One team was from South America. The other Europe. The match was played in the Middle East.
Soccer — the game, the sport — has, yes, grown and grown here in the U.S., but for many in the audience of millions, the rules and customs remain foreign. Many were just tuning in Sunday morning looking for the NFL pregame show on Fox, only to find this experiment in the human condition exhaustively playing out on a soccer pitch.
Prior knowledge or appreciation didn’t matter, not in the face of drama and emotion and brilliance and pressure that transcends everything, that draws in everyone.