She went to her son's first DC United match fully expecting to hate it. She didn't. Now she's locked in a battle against lottery systems, inflated resale prices, and her own credit card limits — all for a seat at the 2026 World Cup.
The story of how a lifelong sports avoider from Philadelphia became a genuine soccer obsessive is a good one. And it says something real about why this sport keeps growing in the United States.
How soccer won where every other sport failed
The NFL couldn't do it. Baseball couldn't do it. She grew up surrounded by Eagles and Phillies culture, wore the gear, attended the parades — and still needed someone to explain what a first down was. The sport itself never grabbed her.
Soccer did. Immediately.
What flipped the switch wasn't tactics or a particular player. It was the atmosphere. A smaller stadium where you could actually see the action. Fireworks on every goal. Supporters' clubs hammering drums and generating noise that turns a mid-table league match into something that feels alive. For someone with a short attention span, 90 minutes with no commercial timeouts and no byzantine rulebook turned out to be the ideal format.
Her son's obsession accelerated things. Travel soccer several times a week. Stadium tours across the country whenever the family travels. Last summer, they made the trip to Philadelphia for the Club World Cup to watch Real Madrid — his favourite team — and she sat through a torrential downpour without complaint. That's not a casual fan. That's converted.
The 2026 ticket hunt is already brutal
Getting into the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is proving to be another matter entirely. She's struck out across multiple FIFA lotteries and credit card presales. The resale market is predictably punishing.
Her working theory is that prices might soften closer to the tournament — a reasonable hope, though the Eras Tour taught her that lesson in reverse. Taylor Swift tickets didn't get cheaper as the dates approached. World Cup tickets, with global demand and limited supply, are unlikely to behave differently.
- FIFA lotteries: unsuccessful across multiple attempts
- Credit card presale access: no luck
- Resale market: prices currently out of reach
- Backup plan: watch parties and fan events if tickets don't materialise
The comparison her son keeps making — if you got us to the Eras Tour, you can get us to the World Cup — is both motivating and logistically flawed. Swift added dates. FIFA won't.
She's not giving up. Whether she lands a ticket or ends up watching from a fan zone, the 2026 World Cup already has one more genuine believer than it did two years ago. The sport has a way of doing that.
