The World Cup is coming. The soul of American soccer is already playing in the U.S. Open Cup
WASHINGTON — Come summer — when FIFA’s gluttony devours North America, the heat index becomes the pivotal statistic and the quality of soccer is good but not great — you’ll be hard-pressed to discover the sport’s soul. The World Cup is less than two months away and, while it is undeniably a spectacle like no other, riveting most of the planet for five weeks and celebrating both the game and its apostles, there is an over-the-top impurity to it all. It’s always excessive, this year more than ever with increases in teams, matches, host countries and commercial opportunities in America.
Your bank account — and patience for fan shuttles — may never be the same. For all its wonders, the World Cup will not accurately reflect the pulse of the sport on these shores. Soccer’s essence is found in municipal parks and on small stages.
At the pro level, it lives inside small clubs yearning for an indelible moment that makes all the lower-division hardships — and, rest assured, there have been countless over the course of the sport’s patchy growth — worth it. Wednesday night brought a shining example. One Knoxville SC , a third-division club in just its fifth year of existence, defeated Major League Soccer’s D.
C. United in a shootout 6-5 following a 3-3 draw through 120 imperfect minutes. The magic of the Cup ✨ Defending USL League One champs @OneKnoxSC take down four-time U.
S. Open Cup winners D. C.
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