Blogpost 1; Jul 3, 2026

World Cup 2026, more than a news report

The 2026 world cup, as of today, is very well underway, with the group stage finished and the first round of knockout games mostly finished. What I want to expand on today is not done with regards to FIFA and the world cup semantics themselves, but in the interactions between the flooding of foreign teams and foreign fans onto US soil. As reported by the New York Times, in Monday’s episode of The Daily, many of the American people have embraced the arrival of the new teams and cultures in a twofold manner. The outwards acceptance of the teams themselves, and the cultural collision that the foreign fans bring with them. Unfortunately however, the politics of the world have continued to weigh on the rulings of the world cup, which I fear may undo much of the positive publicity the event has presented for the United States. Something that it is quite frankly in dire need of.

The first wonderful aspect of this great challenge was the receiving of the qualified teams into American cities. The notable story of Algeria’s team setting up in Lawrence, Kansas, and were received by the marching band of the University blasting the Algerian national anthem, and by waves of green and red and white of team Algeria jerseys on the backs of the Lawrence locals. This to me marks an example of how accepting and culturally diverse the citizens of the United States are in mass. Such enthusiastic love for a foreign country, especially a generally muslim country from north Africa certainly goes to show that this country and its people are far superior to what is read and said about us in global newspapers.

Famously, when the Tartan Army of Scotland invaded Boston, the most notable thing was the exchange of surprises between the two famously similar and yet foreign cultures. Both cultures are well known for their accents that make non scotts or bostonians question if they’re still speaking English. Both have a reputation for boastful loudness, and a certain proclivity for the word Fuck. What the Bostonians did not expect was the sheer drinking ability of The Scots who drank their city to the bones. What the Scots did not expect was the incredible kindness they were received with, the love they saw at the Red Sox games, and the willingness to share American culture with these new friends. It felt much like having a sleepover with that cool cousin that you never get to see. The Scots believe in leaving a place happy that they were there to visit, what the Bostonians also did was allow the Scots to leave knowing that the Americans are far more welcoming than the news would lead them to believe.

Unfortunately despite all the work that the American people have done to demonstrate our kind and accepting nature, American political agendas have reared their ugly heads. Iran has been the biggest recipient of this injustice due to the current war between them and the US. Despite Iran being offered a place on the world cup stage, they were not allowed their visas until much later than the other countries, and when they did they were forced to stay at their base camp until right before the game, so when they get on the pitch to play the Iranian players are fresh off of the plane. To make matters worse, after the Iranian team made its exit in the group stage, The secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin stated that he was, “so happy when we were able to pull their visas and said they could leave the U.S. soil, and I might’ve sung a song or two or maybe even danced a happy dance”. This is despicable behavior, and is not representative of the people of the United States, in the ever growing divide between the actual and political worlds.

This has been Marc Grace, on Friday, July 3, 2026.