I was all set to write a column about how the USA isn't ready to host this World Cup.
I was going to cite all the examples of general "you're not welcome here" vibes that our nation has been putting out for a while here, not to mention the visa policies, the denied entries, the bizarreness of the Iranian team's "commute" from Mexico to its matches in the U.S., the lack of a national advertising campaign for this, blah blah blah.
But then I realized something really simple: Our country isn't the real host of the World Cup. Our cities and towns are.
Our hotels are the hosts. Our restaurants, our Waffle Houses, our car-rental agencies, our bus drivers.
Our country isn't doing us any favors for this giant international event. All those "you're not welcome here" vibes and prohibitive policies and high costs of pretty much everything are real and happening and can't be denied. Those are the macro things that for sure have prevented a lot of people from making the trip for this World Cup — and mind you, FIFA holds some responsibility for that too.
Let's get over it. This World Cup belongs to our cities now.
I am so excited to see our match cities and base camp cities and every stop along the way rediscover the joy of hosting travelers for something like this. The Netherlands team arrived in Kansas City in a parade of team orange. Fans mobbed the Embassy Suites in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to see Spain's national team — and young phenom Lamine Yamal — take up base camp residence in the city.
To get what I'm trying to say here, you have to find Freddy on X. He's a German football fan who is making his way around the Southeast, documenting his trips to Buc-ees, Walmart, Waffle House, the Appalachians, Chili's and more. He tubed on the Chattahoochee River, took the cable car up Georgia's Stone Mountain and is sharing it all with the joy we should all have for these places we take for granted (yes, even Chili's).
Yesterday, one of his posts said, "I love Americans. We were about to walk an hour to the stadium in the rain to save on an Uber, and the receptionist at the hotel we were parked in front of decided to drive us there."
This is America. Welcome.
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