ALLOW ME TO REINTRODUCE MYSELF
It’s been a long time since I wrote about sports and social media, but I made an exception for the 2026 World Cup. For the past nine years, I have focused on writing about faith at my personal blog, sunnycadwallader.com.
But there’s this event going on called the World Cup and it’s happening in the USA. Last week, my son and I were privileged to attend the USMNT match versus Australia. I resurrected CadChica Sports for this very reason, starting with my post, Reviving My Sports Passion at the 2026 World Cup.
I thought that I would “become a creator” and document the entire trip from home to Seattle – a 4+ hour drive across Washington.
Yeah, that didn’t go very well.
A creator of content I am not. A curator of content, well, I’m still pretty good at that.
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HELLO, SEATTLE
Let’s start with Seattle. The excitement building to kickoff was palpable.
Considering my son and I were surrounded by Australians at the match, it’s hard for me to say which country’s fans sang louder. However, singing the anthem never gets old.
They came by air, land (me), and ‘sea’.
The pomp and circumstance of pre-match was truly incredible.
The Aussies made their presence known pre-match:
In the end, U-S-A…and Country Roads
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POLITICS ENTERED THE SCENE
Seattle, for as glorious as it seemed, wasn’t without its detractors:
Really, Seattle Times?
Really, people?
There is just no pleasing people who have their identity tied up in their politics that they can’t just let a match be a match. But I digress…
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SQUAD GOALS
The goals. Oh the wonderful goals.
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NEXT LEVEL FAN LIFE
While the nations are vying for the Cup, I suspect, however, that some of the most lasting moments of this World Cup will be the visitors. Each nation’s fans have descended upon our country bringing their own version of passion and perspective, starting with Freddy from Germany:
Bosnia and Herzegovina marching through Inglewood? Bosnia and Herzegovina marching through Inglewood.
Seeing fan celebrations is great, but the Netherlands might be next level:
But this wouldn’t be a World Cup fan appreciation section without the Japanese:
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THE RANDOM
Random facts during any sporting event are always fun to read, but this one nearly made my brain hurt.
Scenes, indeed:
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MOMENTS TO REMEMBER
This tournament has also given us moments to pause:
Maybe none more so than this:
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