This year’s World Cup adventure for my fiancée, Johanna, and me extends to five of the 16 host cities, four in the U.S. and one in Canada. Throughout the next few weeks, I’ll be taking readers behind the scenes at what it was like to be a fan in each city and each stadium — what the city was like and what the stadium experience was like to make the fan experience as seamless as possible. Our fourth stop was San Jose, California.
This was the first time that I’ve gotten to see the U.S. men’s national team play in person as a fan. I covered the team in a friendly against Venezuela a few years ago, as I did for the women’s national team in a Concacaf tournament in California pre-pandemic. But this one felt different because it was different. It also, as the game progressed, made me think of my own soccer journey and how the World Cup, and the U.S. team, has been intertwined in it through memories.
I distinctly remember as a local youth soccer player watching the 1986 World Cup Final on NBC, cheering for West Germany and its green jerseys against Argentina. I remember the same for the 1990 World Cup semifinals, which were on TNT and seeing the Italy vs. Argentina semifinal go to penalty kicks after — no lie — the opening goal of the game for Italy was missed because TNT went on a commercial break in the game. The U.S. games were all during school times, so I never saw them play other than the highlights. I also remember going out after the semifinal and having my younger brother do ‘penalty kicks’ in the backyard as I stood between two trees, trying to make saves and diving around.
