How do you start a story you never thought would happen?
A long time ago in the year of our Lord 2010, I was not a tactical genius. I wasn't even Sam Lattof.
I was 12.
I was on vacation with my aunt Kim down in Disney World. We were staying at the All-Star Movie resort. While all the other kids were at the pool, I was inside the room watching the United States take on Algeria in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup.
Now, do not give me too much credit. I can't really swim, so the pool was not a place I enjoyed going to.
But I sat in that hotel room (potentially) alone and watched Landon Donovan score a goal that would bring joy across the nation.
That sparked some sort of relationship between me and the game. I would be lying if I said that I fell in love with soccer immediately after that, though.
Baseball was my sport for most of my life, while soccer was something I just played from ages five to 10. But I always loved sports. I played all of the major ones outside of hockey (can't skate). While other kids were watching SpongeBob, I was watching SportsCenter.
Ever since I was little, my dream was to work in sports in some capacity. As you can imagine, since you are reading this, I am not a pro baseball player, so that option was crossed out.
Later in life, I would get reconnected to the game through the FIFA video games, heading to France on a school trip, and working at a Portuguese credit union. I was always an arms-length away from the game but not fully ingrained in the sport and far from a sicko.
Then I met my wife.
My wife is Brazilian so as you can imagine soccer was something that came up when I met her parents and was a pretty easy way of bonding,. Especially since I didn't speak Portuguese and they spoke primarily Portuguese.
My now mother-in-law would call me alemão, which was basically a loving way to call me white (it literally translates to German). So I bought the finest fake Germany jersey from the 2014 World Cup and soon wore it basically every time I went over her house.
Additionally, watching games was an easy way to connect. My wife's father was a fan of Cruzeiro, so we watched a ton of games.
This was especially the case when he got brain cancer late in 2017. As his condition got worse, and he mostly stayed in his recliner, watching Cruzeiro games became a nice reprieve from everything that was going on.
But we did get to experience some special moments. We attended the September 2018 friendly between Brasil and the United States before he passed. While my wife and her family were cheering for Neymar to score a penalty (he did), I was begging for Zack Steffen to make a save (he did not).
But we also attended a Revs game prior to that. I heard that Zlatan Ibrahimovic was going to be coming to town and somehow convinced my wife to go and she brought her mom and dad.
We had a blast. Zlatan didn't show up but I will forever remember Christian Penilla getting an early red card and five goals were scored between the two teams. MLS was cool in my book.
Fast forward to the pandemic and I decided to DM Seth Macomber and ask if I could write for The Bent Musket (RIP). He did me one better and said I could become site manager.
That led to me covering my first game in Gillette in 2021 and the rest is history.
So why did I give you my life story? Well, because I already achieved my dream with everything I did with the Revs. I was in press conferences and in the stadium. It was everything I wanted to do as a kid.
That 12-year-old never could have even imagined covering the World Cup. I never could even have imagined attending a game.
But that's what I got to do this past few weeks. I covered every single game at the historic Boston Stadium.
I got to watch the world's best players and even talk some of them.
While seeing the likes of Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappe in person was impressive, what was even more amazing was seeing fans from across the world come together. That is what the World Cup is supposed to be about.
While The Tartan Army got a lot of love, seeing Ghanian fans watch their side eek out a point against England and the large numbers of Haitian fans was a sight to see.
One moment that will stick with me is after the Norway-Iraq game seeing fans of both countries dancing to Mexican music outside a restaurant in Patriot's Place. For a brief moment in time it seemed like the world was in perfect harmony.
This summer is one that I aim to never forget. While Frank Dell'Apa has covered eight World Cups, if i Just get one I will be happy. At this point, I am playing with house money. I've lived out my dreams and more.
So thank you. Without our readers and subscribers, we are just soccer sickos screaming into the ether. You've allowed me to live out my dreams and more.
