despite his claims the country has never been more respected.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump pardons 6 people for Clean Air Act violations after White House meeting<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The president\u2019s hardline immigration policies and hostility to American allies, along with wall-to-wall media coverage of raids by ICE agents, fueled calls for a boycott of the US World Cup in Europe earlier this year. Foreign fans have flocked to the finals, but new figures published on Thursday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showed that while global international tourism arrivals in member states rose 3.4% in 2025, they fell by 5.5% in the US.\n <\/p>\n

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\"Immigration<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents face off with protesters during a shift change outside of Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Center on June 7, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Adam Gray\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n But those who stayed away are missing something special.\n <\/p>\n

\n Media coverage of the US outside the country often fixates on anti-Trump commentary, mass shootings, racial strife and the inequalities inherent when millions lack healthcare in the world\u2019s richest nation.\n <\/p>\n

\n But World Cup fans are discovering that, along with its contradictions, America is a more subtle and complex nation that it often appears from abroad.\n <\/p>\n

\n Cities have surpassed themselves in welcoming supporters of visiting teams. It was no tea party when Scotland\u2019s famed \u201cTartan Army\u201d drank Boston dry and the kilted hordes marched through the streets behind pipers or mobbed Fenway Park for a Red Sox game. The smitten Boston Globe published a thank-you note, saying the Scots \u201ccame for the World Cup, but gave us something more.\u201d The paper added, \u201cWe\u2019ll never forget the joy you brought to our city.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The love runs both ways for visiting supporters. They\u2019ve marveled at truck stops the size of small European towns, plowed through US-size portions at restaurants and been staggered by US superstores.\n <\/p>\n

\n But beyond the social media posts highlighting American consumer abundance, many fans are seeing parts of America few visitors experience.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tourists often stop only in New York or other East Coast cities, or vacation in Florida or California. But the geographical reach of a 48-team tournament also hosted by Canada and Mexico means the football is, to paraphrase a famous Heineken beer ad, going to parts other events can\u2019t reach.\n <\/p>\n

\n This includes conservative regions of the US that have long mystified Europe\u2019s metropolitan elites reared on caricatures of gun-toting rednecks. Some fans are learning that whatever one\u2019s politics, most Americans are open and friendly in a way that takes getting used to for standoffish foreigners.\n <\/p>\n

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\"Thomas<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nThomas Tuchel, manager of England, looks on during a training session at Swope Soccer Village on July 2, 2026, in Kansas City, Kansas.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Richard Pelham\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Several global heavyweights sited training bases in the heartland. England bedded down in Kansas City, Missouri; Sweden chose Frisco, Texas; and Spain trained in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But Algeria made the greatest impression. The city of Lawrence, Kansas, adopted the team as its own, with downtown storefronts decorated in team colors. The University of Kansas marching band even showed up to welcome players with the Algerian National Anthem.\n <\/p>\n

\n With such episodes, Americans are adding their quintessential flavor to football. International fans who usually get in big-game mood in grimy pubs with beer-soaked floors are learning the joys of tailgating. In Atlanta, supporters of Mexico, Ghana and Brazil mixed in fan zones with big screens. Metropolitan areas with large immigrant communities, like Miami, Los Angeles and New York, turned into footballing paradises. There\u2019s little of the tension that can mar games in Europe, where there\u2019s a long history of football violence and infiltration of fan bases by extreme political movements.\n <\/p>\n

\n European and South American fans are also discovering a more educated soccer audience than they might have expected. Many Americans have looked again at the game in recent years, partially thanks to expanded television coverage of top overseas club teams in England\u2019s Premier League and Spain\u2019s La Liga. It\u2019s normal to see a game from across the Atlantic playing on Saturday mornings on TV rigs set up by tailgaters outside the fall\u2019s big college football games. And World Cup group stages and early win-or-go-home games have scored historic TV ratings. Vast, glistening NFL stadiums have turned into sporting cathedrals for another type of football, impressing many foreign visitors.\n <\/p>\n

\n Of course, despite the World Cup\u2019s popularity, millions of Americans are yet to join the party \u2014 or simply have no interest. And a few weeks of a game mostly played by other countries isn\u2019t going to make Americans\u2019 political divides go away. But this summer\u2019s action is a fun and unexpected tonic nonetheless.\n <\/p>\n

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\"Malik<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nMalik Tillman #17 of the United States celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the FIFA World Cup Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on July 1, in Santa Clara, California.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Charlotte Wilson\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\nHow football is changing in America <\/strong>\n<\/h2>\n

\n Global football is beginning to look at America in a different way.\n <\/p>\n

\n During the first US World Cup finals in 1994, a pervasive question in the media was whether soccer would finally \u201cconquer\u201d America. The patronizing assumption was that neophyte Yanks used to insular homegrown sports like American football and baseball didn\u2019t get the low-scoring artistry of the \u201cbeautiful game\u201d that held the rest of the world in thrall.\n <\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s less arrogance this time, perhaps appropriately at a moment when the US celebrates its break from a colonial power.\n <\/p>\n

\n Soccer \u2014 the professional game, rather than the recreational version many Americans play as children \u2014 has never been more popular here.\n <\/p>\n

\n Perhaps it doesn\u2019t need to \u201cconquer\u201d the United States. The rest of the world\u2019s game is unlikely to lay down the cultural roots that US sports take for granted, or that it enjoys in Europe or Latin America. There\u2019s no room on a packed sports calendar that means the Super Bowl in early February, college basketball in March, the Masters in April, NBA playoffs in early summer, US Open tennis in September and baseball playoffs in October.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the game is carving out its own spaces. Major League Soccer is becoming more than a retirement home for overseas stars like Inter Miami\u2019s Lionel Messi. Lower-level pro leagues and college soccer are increasingly credible, even if Americans are yet to embrace the cliffhanger concept of promotion and relegation. There\u2019ll be more synergy with the global game when MLS switches from its high summer season to mirror European professional leagues that play through the winter next year.\n <\/p>\n

\n New fans who\u2019ve loved the World Cup so far \u2014 with the greats like Argentina\u2019s Messi, France\u2019s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Norway\u2019s Erling Haaland and England\u2019s Harry Kane dueling for the golden boot as top scorer \u2014 will soon learn the best is yet to come. Knockout rounds between the world\u2019s footballing superpowers create agonizing drama, and there\u2019s always the possibility of the dreaded penalty shootout.\n <\/p>\n

\n But with the final two weeks away, the legacy of the US World Cup in 2026 already seems secure.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s making the world\u2019s game more American, and more Americans are falling for football.\n <\/p>

Read more Hobbit-like humans may have scavenged Komodo dragons\u2019 leftovers to survive<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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