All Encompassing World Cup in KC

update: I was waiting in the wrong queue the entire time. I was in the PMA Late Qualifier Queue. Not the Last Minute Queue. Unfortunately.

 

The KNVB has a program called Worldcoaches, in which they educate people how to coach in their neighbourhood

https://www.knvb.nl/nieuws/worldcoa...errassen-worldcoaches-tijdens-training-kansas
Tijjani Reijnders, Marten de Roon, Quinten Timber and Lutsharel Geertruida visited the festive closing of the KNVB WorldCoaches course in Kansas City on the eve of the 2026 World Cup. The internationals mingled with the coaches and the children at the Kansas City Current sports complex and gave them the day of their lives. Children crowd around Quinten Timber for an autograph. A boy puts his hand on Lutsharel Geertruida's fist. Tijjani Reijnders and Marten de Roon patiently pose for a selfie and listen to the experiences of the newly trained WorldCoaches. Football in its purest form. The players know that they once started out that way themselves and that that's when the love for the game was sown.
Passing on the dream
The Dutch internationals are on the eve of a World Cup, the highest you can achieve as a footballer. With the signature, the selfie and the handshake, they not only provided inspiration and enthusiasm. The twinkle in the children's eyes showed that they were passing on a dream to the children to get the best out of themselves and maybe one day also shine at a World Cup. That dream has been made possible by KNVB WorldCoaches. Together with Kansas City Current, Nike and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a course has been set up to train 25 local coaches. These are coaches who are already active in girls' and women's football and can develop further to integrate football and life skills. Their contribution does not stop on the field. Within their own community, they can use football to promote the physical, mental and social well-being of vulnerable young people and children.

The kids (and the "coaches") were from poorer neighbourhoods.

 

Getting to the match last night was an unmitigated disaster. Who could have predicted that?

 

I rode the bus from Oak Park Mall. That was easy except I left at 4:20 pm and rush hour traffic was a nightmare (multiple accidents on the highways), so I arrived at the stadium at 5:20 pm. Would have thought that the buses would have had a dedicated lane once they got close to the stadium, but no. Was impressed with the organization and fencing lines from the buses to the stadium (except for it being a 1 mile walk), but they stopped the fencing lines before the security check point and it was a total madhouse of people trying to queue up to the security entrance. There was a bizarre incident where two horse mounted police officers pushed through the crowd for no apparent reason. It took another hour to get through security, so I was inside the perimeter at 6:25 pm. Inside things were smooth, impressed with the hospitality pavilion area and food and volunteers willing to help. Left when Messi exited and the bus ride back was quick and uneventful. Greatest atmosphere for a game I have ever attended. Next game I go to I will try the security entrance opposite the bus side and see if that is quicker and safer.

 

I also heard mixed accounts, with people leaving from downtown having the worst experience. Fan fest sounded like an unmitigated disaster, but there were also accounts from the little church near the stadium of people standing in line for a bus for 45 minutes and then just giving up and walking.

When the primary mode of transport is busses, not having a lane that is explicitly dedicated to said busses near the stadium is an epic failure in event planning. "Big" cities have metros, subways, elevated trains that take people in mass from far away places to that major event. We don't have that. Busses could be a temporary solution, but you don't just plan for something you have never done before, and hope for the best. A few transportation dress rehearsals (unloaded busses) could have helped. At a minimum, don't schedule f'ing Argentina in your first match.

For all the good stuff I saw about KC last night, there was also a small percentage going after us about the lack of planning and lack of transport.

Hopefully they figure that out by the next game.

 

From afar, KC looked great!

 

My son was at the match, said it was a perfect game experience. In fact, he feared folks might have been there and thought, wow, KC has perfect summer weather and planned to return and take advantage of it. this, of course, could be a huge mistake.

 

I am so tired of time wasting and extra time for every game. Can someone explain to me why FIFA doesn't give control of the clock to the referees and let them stop it for every dead ball. That would do away with all of the time wasting, holding the ball, and rolling around on the ground. That seems to work for basketball and football, why can't it work for soccer?

 

Because this is a different sport. Americanization of soccer is already underway and I don't find any of it to be an improvement yet.

