On July 6, my kids and I returned to our staple kid-centric activities, and the scenes I saw gave me great joy.
Unsurprisingly, the dominating theme was red, white, and blue, stars and stripes, and unabashedly prominent displays of the letters USA, however, whether that was the effect of parents clinging to the watermelon slurping, sunburns turned to tans, firework filled good vibes of the July 4th weekend, or was an all-day display of patriotism in anticipation of the USMNT's game vs Belgium that evening is frankly a toss up.
However, what turned my head were the jerseys. Not Booker Phoenix Suns jerseys (those are a daily sighting) or Murray Arizona Cardinals jerseys, but soccer jerseys. A rare and welcome sight.
Granted, the jerseys trended heavily in favor of Messi, which leads me to believe that these perhaps aren't soccer-obsessed households, but rather the product of a child sucked into the lure of the World Cup, followed by a parent who found the name currently most synonymous with the sport itself and procured said jersey.
Regardless of the journey that led each of these children to a soccer jersey, it's a clear indicator that their minds are on soccer and they're at least momentarily invested in the sport.
The USMNT and this World Cup have created an opportunity for the sport to expand in the U.S.
Although the USMNT crashed out in horrendous fashion against Belgium, for four games they gave us glimpses of something to be excited about. A giddy feeling of what if? What if the passion for soccer in the U.S. matched that of baseball or football? What if youth programs weren't about how much money you can get parents to pay for their child to play the sport? What if the diversity and huge population size of our country were the advantage they should be? What if we really are capable of so much more?
This World Cup, we witnessed a new standout star in Folarin Balogun, an immense talent who, despite getting entangled in messy red card drama, remained classy and composed. The epitome of a role model. Ironically, his talent was developed at Arsenal's academy in England, a player-first model with aspects we'd do well to adopt.
While Balogun's presence on the national team in many ways beautifully mirrors the diversity of America as a whole, it's thanks to another country's youth system that we're lucky enough to have one of the world's best strikers representing the United States. We can't, however, expect to create a complete World Cup champion-caliber team by riding the coattails of another country's work.
Hosting the World Cup in the U.S. has meant Americans are being fed a concentrated dose of cultures, passions, people, and stories from around the world. A healthy merging of the human population that Americans desperately need.
In the same way that other countries' fans have had the opportunity to marvel at the grandeur of our stadiums, experience the kindness of our people, and find joy in the absurd yet delightful experience of shopping in a Walmart or Target, Americans are witnessing the tear-inducing die-hard passion other countries have for their teams.
The kind of passion where a loss can send you spiraling into a depression for days, and a win may find you euphoric, wandering a street or lingering at a bar until closing time. A feeling that can be a unique and beautiful way of bringing people together. It's the gift of feeling something so deeply that Americans typically reserve for other sports. The beautiful game has the power to provide that mentally depleting yet highly sought-after emotional rollercoaster too.
The dream is that when the stadium lights turn off and the crowned World Cup winner returns home, the jerseys will continue to show up in the U.S. at parks, libraries, and schools, this time not with freshly cut tags but rather a little worse for wear because these kids want to linger indefinitely in the magic of the sport.
The disappointment after the Belgium match, that feeling as a fan of being let down, comes from the expectation of something greater than what was delivered that day. But the USMNT helped set those expectations with the strength of their previous play, and that counts for something. We have a solid base, now where do we go from here?
Something could happen, should happen, in terms of the advancement of the sport in this country. American eyes are on the sport. I'm watching children craft new dreams in real time. May we take this feeling, this momentum, this moment, and run, because realistically we may never get it back.
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