Daniel McDonnell

But obviously here, the games I've been at so far, it's been the event as well where it's the most distinctive to one nation.

They show these celebrities on the screen and Tony Romo comes up, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback who's now the NFL pundit.

And it was a sort of a, you know, a nice response, but no one was going mad.

But then this basketball NBA player come up and the place went crazy.

So it was a real Argentina day, but it was Messi's day.

It was sensational.

I mean, it is like you can't, and this like superstar thing,

genre like a lot of people I'll tell you I got to Houston last night and I ended up went out to watch the late game Algeria Jordan as you do and in kind of classic America style ended up sat up at the bar next to this fellow started chatting to me and he was from he's from LA but he's a Mexican he's a Mexican he grew up in LA you talk about the lads from RD and their money it's

Eight years ago, when he heard that the World Cup was coming to the States, he basically just started making his life savings towards attending this World Cup.

So he saved money across eight years and basically said he doesn't have a penny left and he just spent it all on tickets for this tournament.

I mean, you feel unbelievably guilty when you're sitting next to someone like that and you're actually there...

being paid to be there and you're listening to this and he is just star hunting he's basically going around going I want to see Mbappe I want to see all his games and as you said he's getting everywhere he's gone he's pretty much got what he wanted from that star person I think he was at a Norway game

It's been extraordinary, but the Messi one obviously has just gone to another level with it, with the record, albeit Mbappe may just slightly, is sort of on the chase with that record.

It's sort of a little asterisk you need to sort of forget.

If France go further in the competition, who knows where that could end up.

Um, but yeah, no, it has.

And the, the American celebrity obsession, which is the thing, obviously the world cup is, it's so easy now for them on the ESPN, like say sports center at night and stuff.

It's so clippable.

It's absolutely perfect for them, but it probably does explain like what, what does appear to be a pretty high level of engagement with this world cup.

Yeah.