As an American, I have to admit that soccer has never been the first sport that comes to mind when I think about sports in the United States. Growing up, football, basketball, baseball, and hockey always seemed to dominate the conversation. Soccer was there, but it often felt like something we watched when the World Cup came around rather than something that was deeply connected to American culture.

That changed for me during the 2026 World Cup.

Having the World Cup hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico made the tournament feel much closer to home. Instead of watching games happening somewhere in Europe or South America, I could actually see the world coming to our cities. With matches being played across 11 U.S. cities, the tournament felt less like a foreign sporting event and more like something happening in our own backyard.

What surprised me the most was the atmosphere. Americans sometimes have a reputation for not understanding how passionate the rest of the world is about soccer. But seeing fans from different countries filling American stadiums, wearing their national colors, singing, celebrating, and sometimes arguing about every single decision made me realize just how powerful this sport really is.

Personally, I think that is what makes the World Cup different from most American sporting events. When an NFL team plays, the rivalry is usually between two cities or two teams. In the World Cup, the entire identity of a country is involved. People are not just supporting eleven players on a field. They feel like they are representing their home, their family, their culture, and their history.

As an American, I also found myself becoming more interested in the U.S. national team. I think there is something special about seeing your country compete on the biggest stage, especially when the sport itself is still growing in popularity at home. For years, Americans have talked about soccer as a sport that might someday become one of the biggest sports in the country. Hosting a World Cup on this scale makes that possibility feel much more realistic.

At the same time, I think Americans should be honest about something: we still have a lot to learn from the rest of the soccer world.

European and South American fans have a football culture that goes back generations. For many families, supporting a club is almost a tradition passed down from parents to children. In America, that kind of soccer culture is still developing. We have incredible stadiums, huge resources, and a massive entertainment industry, but money and technology cannot automatically create the emotional history that football has in countries where the sport has been part of everyday life for generations.

That is probably why I think the 2026 World Cup was important beyond the actual matches. It gave Americans a chance to experience the culture surrounding soccer, not just the sport itself.

Of course, being American also means I cannot ignore the business side of the tournament. Sometimes it felt like everything had a price tag attached to it. Tickets, hotels, transportation, food, and everything surrounding the event reminded me that the World Cup is not only a sporting competition but also an enormous global business. There is something exciting about that, but also something slightly uncomfortable about it. I think the tournament should always belong primarily to the fans and the players, rather than becoming just another giant commercial machine.

Still, despite those criticisms, my overall impression is extremely positive.

The World Cup showed me that soccer has something that is difficult to explain if you have not experienced it. It brings together people who may have absolutely nothing else in common. An American can sit next to a Mexican, an Englishman, a Brazilian, a Japanese fan, or an African supporter and, for ninety minutes, everyone understands exactly what is happening.

That is what I personally enjoyed most.

Before the tournament, I thought of soccer mostly as a sport. After experiencing the World Cup, I started seeing it more as a language. You do not necessarily need to speak the same language, share the same politics, religion, or culture, or even agree on anything outside the stadium. When the ball goes into the net, everyone understands the emotion.

So, if you ask me whether the United States was ready for the World Cup, I would say yes — perhaps not perfectly, but in a very American way. We brought enormous stadiums, organization, entertainment, technology, and our own unique style of hospitality. But the most important thing we received in return was a lesson from the rest of the world: sometimes a sport is much more than a sport.

Personally, I hope the 2026 World Cup leaves something behind in America. I hope more children start playing soccer, more families start following clubs, and more Americans begin to understand why millions of people around the world care so deeply about this game.

Because after watching the world come together on American soil, I finally understood something I probably should have understood much earlier:

Football is not just a game people watch. For a lot of the world, it is part of who they are. And now, I think America is beginning to understand that too.