Soccer Talk

As the World Cup approaches (less than a year now) I am following soccer ever more closely. But try to find an American to have an interesting conversation. Like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I've found over the years that the only folks to start up soccer conversations with are taxi drivers. Generally they are recent immigrants from soccer-loving countries and only too happy to discuss the world's most popular sport.

In Chicago my Mom & I had a cab ride with a cabbie from Nigeria. I told him I saw the Super Eagles of Nigeria play in Foxboro at the World Cup in 1994. I asked if he remembered Yakini, their ancient striker (by soccer standards, he was 35 at the time) who moved like an old, old man on the field until he had the ball, when he would come alive. We had a nice conversation about the sport and he asked, "Have you ladies ever lived outside the USA?" We laughed and said no.

Classic. To know as much about soccer as we do, we'd have to be foreigners!

:::sigh:::