Tommy Vietor

It was a disaster.

Why is Africa hosting this?

It turned out to be one of the most significant World Cups of my lifetime.

Nelson Mandela.

Africa presenting it to the world in majestic fashion.

Same with Brazil, 2014, the violence, rioting, social unrest.

In 2013, the people rose up around games, marched on the stadia.

Every stadium I was in, there were riots, demonstrations for social justice, for education, not football.

It was meant to be a disaster.

And then once a ball is kicked on me,

cognitive dissonance kicks in.

I'm not sure this is a good thing or a bad thing, to be honest, but it's what happens once Lionel Messi takes the field.

You know, all the storyline just falls away and we kind of become mesmerized by that global eclipse thing.

So it is a lot of global tension.

It is a mirror to the world.

The world is understandably challenging.

But again, once that opening whistle goes, the past World Cups, everyone has gone from fear and darkness and catastrophizing to...

a sense of, albeit fleeting, sense of wonder.

Tommy, we're headed to you tomorrow.

We're going to L.A.