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| We won't get a 2026 sequel … |
Considering
that the U.S. national team didn’t play well enough in qualifying rounds to get
a spot in this year’s World Cup, I expect that many U.S. fans will try to
downplay the significance of the event and will focus their attention on 2026 –
when the tourney will be played on the North American continent.
SOCCER
FANS OF this nation will be able to see World Cup matches without having to
make international trips – except those of us from Chicago.
For the
North American host effort (which will have opening matches in Mexico and
Canada along with quarterfinals matches in other cities and the championship
game possibly in the New York metropolitan area) is bypassing the Second City.
Not that
this is a surprise. Back in March, city officials said they didn’t want to
cooperate with the demands of FIFA (the international association that governs
soccer around the world) in order to be considered as a host city. They also
have memories of U.S. Soccer Federation officials being less-than-respectful to bids to include Chicago in U.S. World Cup presentations for other years past.
Of
course, anybody who pays attention to the world of international soccer knows
that FIFA is the kind of organization that expects everybody to cater to it (to
kiss its fat behind with a symbolic big, wet sloppy smooch). Chicago didn’t
want to do so – so we’re out.
THOSE OF
US from Chicago will have to settle for the play of the Chicago Fire (and
possibly that new team to be created to play in a stadium to be built somewhere
on the city’s North Side). Either that, or travel to places like Kansas City,
Cincinnati or Nashville – the places under consideration for matches that are
closest to Chicago.
Either
that, or we’ll have to relive the memories of 1994 – which was the only other
time the World Cup tourney was played in the United States.
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| … to the 1994 World Cup opening ceremonies, which were held at Soldier Field |
As in
the aging stadium on the lakefront that had significant historic character; not
the current structure with the spaceship-like structure built within its outer
walls.
BUT THIS
TIME around, we won’t be a part of the international spectacle – which likely
is the lasting aftermath of the 2016 Olympic affair.
Remember
how then-Mayor Richard M. Daley was all anxious to have the Summer Olympic
Games for that year held in Chicago, only to have the International Olympic
Committee prefer the thought of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. And the thought of
Chicago finishing fourth out of the four finalist cities?
Our
political people felt burned by the world of international sports, and it seems
Rahm Emanuel had no desire for a repeat. Which means we won’t be a part of the
spectacle, while places like Edmonton (in Alberta, Canada) and Orlando (the
home of Mickey Mouse) will be.
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| The other three times ... |
We’ll
most likely have to settle for watching the spectacle on television, just as
we’ll be doing for the next month.
AND
WITHOUT THE U.S. national team’s involvement, I’m sure the level of xenophobic
nonsense from NASCAR fans trying to claim that Southerners driving cars around
an asphalt track is a significant sporting event will rise to all-time highs in
coming weeks.
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| … the World Cup came ... |
If
anything, that aspect if part of what intrigues me about international soccer –
a significant athletic spectacle (you try running up and down a pitch for
90-plus minutes at a time) that manages to infuriate some so significantly.
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| … to the North American continent |
It was
nice (sort of) to see President Donald Trump use one of his less-noxious Tweets
to say a continental World Cup was a wonderful spectacle.
Although
I also have to admit a more pleasing notion is that Trump’s presidency will be
long over by the time the 2026 World Cup is actually staged – all the more
reason our society should look forward to the event.
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