{"id":744947,"date":"2026-06-18T17:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/744947\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T17:47:17","slug":"world-cup-stadiums-usa-v-australia-in-seattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/744947\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Stadiums: USA v Australia in Seattle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much has been made about the rivalry between the Socceroos and the USA, especially on the back of incendiary comments by American hot take merchant Mike Grella.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In reality, both the US and Australia are quite similar when it comes to football and both nations are desperate to go deep in this World Cup. As a dual US\/Australian citizen, I\u2019ve covered the game in both countries and am in a tricky spot come Saturday morning\u2019s matchup.<\/p>\n

Not only will my \u201ctwo teams\u201d be up against each other, the match will be played in Seattle, my home for seven or eight years in the 1990\u2019s and one of the USA\u2019s most football friendly cities.<\/p>\n

Whether its Sounders supporters rallying for their famous \u201cMarch to the Match\u201d on gameday or Premier League fans packing one of the area\u2019s many \u201csoccer bars,\u201d Seattle has been way ahead of the curve in supporting football.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the city where I first jumped on sports radio and talked football, something I would do for many years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My time in Seattle was spent as a writer\/performer on the well-known Seattle comedy show Almost Live! and in the mid-1990\u2019s I wore Arsenal jerseys on TV and traipsed to local pubs to watch FA Cup matches on weekday mornings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Seattle hosted Belgium\u2019s clash with Egypt. Photos: Aleksandar Jason <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I even played in goal for a local team called RKCNDY that included a number of guys from the Seattle grunge scene. Needless to say, Sunday morning games meant fairly erratic attendance and very few wins.<\/p>\n

I was also doing a bit of sports radio with my friend Mike Gastineau, and when 1994 rolled around, Mike asked me to be his World Cup reporter, a position he referred to as \u201cUnpaid Technical Adviser.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

That title suited me just fine and, although I didn\u2019t know it, would send me on a life-altering path.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Seattle I moved to Los Angeles and helped launch a sports network called Fox Sports World. We spruiked the Premier League, the Argentine League and the Serie A to Americans, hoping to interest them in the global game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was fun but it was manic, literally shoving tapes into machines, explaining the Scudetto to US sports fans and trying to convince them to call a 1-800 number and ask their \u201ccable operator or satellite provider\u201d to add Fox Sports World to their platforms.<\/p>\n

This was the USA\u2019s first international sports network, and it merged into a few other entities like Fox Soccer, before disappearing into the digital ether.<\/p>\n

\"\"Seattle\u2019s stadium during MLS season. Photo: FIFA<\/p>\n

I did, however, meet my future wife Michelle, an Aussie, at Fox and in late 1999 we moved to Melbourne for what was originally meant to be a two-year stint.<\/p>\n

In Australia, I was fortunate enough to be hired at SBS Sport by the late, great Les Murray and covered the old NSL for Toyota World Sports and On The Ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

South Melbourne and the Melbourne Knights were my weekly beat \u2013 hello John Sigur and Micky P \u2013 and when the Socceroos came to town, I played junior journo to the likes of Kyle Patterson and Andrew Orsatti.<\/p>\n

After leaving SBS, I continued to stay connected to the world game. I called Melbourne Victory and Heart\/City games on SEN radio for four years alongside the likes of Grant Brebner, Clint Bolton and David Clarkson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I wrote about the game for various websites and apps and \u2013 apologies in advance \u2013 helped craft some of the written content for the Western United bid.<\/p>\n

But now it\u2019s 2026 and things have come full circle. Tony Popovic\u2019s brash young squad \u2013 will this be a golden generation? \u2013 will line up against Mauricio Pocchetino\u2019s USMNT after both opened their accounts with impressive victories.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll leave the analysis to Football 360\u2019s far more adept football writers but for me this matchup will be 50% fun and 50% anxiety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because I know how much World Cup success means to both nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the back and forth in the media, and let\u2019s be honest most of it is clickbait, the two nations are very similar when it comes to football\u2019s place in the sporting pecking order.<\/p>\n

The AFL and the NRL, the NFL and the NBA. Those leagues dominate the news cycle in each country far more than the world game. A deep run in a World Cup can do wonders for the exposure and the credibility of the sport.<\/p>\n

Who am I supporting? I know it\u2019s lame to say this, but I\u2019d honestly prefer a draw.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I want both teams to advance and a draw this week combined with wins next week would mean spots in the Round of 32 for both teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then I can keep wearing my USA cap and my Socceroos scarf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much has been made about the rivalry between the Socceroos and the USA, especially on the back of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,5142,2957],"class_list":["post-744947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-seattle","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}