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At this point, my family members are accustomed to my weird European sporting interests. Short of watching "Heated Rivalry," you can't get me into hockey, but I can give you a 15-year history of the F1 race team that was Force India. And when it comes to football, the only team I've watched compete at Soldier Field is Olympiakos, the Piraeus soccer team.

So, when the World Cup rolls around every four years, I settle in.

Greece didn't qualify and I always had my doubts about the U.S. squad, so I quickly adopted Cape Verde as my team. I wasn't alone, which is why it was impossible for me to fully get on the bandwagon and buy their jersey. Sold out online.

I watched and screamed at the TV as they came within a hair's breadth of defeating the top FIFA-ranked team, Argentina, in the knockout round of 32.

The family listened, humoring me, as I tried and failed to describe the valor with which the Cape Verdeans battled both the refs and the team the entire world expected would dominate them.

Slowly, slowly, though, the kids and my husband started to catch on.

The U.S. team did us no favors with a humiliating defeat to Belgium in the round of 16 -- especially with the goal that made it 3-1.

"I can't watch this anymore," I said, standing up and walking away.

My brother, an unhinged optimist who had said "crazier things have happened" than the U.S. winning the World Cup, was on vacation in Europe for the match and stayed awake until 4 a.m. to watch the game. That goal was about when he gave up, too.

But as disappointed as I was by both the Cape Verde near miss and the U.S. collapse, the World Cup continues to delight.

I've read up about the charming Norwegian team -- rowing their way into the tournament -- and their superstar Erling Braut Haaland, whose Viking goofiness has inspired countless memes and a swell Google doodle.

I can't say I've ever cared about Norway before now, but they've found another fan.

My kids, meanwhile, are learning more about Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe, celebrities they've long heard of but never watched in action. They argue about who's better, Mbappe or Messi, and about whether Ronaldo will come back for the next World Cup.

During a recent France-Morocco game, they spontaneously broke out into chants of "France! France! France! France!"

I'm not certain yet, but it seems like more than a temporary fad. I've been asked to secure soccer balls, and my son, whose only previous interests centered on the Pokemon universe, walked outside to the backyard after camp one sweltering day this past week.

"Where are you going in this heat?" I asked, confused.

"I'm going out back to practice soccer," he said. "I want to be a defender."

I'm browsing lessons at the local park district, hoping I don't get turned into a travel soccer parent, which seems like a kind of indentured servitude where you pay thousands of dollars to have your life taken over. I suppose it's worth it if it gets them off the tablets for a few hours every weekend.

Because I know that in World Cup soccer, it's all about the stories.

It's about Pele leading what could be the greatest team in history in 1970. It's about the tragic tale of Andres Escobar and the own goal in 1994. It's about the game-defining headbutt Zinedine Zidane delivered in the 2006 final.

There are so many stories to learn, and there are more every year.

It's about a 40-year-old goalkeeper named Vozinha, who entered the World Cup for Cape Verde unemployed and left with millions of followers on social media and a new species of sea slug named after him.

And it's not too late to get into it. Watch a documentary about Ronaldinho, Google "Erling Haaland" and learn about FIFA's bizarre history of corruption. Pick a team because your grandmother is from there. Because you like their jerseys. Because their star player seems funny.

There's no emotion you can't experience in the World Cup. And you'll have to wait another four years to experience it.

As they might say in Cape Verde: Aproveite o dia.

Seize the day.

COPYRIGHT 2026 GEORGIA GARVEY

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Copyright 2026 Creators Syndicate Inc.