The World Cup final was an amazing sport event

Readers respond to Question of the Week: Was the World Cup truly a kick for you?

As a lifelong fan of the beautiful sport of soccer, it was a nobrainer to wake up at 6 in the morning on a Sunday to watch the final match of the 2022 World Cup, as I sat in my hotel room’s office chair taking in the game.

I was glued to my screen at every shot taken by the French and Argentine teams. I didn’t really pick a side in this game, and it made the match heartpounding as each team gained momentum and lost momentum in a split second.

Messi and Mbappé are genuinely the best at the game, and how they took over that game was nothing short of amazing. As a season ticket holder of the Los Angeles Rams, I always thought of our football as the better game. However, after the World Cup final, I changed my mind.

— David M. Parada, Riverside

Soccer is the world’s favorite sport for a reason

Soccer is different from American football because it usually provides constant tension throughout a game. At any point, a goal can be scored in two or three seconds.

You just don’t know when so this tension arises every time your team gets the ball. Sometimes two goals can be scored in one or two minutes, as happened in the World Cup.

This is different from American football, where you can usually see a touchdown coming at the end of a long drive. Of course you have to be interested in one of the teams winning to experience this tension. This is why soccer is the world’s favorite sport.

If you watch soccer from a detached perspective, as many Americans do, the game seems boring if there is little scoring.

— Roman Nykolyshyn, Pasadena

The World Cup kick

I find it astonishing that the U.S. men’s soccer team has never advanced past the semifinals, when it finished third behind Argentina and Uruguay at the inaugural 1930 World Cup. There was a 40-year period when the United States team never managed to exit the group tournaments.

The kick for me is hoping to experience the U.S. men’s soccer team play in a World Cup final before I die.

— Stephen Lucas, Van Nuys

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