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However that afternoon in November, some teammates celebrated the draw by teasing defensive finish Efe Obada, who was born in Nigeria and raised in England. Defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Casey Toohill have been reportedly among the many gamers who spent the day chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
“They’re like, ‘Oh, it’s our fifth sport! Think about if we cared about [soccer]!’ ” Obada stated.
“Identical to the Individuals,” defensive sort out David Bada, who was born and raised in Germany, stated. If the USA had truly gained, he joked, Allen and Toohill would possibly’ve draped the entire constructing in American flags.
Regardless of the previous joke — that soccer is America’s sport of the long run and at all times might be — a growing body of evidence suggests the game is gaining momentum right here. Information factors embrace attendance, TV rankings, U.S.-born gamers overseas and even the recognition of the TV present “Ted Lasso” and the podcast “Males in Blazers.” The USA was one of many main international locations in ticket gross sales for this 12 months’s World Cup, according to a FIFA official, and it’ll collectively host the subsequent one in 2026 with Canada and Mexico. (Issues about FedEx Discipline helped torpedo Washington’s bid to be one of many 16 host cities. As an alternative, 11 different NFL stadiums will host the video games in the USA.)
The Commanders might sound positioned to be on the forefront of the NFL’s embrace of soccer. They play in one of many nation’s most avid soccer markets and have a world roster. Workforce president Jason Wright is a Liverpool fan. And this season, the Commanders have leaned into the native soccer scene. In coaching camp, the Washington Spirit of the Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League visited apply and had a area purpose kicking competitors with kicker Joey Slye and punter Tress Manner. In October, the staff hosted D.C. United, together with Coach Wayne Rooney, a former star participant in England.
However Bada and Obada have been among the many few gamers on the staff who acknowledged Rooney, which Bada thought-about “mind-blowing.”
“I don’t know basketball quite a bit, however I do know a pair gamers, like, no less than the large gamers: LeBron James, Michael Jordan,” he stated. “However they know nothing about soccer. It’s loopy.”
Throughout D.C. United’s go to, the staff gave star receiver Terry McLaurin a jersey. He appreciated the gesture however hasn’t began following the game past often enjoying FIFA, the soccer online game. He stated he hadn’t watched one recreation of the World Cup and by no means performed soccer rising up.
“An excessive amount of operating,” McLaurin stated. “I actually don’t like operating an excessive amount of once I don’t need to.”
One of many solely U.S.-born gamers on the Commanders who loves soccer is offensive lineman Saahdiq Charles. As a child, he loved it as a result of, in contrast to his youth soccer league, soccer didn’t have a weight restrict to the touch the ball. Charles performed ahead and goalie on a journey staff till highschool. However then his soccer prospects brightened, and his mom inspired him to concentrate on the extra profitable possibility.
A reporter requested Charles if he ever wished he caught with soccer. Charles gave an incredulous look. The 23-year-old, within the third 12 months of a four-year rookie contract, has a base wage ($895,000) that’s more than double the base salary for a senior Main League Soccer participant ($438,728).
Although Charles doesn’t watch soccer as a lot as he used to — he as soon as adopted the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga and the Champions League — he nonetheless performs FIFA and frequently checks in on his favourite gamers, together with Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s caught a couple of World Cup video games, together with a scoreless draw between Mexico and Poland and a 1-1 draw between the USA and Wales.
“USA ought to’ve clapped Wales,” he famous. “They suck.”
The closest factor to a soccer nerve middle within the locker room is a financial institution of stalls in a far nook, the place Slye, Obada and Bada have chatted this season. In September, Slye scoffed at Obada’s favourite participant (Ronaldo) and stated he most well-liked the Brazilian legend Ronaldinho. Obada accused Slye of not supporting a participant solely as a result of everybody else does, and Slye countered that Ronaldo is egocentric — and that, with Manchester United, he was “doo-doo.”
Someday, when Obada was explaining his soccer fandom — Nigeria first, England second — Slye piped up: “Who’s your favourite non-I-was-born-and-raised-there staff?”
“No matter soccer staff pays me,” Obada quipped.
In the course of the early phases of the event, Bada largely watched the video games at dwelling or on his telephone within the facility. However for Germany’s second recreation — a 1-1 draw with Spain — he went to a bar with some mates from the German navy who’re stationed in the USA.
Final Thursday, Bada was sitting at his locker, watching Germany wallop Costa Rica, when he turned over to the sport between Japan and Spain. He noticed Japan was forward, which might knock Germany out of the event, and yelled, “No manner!”
By the subsequent week, Germany and the USA each had been eradicated, and Obada was the one participant within the locker room whose staff had survived. When requested if he’d get after his teammates as they’d carried out to him, he simply grinned.
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