A World Cup summer Rhode Island will never forget

Farewell, FIFA. What a spectacular Summer of Soccer!

I never thought the last five weeks would be so memorable. We Americans are accustomed to spectacle. We have the Super Bowl, the most important date on the calendar. We have March Madness, college basketball’s big show. We have hosted the Summer and Winter Olympics.

But this soccer World Cup? Unbelievable! Our biggest stadiums were at or near capacity for every game, even with ticket prices $1,000 or more. Television viewership broke records, according to multiple reports. Hordes of fans descended on us from abroad to party hard and cheer long and loud.

Matches were dramatic. Nine, including the final between Spain and Argentina, required extra time. Spain defeated Argentina, the 2022 champion, 1-0, on a goal in the 106th minute.

Little-known nations like Cabo Verde, at least outside of Rhode Island, seized their opportunity to shine on the sport’s grandest stage and became household names, if only for a few days.

With the Final in the books, here’s what I will remember most about FIFA World Cup 2026:

Only by the luck of the draw did Scotland’s national team end up with two games at Gillette, er, “Boston” Stadium. While the players stayed in Charlotte, Boston would be base camp for fans. But when the Scots learned how expensive staying in Boston would be, they looked south to Providence and vicinity. Lucky for us!

The Tartan Army became a familiar and beloved sight at PVD FanZone in Station Park, strolling the streets of downtown Providence, venturing out of town to places like Barrington and Bristol and having a good time wherever they traveled.

If Gillette Stadium had a roof, they would have blown it off with their rendition of their national anthem. The Flower of Scotland registered a reported 125 decibels at the opener against Haiti. The loudest Patriots fans ever cheered was 109 decibels.

To get there, the Army secured yellow school buses for the 30-minute caravan ride to Foxboro.

The Tartan Army drank Boston dry and put serious stress on alcohol supplies in Rhode Island, but they never became unruly. And they were generous. The Scots gave Hasbro Children’s Hospital a $10,000 gift.

Cabo Verde, the island nation off the west coast of Africa, captured the hearts of soccer fans here with their run through the group phase and into the knockout round. With a population of only 500,000, Cabo Verde became the smallest nation in World Cup history to advance that far. Vozinha, the 40-year-old keeper, made seven saves in the scoreless draw against Spain and watched his Instagram followers balloon from 500,000 to 17.4 million. Then the Blue Sharks pushed Argentina into extra time before losing, 3-2. The team’s remarkable showing had New England’s sizable Cabo Verdean population living a World Cup fairytale.

Congratulations to the state, municipal and community leaders who found the money to turn the sometimes-grassy “oasis” by the Amtrak Station into Soccer Central. This was the place to be for food, drink, entertainment, people watching, camaraderie, celebration, culture and, of course, soccer on the giant screen set on a stage on Gaspee Street. Sure, Boston also hosted an official FIFA FanFest. But the Hub hosted fans for just 16 days, making Providence New England’s soccer capital for much of the tournament.

Rhode Island’s official guests. Players from this African nation stayed downtown at The Graduate and trained at Bryant University in Smithfield. Ghana finished third in Group L and advanced to the Round of 32 as one of the top eight third-place teams after group play, before losing to Colombia.

I am not a soccer guy. I covered games during my years at The Providence Journal but never developed an affinity for watching all that running for a 1-0 result. So this World Cup was a tutorial.

For the rest of the world, soccer is football, fútbol or futebol. The game is played on a pitch, a term derived from the Middle English pichen, originally meaning to drive stumps, then stakes, into the ground for cricket. Ropes were added to mark the playing surface. Pichen became “pitch.” Who knew?

Stoppage time and extra time were mysteries. Stoppage time occurs when a player is injured. Play stops but the game clock keeps running while an official tracks the length of the delay. Those minutes are added to the end of the 90-minute regulation time. Why not just stop the game clock? Who knows?

Extra time is overtime. Simple. Two 15-minute halves. If the score remains tied, penalty kicks decide the outcome.

Nil means zero. A nil-nil final score is 0-0. A scoreless tie, or draw. I get a kick out of American sports writers and broadcasters who start dropping “nils” in their commentaries when writing or talking soccer. And would somebody please tell me why futebol grammar uses a plural verb for a singular subject? Example: Spain dominate in the 2026 final over Argentina.

My favorite soccer term now? Meat Wall. This is a recent strategy on corner kicks. The attacking team packs the six-yard box to block the goalkeeper from catching or deflecting the cross. The New England Patriots could use a Meat Wall to protect quarterback Derek Maye, but that’s a column for another time.

The mutual admiration society between the president of the United States and the president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association — FIFA — was on full display for the world to see. First, recall that Infantino presented Trump the first FIFA Peace Prize at the draw ceremony at the White House last December.

Now, fast forward to the Round of 32, when the U.S. scoring leader Folarin Balogun received a red card and automatic one-game suspension for a questionable foul. Trump called Infantino and suggested a review. Infantino complied and rescinded the suspension. Howls of protest, especially from Belgium, followed. Not to worry. Poetic justice was served. Belgium won their Round of 16 match against the U.S., 4-1. Balogun was a non-factor. He took one shot.

And then there was the medal ceremony after Spain’s 1-0 extra-time victory. Infantino was on the stage, as he should have been. So was Trump, who participated in the ceremony but, evidently needing another booster shot of ego juice, remained on stage while Spain players celebrated. Infantino had to usher him away.

In the end, the FIFA World Cup 2026 was about great athletes playing the most popular sport in the world before thousands of fans from around the world. It was about the rich and famous sipping bubbles in luxury boxes and ordinary folks in native dress sitting in folding chairs at the PVD Fan Zone in 95-degree heat. It was about the Tartan Army from Scotland in their plaid kilts spreading good cheer and goodwill wherever they went. It was about people from different lands coming together as one in the spirit of sportsmanship.

For all that, thank you! ¡Muchas gracias! Obrigado! Danke! Arigato! Bedankt! Dank u! Merci beaucoup!