Photo by Lynn Sladky, AP
Column by Brian Hoffman, Sports Editor
Have you caught “World Cup Fever?” Are you watching “fútbol” games day and night, rooting for Ghana to pull out a draw with England? Are you avoiding housework so you can see Messi?
I’m somewhat interested in it. I don’t watch every game, but I’ll switch to our local Fox Channel after “Jeopardy” and flip back and forth between the soccer and baseball games. Last Tuesday I had a round robin with baseball and soccer between picks of the NBA draft. And, I’ll always tune in when the United States or Scotland is playing.
A couple observations. I’m astounded at how good these players are. Most of the soccer I watch is high school or Roanoke College, and I’m amazed when a Blacksburg player puts a free kick in the top corner for a goal, wrapping it around a wall of players lined up with their hands over their privates.
In my many years of covering high school soccer, I’ve run into all kinds of styles and coaches. Former William Byrd School coach Jeff Highfill would get his players in tip-top shape to outrun the other team. He’d find a player who could throw the ball in really far, then put some football players in front of the cage to outmuscle foes and score goals. The “pure” coaches hated this style but most of the time Highfill’s teams won the game. In fact, the “pitch” at the stadium is now named in his honor.
When I write about high school soccer, I always try to throw in some “futball” terms. A scoreless game will be “nil-nil” and I always use “pitch” for the playing surface, much like I’d use “gridiron” for American football. A team won’t score a goal to “tie the game,” but to “level the score.”
Getting back to the World Cup, its incredible how much better these players are than the ones I watch in the ODAC games. It shouldn’t really surprise me, because the Kansas City Chiefs are much better than the Randolph-Macon football team, but nonetheless I’m fascinated how they control the ball, pass with precision and run up and down the field just as fast with the ball as without.
There aren’t a lot of scores, it seems like four goals in a World Cup game is like 40 in pro football. And while the scores are few and far between, when someone does score they celebrate like the folks on the streets in France at the end of World War II. I’m sure if women and babies were allowed on the pitch there would be lots of kissing and crying. In fact, I think there is some crying already.
Also, if you think the players in the NBA are floppers, you haven’t seen flopping until you watch a World Cup game. Obviously there are some collisions, and the players wear minimal equipment for protection, but many times a small bump will result in the offended player hitting the turf like they’ve been shot. Think of an old black and white cowboy movie where the guy on the roof is shot and falls to the awning below.
So far, as I write this column, the host United States has done well in making the round of 32. They opened with a 2-0 win over Paraguay that had everyone talking about how good our team is. My question is, aren’t we supposed to beat Paraguay? They’re a country with a land size smaller than California and a population of 7.1 million people. Virginia alone has 8.8 million people.
I guess we’re just not a “futball country” just yet. It seems to be the most popular sport in the world but probably doesn’t rank in the top five in the USA. If I had to list them in order I’d put our football first, baseball second, then basketball, ice hockey and probably even auto racing ahead of soccer. That’s hard to say because a lot of little kids play soccer in this country and very few compete in auto racing.
It’s funny that my wife has become a big fan of these World Cup games, as she hasn’t watched soccer since our grandchildren played in the 8- and 10-years-old recreation leagues. She became especially enamored with the Scotland team and their fans. They’re a heavy-drinking, heavy-partying bunch that has been featured on the national news wearing traffic cones on their heads and parading through the streets on 100-degree days to the sound of bagpipes. Personally, I like the Norwegian fans who “row” up the escalators.
And here’s something I question. The opening round features 12 groups of four countries with each group playing a round-robin schedule to determine who advances to the “knock-out” round. You’d think each of the 12 would play their games at the same site to save on travel expenses, both for the teams and their fans. However, Scotland opened with games in New England, then traveled all the way to Miami to play Brazil. So, the Scots had to travel pretty much the length of the East Coast from one game to the next when it would have been simple to play all the “Group C” games in New England. I’m sure there’s a reason for that, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Maybe they expected gas prices to be back under three dollars a gallon by now.
The good thing is, the Miami folks got to party with the Scots, and you know Miami is a party place. In fact, all the foreigners seem to be enjoying their time in the United States. I was watching a show the other day where the visitors were overwhelmed by the size of the portions at our restaurants, the great “ranch dressing” we have and one guy was even excited that a mint was included in his order at Sonic.
And then you have the soccer fans who visited Buc-ee’s. If you’ve ever been to a Buc-ee’s, you can understand how that would make an impact. The first Buc-ee’s in Virginia opened one year ago this week, on June 30, 2025 in Rockingham County. My wife and I were driving up I-81 a week or so after the opening and saw the big beaver blow-up alongside the interstate. We decided to stop in on the way back, when time wouldn’t be a factor, to see what all the fuss was about.
Well, I can honestly say I’d never seen anything like it. First of all, before you went inside you’ll notice around 100 gas pumps as you drive around the immense parking lot. Once you go in, you can find about anything you want, and the food is absolutely delicious– the best barbeque sandwich I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something. To call Bucc-ees’ a convenience store is like calling Disney World an amusement park. I assume there are no Buc-ee’s in Bosnia, so you can imagine how those folks felt.
It’s so fun to see our soccer visitors’ faces light up as they experience life in the USA. We get a bad rep sometimes due to world news coverage, and it’s nice to see folks from another country see that the people here are, for the most part, nice.
