During the summer of 2014, I worked for a news outlet in Alabama where televisions throughout the office were showing the World Cup. During the group stages, the United States played Germany, a crazy game which concluded with an American loss. One of my coworkers, a self-professed “soccer hater,” thought the loss eliminated the U.S. team. “At least we’re done with this soccer nonsense now,” she said.
Only, we weren’t done. A tie against Portugal and a win against Ghana gave the Americans enough points to advance to the knockout round. When I explained this to her, she expressed distaste.