Why Everyone Cares About This World Cup

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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Messy running inside. Back out it goes. Lino Messy. Lino Messy.
First career World Cup hat trick ties the all-time goalscoring record.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (0:53)
From The New York Times, I'm Natalie Kitroeff. This is The Daily.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:57)
And there it is. Erling Haaland meets the World Cup.

**Tariq Panja** (1:02)
The World Cup meets Erling Haaland.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (1:05)
Two weeks into the World Cup, the most watched sports event on the planet has already broken records.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:12)
Brilliant from Mbappe. France lead.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (1:18)
Hitting its highest attendance ever and generating the most goals scored in history. But one of the biggest stories of the tournament is happening off the field.

**SPEAKER_6** (1:28)
I feel like I've been lied to my entire life about America.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:32)
Like, I'm in Florida.

**SPEAKER_7** (1:34)
This beach is insane.

**SPEAKER_6** (1:36)
Like, just as good as Australian beaches.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (1:38)
As a wave of international visitors encounter an America they'd never seen up close.

**SPEAKER_8** (1:44)
What do you think of America, Texas?

**SPEAKER_9** (1:46)
Texas is good. Everything is big.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:49)
Ranch.

**SPEAKER_10** (1:51)
I love ranch.

**SPEAKER_11** (1:52)
I taste it here.

**SPEAKER_10** (1:53)
It's delicious.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:55)
And I take two bottles with foam.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (1:57)
And Americans encounter them and open their arms to the world's soccer fans.

**SPEAKER_9** (2:03)
It's hard to sit there and think Americans are bad, because every single person I've met that's American has been unbelievable.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (2:12)
Today, my colleague Tariq Panja explains the magic and the complexity of this moment. And Daily producer Anna Foley talks to two fans in the middle of it. It's Monday, June 29th.
Tariq, welcome back to The Daily. It's lovely to have you.

**Tariq Panja** (2:30)
Lovely to be back with you.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (2:32)
So, I have been watching the World Cup. It has been incredible, the competition itself, but also the amazing scenes that we have seen from fans from all over the world colliding with each other. And this is the thing that you told us would happen when you were last on the show. There is always this anticipation and anxiety that leads up to the World Cup.
And then the games begin and it becomes this human experiment of what happens when you bring the entire world together around a sport.

**Tariq Panja** (3:06)
It does and tournament after tournament, it gives us this brief moment of uplift, of joy, of people coming together.
And we're seeing it in places big and small here in the United States. And I'm so pleased that people in this part of the world are able to experience this.

**Natalie Kitroeff** (3:28)
And we should say this wasn't perhaps expected because there was a lot of angst around some of the geopolitical tension that was hanging over this. I mean, one of the host countries in this case, the United States, is literally in the middle of a war right now. And the US has even had beef with the co-hosts, Mexico and Canada. One of them, Trump has threatened to bomb and the other, he's threatened to turn into the 51st state. So this wasn't straightforward.

**Tariq Panja** (3:55)
You're right. This wasn't straightforward at all. America's posture to the world has been one which is kind of antithetical to a tournament that is supposed to bring the world together and bring the world to it. This was a country that was talking about building walls, reducing immigration, sending people out. And for fans who were trying to come here, getting visas was proving very difficult. Then there was the question of ICE enforcement at the tournament, the possibility of that.
Even on the cusp of the tournament, we had the situation with the referee from Somalia, a FIFA referee, someone on the list to work at this tournament, sent back to Turkey where he flew from. And that does give you a sense of dread if you are not someone who is sure they're going to be able to get into this country.
But tournament starts, and we've seen wonderful images, we've heard wonderful songs, we've all heard anecdotes of things that only the World Cup can bring. It is what happens when the world comes together.