Can Soccer Save the World?

**Tommy Vietor** (0:20)
Welcome back to Pod Save America. I'm Tommy Vietor. The final game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup is now about a week away, and I am already genuinely sad that this is about to be over. The tournament has taken me from casual fan to full on World Cup junkie, and I don't know what I'm going to do going forward to not do work at the office because we just have the games on all day. And what makes this all the more remarkable is that before the World Cup began, there was a global sense of anxiety and concern about holding this tournament in Donald Trump's America. Fans from all around the world were worried about ice raids, visa restrictions, travel bans, and then also issues with FIFA itself, like the exorbitant price of tickets. That one was not resolved, by the way. And while there have been some unfortunate incidents, mostly the conversation has been about the excitement around the US men's team, at least at first, the unbelievable quality of the games themselves, the incredible finishes, and the joy of watching fans from around the world come to America, fall in love with our cities, our culture, inhale food from Waffle House and serenade stadiums with songs and even Viking chants. And it has served as a reminder to a lot of us, I think, that we live in a great country, and one that is defined by its people and not by its politics. So today, to dig into All Things World Cup, I am thrilled to be joined by soccer royalty.
Gary Lineker, he's a former England striker, broadcaster, and co-founder of Goalhanger. He was one of the greatest soccer players of his generation. The guy had a hat trick in the 86 World Cup. Incredible. Gary played in one of the most famous soccer games in history against Argentinian legend Diego Maradona. And today, he's one of Britain's best known sports broadcasters. And he's one who has used his platform to speak out about social justice issues and has even criticized for statements he's made, which we'll get into in the interview. Today, Gary is the host of an excellent soccer podcast called The Rest Is Football, which you can catch on Netflix throughout the World Cup. And if you're in the market for a new podcast, check out Goalhanger. They've got a bunch of great shows. The rest is history. The rest is politics. The list goes on. And another great way to support progressive independent media is to become a friend of the pod subscriber here with Crooked Media. You'll get ad free episodes of Pod Save America. You'll get other great crooked shows like Pod Save the World is ad free as well. You'll get tons of bonus content, including bonus Pod Save America episodes. You get deep dives into the polling, the latest polls from Dan Pfeiffer. There's great newsletters, much, much more. So becoming a paid subscriber, it's the single best way you can support our work and help us grow. So if you like what we're doing, please consider it. And with that, here's my conversation with Gary Lineker.
So Gary, I'm a casual soccer fan who has become obsessed with this World Cup.
So it's really, it's a pleasure for me to talk to a soccer legend like you.
As someone who played in two World Cups for England, you've covered soccer for decades. What are your impressions of the tournament so far?

**Gary Lineker** (3:17)
I think it's been quite joyous at times. There are always, with all big tournaments, especially the World Cup, there are always pros and cons. But I think by and large, it's gone spectacularly well in many ways.
On the pitch, I think the football has been really good. And some brilliant games, some cracking stories of underdogs, you know, Kate Verde, for example. I think the real joy has probably been the way the fans have celebrated, not just their own victories, but celebrated together and kind of shown a lovely humanity and togetherness that we've probably not seen previously. And perhaps it's a little message to the world that we can get on, even if we're on from all parts of the world. So I think that's been wonderful. The tournament's building up now, obviously, to the crescendo, the excitement, the big final. But I think it's been way better than I actually thought it would be. They're obviously going into it like we do in all World Cups. We always think there's going to be things that go wrong, and there have been, and things that we perhaps don't like.
But overall, I think it's been a triumph, really.

**Tommy Vietor** (4:36)
Yeah, that was sort of why I was wondering. In the lead up to the tournament, there was a lot of anxiety about Trump administration policies, the impact on the quality of play from the expansion of the tournament to more teams, ticket prices. I know that one has not been resolved, because I've been on stuff up, and oh my god.