Although we have another two years until the World Cup hits our great nation, states around the country are starting to gear up and get ready to welcome people from around the world. There are many reasons why the World Cup coming to the US again is a massive deal and every US citizen, including you reading this, will be affected in some way.

The Final Location

The MetLife Stadium has been confirmed as the host for the World Cup final which is a slight misstep in my opinion and I will tell you why: I am not a huge MetLife stadium fan. Even though I know it is iconic and has been a massive staple in American Football and music, with artists such as Beyonce, Ed Sheeran and the legendary Bruce Springsteen all performing there, I am just not a huge fan.

The stadium has an iconic history and is one of the biggest stadiums in the world, but, it is the design that lets it down to me. I understand the choice of picking a stadium on the cusp of two of the biggest and most famous Cities in the world but the stadium does not utilize this. The stadium is just a bowl and does not show off the view of the New York skyline which is a view people dream of.

Estadio Azteca

This should have been the final location when we think of iconic sports stadiums, especially in the soccer world, this is one people think of. The Estadio Azteca has hosted two finals already, had some iconic moments like the Hand of God and had one of the best soccer matches ever which had so many twists and turns that people nowadays wouldn’t have bet on football with Boylesports because it was that hard to predict!

Truth be told, I do understand why the MetLife stadium was chosen as the final location, but if the US wants to treat soccer as a sport that we care about, we have to respect iconic stadiums.

Our Soccer Issues

We have issues of our own and ones that we need to fix before we have the whole world watching. As soccer isn’t our sport and the one that we put a lot of money into, we have less knowledge and skill when it comes to playing conditions.

We have seen players who are used to the best pitches in the world play in America and complain about the pitches they have played on. This happened very recently in the Copa America when the reigning champions of the world, Argentina, played Canada at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. After the game was played the discourse from the players was less about the soccer and more about the pitch that the game was played on.

Why Is This Important?

There are a few issues with this and one of the biggest is the image that we have. It is not controversial to say that the US doesn’t have the best reputation of other nations, and I am saying this as someone who loves our nation. Us hosting the World Cup was already slightly controversial and now we have some of the best players in the world saying our pitches are bad.

We need to show we respect the sport that we are inviting here, the pitch is the best and most key start. A lot of the stadiums that are hosting games at the World Cup use artificial grass which isn’t to the standard that these games are going to be.

Not only is this bad for our reputation and our care for the sport but it is also important for the way the sport is played, the best pitches are needed to play the best soccer.