Three in a Row!!!

 The World Cup Final has just kicked off, and while I am mostly a neutral and mostly just hoping for a good game, I guess if I have to choose - I will prefer [2:55] Messi to win a 2nd with Argentina rather than Spain getting their 2nd.

Almost at every stage of this tournament (as per usual), I have been disappointed in the actual results.  Unlike "real" fans (or perhaps better tradFans) of the Beautiful Game, I tend to cheer for underdogs - and for that reason, I am unabashedly a USA Men's National Team fan.  But even outside of their sad and unworthy crashing out of the tourney [8:57] most rounds I have rooted for those routed.  I would much have loved a France - England final today (and while their wild 3rd place game yesterday was fun, it was, after all, a 3rd place match).  Despite mostly supporting England in most of their great run, the one time I decided to embrace the underdog storyline was their matchup versus Norway, and cheered for Braut Haaland and the Norse as they came up just a little bit short.

All that being said, this has (once again), been an AMAZING tournament and a delightfully good time.  At every stage, from the early days of tournament debutants getting their first ever WC goal (Curaçao equalizing against Germany [25:38 - Hydration Break!!] before giving up an additional 6), point (Haiti's amazing draw against Scotland, albeit in their 2nd WC), and advancing to the knockout round (Cape Verde and their exciting run), plus the joy that fans from all over the world were finding in the various host cities (Scotland fans drinking Boston dry, and fans from everywhere embracing the American greatness that is Ranch Dressing) as well as the phenomenon of non-Spanish speaking American fans watching the Telemundo broadcast rather than the English-language broadcast on Fox because there is so much more joy and less desperate "love our sport, please" energy in the Andrés Cantor broadcasts (and yes, this is still the same sentence [39:29]).

And yes, that is not to say that the tournament has been without some significant blemishes.  In fact, this is the 3rd World Cup in a row where it is difficult to say whether corruption in soccer's governing body (FIFA) or that of the host nation (Russia, Quatar, and now US*) is more extreme.  The treatment of Iran's national team this tournament is truly shameful.  Balogun-gate and The Orange One getting involved at all beyond, ok, attending the final, fine, but pretending like he cares at all is only slightly less embarrassing than the fact that FIFA invented a peace prize just for him.

[73:01]

But come on, a Half Time Show!!?? [currently on now] - that's so American, and this tournament has been awesomely and narratively and unabashedly American and cool not just in spite of it, but kinda sorta because of it.
The Biggest World Cup Ever! with the Most Matches and Most Host Countries and Extra Commercial Breaks (ok, that sucked, but, naja, capitalism, what are you gonna do, am i right?).
Plus Muppets and Madonna and little kids singing, come on... Pair that with more goals than ever, and some amazing underdog stories, plus the concurrence with the American Semi-quincentennial it all really adds up to an amazing, complicated, fraught but fun World Cup for the Ages... [57:00].

I am not holding my breath for a final to live up to 2022's absolute classic, but that one really didn't get off the ground either until about 20 minutes remaining, so we'll see, eh? [74:52]

Note: Thanks again, and as always (hopefully, from now on) to Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe for their wonderful Watch-aLong podcast again this tournament: After The Whistle!

*Yes yes yes, I know the tournament was officially hosted by the USA, Mexico, and Canada, but as the host of the final match and majority of the matches, I think we can still take the brunt of the corruption criticism.