Soccer, America, ‘Country Roads,’ and the World

Steve Cortes• July 21, 2026

The country roads of America brought the world across our land, as our role hosting the World Cup fittingly coincided with America 250. The sprawling event on a grand stage reminded the world—and us—about important realities of our nation at its quarter-millennial birthday.

Now, like most Americans, I hugely prefer our football—which starts soon. We are just culturally biased toward a game that is far higher scoring, much more violent, and far more of a spectacle. We opt for the sports version of opera, with heightened, dangerous drama, rather than the grind and nuance of soccer.

But regardless of anyone’s sports preferences, the World Cup served to remind the world about the realities of Americans and life in the United States. Pew Research recently revealed that global polling shows China is now viewed more favorably than the U.S. around the world. It marked the first time in two decades of polling that China has surpassed America by this metric.

Notably, very few of those respondents wish to immigrate to China, even if it were possible. In contrast, most of the world yearns to come to the U.S. Nonetheless, America does have an emerging image problem. As America reasserts a populist nationalist worldview, some of this resentment is expected and even helpful. After all, it is more vital for a strong nation-state to be properly respected, and even feared, than to be loved.

But the World Cup experience made clear that much, if not most, of America’s image problem abroad flows from myths. Smears of the U.S. flow nonstop from legacy media platforms, especially the most powerful ones in the rest of the Western world. Unfortunately, the whole world lags badly behind America in developing alternative new media. Consequently, those legacy outlets in places like England and Brazil still shape public opinion very effectively.

Like the legacy media players here, those media conglomerates constantly push a dispiriting false narrative that the U.S. is a brutish bully country, bereft of both sophistication and gentility.

But then the world came to America.

More specifically, the world came to “parts unknown” to most foreign travelers. When these international visitors ventured beyond New York City and Disney World, they found a giant, diverse country of wonder, hospitality, openness, and just plain fun.

Thankfully, social media fostered an unfiltered flow of storytelling, straight from the experiences of the international fans themselves. These superfans could not get enough of America, especially flyover country, the parts of the nation normally ignored by their home media outlets. The joy of the visitors was genuine and immense, and it was returned in kind by generous Americans thrilled to show off local customs and cuisines.

Some of these social media accounts went viral, and the videos truly entertained the world. We will never forget the amazed reactions of Japanese fans eating BBQ in Texas and the champion Spanish team gushing with gratitude for their training camp hosts in Appalachia, in my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Norwegians “rowing” all across the States became a meme, and the Scots sang like one giant bawdy chorus as they outdrank even the Irish-American locals in Boston pubs.

Speaking of singing, the playlist for global soccer reflects the enduring soft power of American culture. Matches across the globe feature American songs, from “Sweet Caroline” to country favorites, and especially “Country Roads.” In fact, that John Denver ballad has become the unofficial anthem of global sports, belted out with gusto all over the earth by people who know nothing about West Virginia.

The throngs of happy foreigners loved on America. They sang our classic tunes with overseas accents and highlighted the unique appeal of the U.S. to the world, at least when America is authentically presented. The world saw that the U.S. is not the caricature portrayed to them by The Times of London, Der Spiegel, or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Instead, visitors marinated in the vibrancy and eccentricity of regional American cultures. The guests were welcomed with open arms by a country that is largely not enamored with their sport but grateful to serve as host country regardless.

As these masses of visitors marveled at our stadiums, they also came to understand the emerging consensus among American citizens regarding foreigners. The U.S. is an exceedingly generous and welcoming country. We allow far more legal immigration than any other country on earth. Even the most nationalist among us do not seek a “Fortress America,” sealed off from the globe. Instead, we demand a country that welcomes the world, but only on our terms.

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As our nation turns 250 years old, Americans have much to celebrate, of course. We also face major challenges and intense debates over foundational principles. For example, the modern Democratic Party is increasingly devolving into an extremist alliance of Marxists and jihadis, the starkest challenge to the Union since the Civil War.

But we are a great and mighty country as well, showcased superbly through the carnival of the world’s soccer championship. The world experienced the dynamism of the U.S. economy, the warmth of Americans as friends, and the spirit of the greatest republic ever to exist.

As the fans now fly home across the oceans, they bring with them a new and realistic vision of who Americans truly are. Accordingly, they might explain to their countrymen that in America, “life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, growin’ like a breeze.”

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.

Steve Cortes | Contributor

Steve Cortes is a contributor to the Daily Signal.

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