Funny though, I haven't really noticed much time wasting so far in the World Cup. I must just have missed the bad games, I guess. Though I'm not sure what problem stoppage time causes that clock stoppages fix?

 

Besides calling it "soccer" in the US, what part has stuck? I suppose in the US championships are awarded via playoffs vs. season-long point totals. Golden Goal had a moment, but vanished. We introduced the referee foam for spot kicks (I think that came from MLS). Did America introduce VAR? In 1994 WC the rule changes included eliminating back-passes to keepers and changing wins to 3 points rather than 2, not sure if those should be attributed to America or FIFA, but they first happened here.

Which of these are not improving the game? Or do you have others in mind? Game-day premium pricing is probably the worst, but I'm unsure if that's an American only situation.

 

All that was just a brain dump and a real question. There is no intention to be confrontational.

 

We attended the match. It was an amazing experience. Traffic getting in and out of the stadium wasn't bad at all. Lines to get through security were long but they were screening almost 70K people. The match was very fun. I'm convinced your best experience at the world cup is when a S.American team is playing. The Ecuador fans were crazy, but in a very good way, making it a very fun experience.

Next up for us is Austria v Algeria. We'll see if that one is as fun.

 

I'll have to chew on this a bit. I don't think you're being confrontational, and I agree it's an interesting thought.

I think I approached the "Americanization" of the sport less as going from the MLS-to-FIFA pipeline, and more of the US sports culture to Europe pipeline. So things like pressure to use video review, pressure to introduce more breaks into the game, that sort of thing. Now my view of a lot of that is after-the-fact, so perhaps it's not actually been Americanization of the sport, but it's felt like the increasing trend towards commerciality and TV presence over live experience have been part of our influence on the sport's growth.

I just need to do more research and have some actual time to respond. Work is just too much these days, haha.

 

If by Americanization you mean money grubbing pigishness, than toss the hydration breaks in, i guess. I will say this, during hydration breaks, our screens over here show the players standing around, drinking bottles of water. It's a rather boring 5 minutes, but no worse than every betweem downs moment in NFL broadcasts over here.
There is no tradition of ads during play, and at halftime we cut to a five minute news update. Though the signboards get around that.
Still, I don't see the trinks pause as Americanization any more than it is the greedy of lots of places, Switzerland prime among them.
I have to admit, the bald-faced bribery by the Saudis by plastering their oil company everywhere (they don't sell to individuals, so why are they advertizing to them? Hmmm, the numbers 2034 stick in my mind). On the other hand, maybe a bunch of folks have arranged for their own tankers of oil?

 

It seems ridiculous to always have at least 3 minutes of extra time becasue of the water breaks. If they stopped the clock when the water break started and restarted them when the water break ended, they would still be working with a "true" 45 minutes. If I'm not mistaken the second half always starts at 45 minutes, so they are obviously willing to reset. I think the studies have shown that in an average soccer game, the ball is only in play for 50 to 60 minutes. If the clock stopped and started for dead balls, we could get much closer to 90 minutes of play and there would be no reason for extra time, fake injuries, kicking the ball away or any other of the dark arts used for time wasting.

 

Well, it might not be a matter of Americanization, but more a matter of selling soccer to the American media. If for instance in the USA this "hydration break" perpetuates, American broadcasters might see ad profits in these breaks, which could lead to broadcasters wanting to put on the air more matches etc.

 

The game is already starting and stopping. What difference would controlling the clock make? It would take away some of the bigger complaints about the game.

 

Re: the stop and start of the clock. Remember the last world cup, where they essentially did that, timed each out of bounds and pause before a free kick, etc, and we were getting 10 minutes and more of extra time in every game?
The players hated it. Managers hated it. Television programmers hated it (messed with scheduling too much).
It did not catch on because of that.
The hyrdation breaks? The players love the idea.It's almost transformative for managers. TV in places where they do believe ads are a great addition to games, love these.
I'm not saying these groups are in charge of the game. Two of them really are not.
And I am not a fan.
But hydration breaks might have a chance to stick.
I fear football might have just become a game of four quarters.

 

agree. Too much of it "works" for it to not have at least a chance of sticking.