Tommy Vietor

So Erling Haaland, a young Norwegian who is,

And other than Shaquille O'Neal entering the NBA and just breaking backboards, shattering them, you know, game in, game out.

I've never seen anyone score goals.

It's like as if Dolph Lundgren was a football player if AI created just some kind of Norse demigod.

He's bringing Norway over.

So there is that battle.

And again, because it's here, Tommy, in the United States.

this commercial hotbed of sports.

All of these footballers, and we're speaking to a slew of the great footballers in the world, they're all looking at the United States market, knowing one deep run, one set of ecstatic moments, the financial payoff for this World Cup commercially to kind of be what Pele was to previous generation, the face of the game in the United States.

There's the sporting competition, but there's also the commercial competition to be that footballer.

They all think they can be the next Pelé.

They don't quite know that David Beckham's already won the World Cup.

That man is in almost every single commercial and is not giving up his hold on our imagination anytime soon.

But there are also incredible stories that will fill the World Cup up, like Haiti, this tiny team.

uh for whom you know just qualifying is everything the political chaos that's unspooled over there which has impacted football um you know the football stadium their training center was was set fire to by uh insurgent gangs in porter prince you know the fact that they've even qualified um is remarkable they had to play all their games on neighboring curacao

Their footballers are brought from all over in the Haitian diaspora.

Just taking the field for them is going to be just a joyous geopolitical moment where the word Haiti is seen in a joyous spotlight, a wonderful spotlight so desperately needed.

And it could be one of the most powerful storylines in the opening round.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like I was laughing with you.

I already feel like I'm halfway through, but it's not kicked off yet.