The Beautiful Game
The Beautiful Game
Image by MustangJoe from Pixabay
Admittedly, today’s post has little to do with music. Instead, as my hometown hosts multiple matches for World Cup 2026, I wanted to reflect and reminisce on my own relationship with the “Beautiful Game”. Like music, sport, especially soccer, can facilitate an unspoken bond across humanity, despite our otherwise cultural, language, and daily differences. I began playing soccer when I was 9 y/o. For the better part of the next decade, my life was a whirlwind of tryouts, practices, camps, games, and tournaments. Prior to high school, five, even six days of most weeks, involved soccer. Summers were spent on a blazing hot, sometimes stormy, pitch, with the remainder of each year spent on bright green fields of AstroTurf, illuminated by mercury vapor lights buzzing overhead. Music, especially that of Genesis, Phil Collins, Yes, and other artists that defined the “Big ‘80s”, created the soundtrack for these times.
The Beautiful Game (a/k/a soccer, football, fútbol, fussball, calcio) introduced me to faces and places far away from home. In addition to looking up to the gridiron greats of that time, new names, idols from a different kind of football, came into my consciousness. For me, names like Lothar Matthäus, Hugo Sanchez, Gary Lineker, Michel Platini, and “Gli Azzurri,” along with places like Estadio Azteca, Maracanã Stadium, and Wembley, became top of mind. I naturally learned about the legend of the late Pele, the paramount figure of our game. However, World Cup ‘86 and its iconic superstar, the late legendary footballer from Argentina, Diego Maradona, fully captured my attention and imagination. Together, his performance and that tournament in Mexico are forever etched in my memory. Looking back at that moment in time still stirs a hair standing-on-end-type of emotion. For a quick glimpse, watch the 2014 short film titled Maradona '86, from the ESPN “30 for 30” series, directed by Sam Blair.
World Cup ’86 offered other memorable moments on the pitch. Group stage and most knockout stage games were televised on ESPN/CBC. I diligently recorded many of these matches on my family’s VCR.
I especially remember two goals by members of the Brazilian squad in their “Round of 16” match against Poland. The first was a smoothly executed “stutter step” penalty kick by the late Sócrates. The second was a most remarkable score by Josimar. The young fullback weaved his way through three defenders as he sprinted towards the left side of the opposing team’s penalty area (box). As Josimar neared the endline, he blasted a right-footed shot from an extremely tight angle across the box, past the goalkeeper, and into the right upper corner/wall of the goal. The corresponding sections of my tape became worn due to repeated cueing. Over the next few weeks, me and my teammates attempted to recreate both of these goals in our training camps and practices. Days before, in his first international match for Brazil, Josimar struck one of the two most memorable long-distance goals of the tournament. The other was struck by Vasyl Rats of the former Soviet Union in their group stage match against France. Footage of Rats’ goal became part of ESPN’s opening titles and bumpers for the matches that followed. Unfortunately, the legendary championship game at Estadio Azteca was preempted by our local NBC affiliate, and I was unable to watch history unfold live on this day forty years ago.
Cut right… [all while rockin’ a mullet…]
Fun fact: After four overtime periods, that semi-final game in 1989 remained tied and went to a penalty shoot-out, that we ultimately won. At the time, it was believed to be the longest playoff game in Missouri high school soccer history.
Photos from our district semi-final game circa November 1989
Over the next few years, our fields moved from those of competitive clubs and AAU to those of high school varsity districts and summer leagues. Sadly, I suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Fall of 1990 during my senior year of high school. My plans for soccer at the college level were wrecked. I was lost.
Fueled by anger as to my circumstances and spurred along by a newfound focus on my upper body, I quickly went from a thin 165-pound frame to a more robust 195-pound chassis that could bench over 300 lbs. A few years later, I briefly rekindled my relationship with the Beautiful Game by the time the World Cup came to the United States. I had trained over the preceding six months (i.e., more running, less strength conditioning) in preparation for August tryouts with our city’s professional indoor soccer team. I also competed in a select summer league with college and semi-professional players, a few of whom would go on to play professionally for teams in the MLS and NPSL/MISL. Nonetheless, my rekindled relationship with the Beautiful Game would turn out to be a “summer romance”. However, looking back, that Summer of ‘94 and my brief return to the pitch were fairly cathartic. My experience also helped me refocus on my other interests, including the guitar.
Rockstar mode…
Photo Credit: Josh Stolberg
In the years that followed, the Beautiful Game would occasionally make her presence known, eliciting fond memories and creating new ones. Twenty years ago, I was filled with ancestral pride as “Gli Azzurri” hoisted the golden FIFA World Cup Trophy at Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany. A little over twenty-four hours later, I stood in the delivery room holding our first born while still wearing my blue Italia jersey from the day before. And so today, we once again celebrate the Beautiful Game, hope for more memorable goals, and wait to see who will join soccer’s immortals.
"For the Game. For the World."
Image Credit: Wikidasher, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Witnessing history…
LEAWOOD, Kansas, Jun. 16, 2026 - I joined several hundred fellow fans for Match Day at Park Place and witnessed history. On the right is a photo of a giant screen showing the replay of Lionel Messi’s first goal (17’) in Argentina’s match against Algeria. Messi’s “hat trick” was his first ever in a World Cup match and placed him in a tie with German legend Miroslav Klose for most career goals (16) in World Cup tournament history. Messi and Argentina went on to defeat Algeria 3-0 at Kansas City (Arrowhead) Stadium. Kansas City is one of only two host cities with four official Team Base Camps for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Our area is currently “home away from home” for defending World Cup champions Argentina, as well as Algeria, England, and the Netherlands.
Photo Credit: Anthony Woodard
An American Summer!
Image Credit: United States Semiquincentennial Commission and Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (per source),
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Jun. 19, 2026 - Watching our USMNT win their second match against Australia at a local tavern with my son and father-in-law. U.S. defender Alex Freeman found the back of the net with a fantastic header off a deflected shot for our team’s second goal. The United States defeated Australia 2-0 at Seattle Stadium (Lumen Field) and qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup knockout stage.
Photo Credit: Anthony Woodard
"The Heart of America"
Image Credit: Kansas City, Missouri, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A sea of orange!
KANSAS CITY, Missouri, Jun. 25, 2026 - Tens of thousands of Dutch soccer fans took over downtown Kansas City for the traditional "Oranje Fanwalk". Over 36,000 supporters dressed in bright orange followed the famous double-decker "Oranjebus" from the Power & Light District down Grand Boulevard to the FIFA Fan Fest at the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
Source: YouTube KMBC 9
Memorable Moments!
KANSAS CITY, Missouri, Jun. 27, 2026 - Photos from my day at FIFA Fan Festival Kansas City. The festival was held at the National WW1 Museum and Memorial. The matches on this final day of the group stage, including Algeria vs. Austria at Kansas City (Arrowhead) Stadium, provided everyone with some truly memorable moments.
Photo Credit: Anthony Woodard
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