Interview - Mo News World Cup Preview W/ Men In Blazers' Roger Bennett

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Mo Shehata** (2:00)
All right, everyone, welcome back to the Mo News podcast here. A special conversation as the biggest event in sports is getting underway, and it's going to kick off here in North America. Over the next month, billions of people, an estimated actually five billion people, will be tuning in for the World Cup, a tournament so large, so global, it makes the Super Bowl look small by comparison. And so to help us understand what we should expect the big teams to watch for, what's going to happen with the US men, and a whole variety of things, I was able to have a conversation with Roger Bennett. You might know him as the founder and host of the wildly popular Men in Blazers podcast and media network. It's grown from a passion project for soccer obssessives into the largest independent soccer media company across North America, and he has become one of the sports most recognizable storytellers and ambassadors. We talk about his story arriving in America here in 94, when soccer ranked behind tractor pulling in popularity. It is now the third most popular sport in America as we begin the World Cup here. And so we talk about the soccer story here in the US as well as Preview, what will be the largest World Cup of all time. They've expanded the field to 48 teams. We discuss why the World Cup captivates billions and some of the teams. Argentina, will they repeat their win from 2022?
What of his fellow Englishmen, who have not won a World Cup since 1966? The French, the Moroccans, the Spanish, the Portuguese, a number of the teams that are looking to hoist the trophy at the end of the World Cup. Also, we talk about the US men's team, who actually made it to the round of 16 last time. What are the prospects this go around with home field advantage? We talk about that. So whether you are a diehard soccer fan or someone who cannot manage to name a single player, this is the World Cup primer for you. I think you will really enjoy the conversation. Roger Bennett is a spectacular storyteller. So let me play our conversation.
I live in Manhattan on the Upper East Side. I'm originally from Chicago. My father is a Moroccan Jew, and the family went to Israel in the 60s.

**Roger Bennett** (3:58)
Where about in Chicago?

**Mo Shehata** (4:00)
North Shore, Buffalo Grove.

**Roger Bennett** (4:04)
Glencoe was the first place I ever went to in America.

**Mo Shehata** (4:07)
Glencoe?

**Roger Bennett** (4:08)
Yeah, when I was 15, spent the summer chasing the 1985 Chicago Bears. Let's go, baby. Let's do it. Nutria forever. Nutria High School forever.