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This story is based on an interview with Jonathan Stone, 44, of New Canaan, Connecticut, who works in event marketing. It has been edited for length and clarity.My kids and I have been looking forward to the 2026 World Cup for months.Parker, 6, and her 3.5-year-old brother, Jameson, inherited my…
This as-told-to essay is based on an interview with Aziz Aslan, 45, the owner of Turquaz, a Turkish restaurant on Mission Street in San Francisco. It has been edited for length and clarity.I opened my Turkish restaurant, Turquaz, in San Francisco in February 2025. Typically, most of our customers are…
For sixteen years, the same photo has been my Facebook cover. It’s me and my twin boys, Charlie and Thomas, then 3, in matching Australia jerseys, taken before I flew to the 2010 World Cup. I crouched beside them shortly after my marriage ended and promised that when they were…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gary Bartley, 66, who is helping prepare the training pitches that Team Canada will use during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It has been edited for length and clarity.I’ve been in the industry since 1978, but I’ve never taken on a…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Katherine Howe, a historian and novelist. It has been edited for length and clarity.On Monday, I opened my emails to find that my ticket to the Scotland versus Morocco World Cup game was no longer available.Getting this ticket was years in…
Roberto Lopes played a star role in one of the World Cup’s most shocking results on Monday, but it may not have happened without LinkedIn.Also known as Pico, the 33-year-old defender was born in a Dublin suburb to an Irish mother and a father from Cape Verde, a Portuguese-speaking island nation…
One of the World Cup’s most notable teams blamed FIFA after their travel to their first game was delayed.Uruguay, which has won the tournament twice, was left waiting for the right permissions before its players and staff could fly to the US on Sunday.The squad was training in Cancún, Mexico,…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Maurice Edu, analyst with Major League Soccer on Apple TV. It has been edited for length and clarity.When I was growing up in California’s inland empire, I was constantly playing soccer with my four siblings. I’d narrate the games: “Mo shoots,…
This as-told-to essay is based on several conversations with Rory Phillips-Hunter, a 37-year-old estate and maintenance manager at a farm in North West England. Born in the Scottish Borders, he is a Scottish national soccer fan, known collectively as the Tartan Army.I was at the game when Scotland beat Denmark…
When the email arrived that I’d won the FIFA lottery, I felt like I’d beaten the system.I had scored tickets to the 2026 World Cup, which were widely predicted to cost a fortune. My plan was simple: I’d pay a reasonable price for two tickets to the first group stage…
