NPR’s Scott Detrow talks with Roger Bennett, the founder and CEO of the Men in Blazers Media Network, about how the World Cup will look and feel now that all three host nations are out.
Transcript
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The United States is out of the World Cup after a decisive 1-4 loss to Belgium last night in Seattle. We wanted to get a pulse on how the tournament is going to look and feel now that, sad to say, all three host nations are out. So we called up Roger Bennett. He’s the founder and CEO of the Men in Blazers Media Network and has been traveling around the U.S. in a tour bus covering the World Cup.
ROGER BENNETT: (Laughter).
DETROW: Roger Bennett, welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
BENNETT: Oh, Scott Detrow, you legend. It’s lovely to be here on even the saddest of days for all who care about the football game in this nation.
DETROW: It’s hard to take a moment of silence on the radio, so let’s just take a blip and then I’ll ask you – what happened?
BENNETT: (Laughter) Oh, hello darkness, my old friend. Another World Cup, another meek round-of-16 exit for our men last night in Seattle. I think we went in with hope in our hearts. This team had raised hope. They had played swaggy, buccaneering football. They made a nation care, and then only darkness. Part of it was self-sabotage – the reinstatement of our star striker…
DETROW: Yeah.
BENNETT: …Who’d been banned for one game that needed geopolitical interference. I don’t know if it was the pressure, if it was just karma. But we went out in the end, utterly meekly, again in the round of 16 – fourth time in the last five World Cups. It’s a ceiling. You know, we can put a man on the moon. We invented Animal Style In-N-Out burgers. This country can do anything it puts its mind to, apart from having a men’s team, that is. We love dream teams in America. We remain, in men’s football, a dream-on team, and it’s an agony.
DETROW: But they were looking so good, and it was so fun and uplifting and positive. And it wasn’t that kind of eking their way to a draw that the previous World Cup, you know, advancements have been. I mean, to ask a very 2026 question, do you think President Trump ruined the vibes?
BENNETT: (Laughter) There was definitely a complete and utter vibe change. And I think the story is yet to come out. The players were shell-shocked after the game. This team had been mediocre for the past two years. They have struggled. And then when we kicked off this World Cup, something transcendent happened. Three weeks ago, no one in America, other than the soccer fans, knew the name Flo Balogun.
DETROW: Yeah.
BENNETT: Suddenly, scored three goals, every WhatsApp group is crackling – we must have Flo back. We’ve lost Flo. In comes the president. You know, he’s talked about it, that he made FIFA reinstate him in the most unorthodox way. We’ve seen this team soar, and last night we saw them exit this tournament without even cocking a fist and putting up a fight with the nation watching. It’s going to take a long, long time for this team to rebound from that loss moment.
DETROW: Yeah. You have spent so much time thinking and watching soccer grow in fits and starts in the U.S. Do you think there’s ever going to be a point where it feels the way the Azteca felt with England and Mexico the other night? Just – like, it felt like the ground was shaking. It felt like everything that happened on the field was the most important thing in human history. Do you think…
BENNETT: (Laughter) Oh, by the way…
DETROW: How do you think soccer gets to…
BENNETT: By the way…
DETROW: Yeah.
BENNETT: It was. It was…
DETROW: Yeah.
BENNETT: …The most important thing in human history – those English giants who emerged barely intact from the Azteca. Like, 1066 – big date in English history; Battle of Britain, 1940; I think 2026, surviving the Azteca with a win, that will be talked about for generations for those that watched it. Look, I think about it like this – 2026, this World Cup has been the good stuff. We needed this, Scott. Memories are being made. Joy is being had. This World Cup is still the World Cup of Lionel Messi. And it’s also about the world falling in love with Buc-ee’s one nugget at a time. You know, Waffle House is having a great World Cup. These are the things that will be remembered.
And I think the agony of last night? When the smoke is cleared, that the United States team will not have woven themselves into the tapestry, the history, the telling of this World Cup other than for that one geopolitical moment. And that sense of missed opportunity, that sense of regret, that sense of what if is the thing that is ruminating in the heart of everyone who loves the game and its growth in this nation.
DETROW: Well, Roger Bennett, you have been my own personal podcast Sherpa through many World Cups now, and I appreciate that as a listener, and I appreciate you coming on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED to talk about it.
BENNETT: Genuinely an honor. Love all the work you do. Thank you for having me on.
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
