After their win against France on December 18th, Argentina was in chaos. Victory celebrations spread throughout the country, primarily in its large cities. “I loved it,” said Freshman Maia Cristia, a SAES student who was in Argentina during the final match. “The crowd was intimidating at first, but then it wasn’t dangerous, except for the fact that I almost got run over by a motorcycle or that our car almost blew up from a firework.” The World Cup clearly roused Argentina, but what has it done to the US and our school?
The 2022 Qatar World Cup was especially interesting because of its winter timing, unique from its traditional summer occurrence. School in the US was still in session, and a lot of students had to study for tests or finish projects before winter break. Yet, despite their massive workload, students still found ways to watch the World Cup during and outside of school, as history was being made.
Freshman Lucas Chao had the opportunity to watch the World Cup in the Iran vs US match during one of his classes (with permission). As a supporter of the French soccer team, he was glad that they made it to the final game, but said, “Last World Cup, we did win, so it’s kind of disappointing we didn’t get two years in a row.”
When asked about how he thought the cup shaped the school, he said, “It has definitely brought some communities together and split some apart.”
Lucas does not believe that the US men’s team would win a World Cup in the future but commented that the US’s performance was “an improvement from the last years.”
Unlike Chao, Cristia, who identifies herself as “a big supporter of Messi,” believes that the US team can win the World Cup “if enough Argentines join.” Despite seeing the final match in Argentina, she wishes that the cup had been in the summer, so she could have seen all the games in the country.
Similar to Cristia, Elliott Johnson’ 26, a JV soccer player at St. Andrew’s and supporter of Argentina’s team, said that he did not like the winter timing of the World Cup, except that it “made it harder to focus in class, but in a good way.”
Johnson is proud that the US advanced so far and said that in “20 to 30” years, the US men’s soccer team could win the World Cup for the first time. As a soccer player, he is confident that because of the World Cup, more people will be inspired to play soccer next fall.
Vince Wayne ’26
