BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 The World Cup is coming to California \u2014 and soccer energy is growing fast. The goal of my story today is to see how hosting the World Cup in the U.S. could inspire even more players here at home.<\/p>\n
Months out but already buzzing \u2014 the World Cup energy is contagious as the U.S., Canada, and Mexico gear up to host the biggest show on Earth.<\/p>\n
Rashaad Ogun is a Senior forward from London, England, and he says, \u201cWhere I am from, it\u2019s huge \u2014 it\u2019s big, it\u2019s everything. So to have that, and to have it in the U.S., and everyone gets to experience that in pretty much their backyard \u2014 it\u2019s going to be played all over the U.S. It\u2019s going to be crazy, and I think huge for soccer in the U.S. in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soccer is the biggest sport on the planet. I went over to Cal State Bakersfield to meet players on the soccer team and get their perspective on soccer\u2019s growing impact in Kern County.<\/p>\n
Filip Arras is a junior defender from Norway, and he says, \u201cYou don\u2019t think soccer is very big in America before you come here \u2014 and especially since coming to Kern County, I\u2019ve really seen in the community how big it is. No matter where you go, you see people on the fields playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rashaad plays forward, Filip is a defender \u2014 both agree that having the World Cup in the U.S. could inspire more young players to get involved in the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like soccer is the best sport \u2014 you don\u2019t have to be rich to play. Where I\u2019m from, the poorest people and all walks of life play. So when it comes to the U.S., with the facilities and kids having inspiration and seeing players on TV, they\u2019re going to want to do it. They will want to play.\u201d Ogun said.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s something else I was curious about. With the United States and Mexico having such a large following in Kern County, what are the chances that either one wins the World Cup this year?<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe a quarterfinal\u2026 we\u2019ll see, I don\u2019t know. But winning? Not so sure.\u201d Arras said.<\/p>\n
I was afraid of that. Anyhow, with the United States, Mexico, and Canada hosting the World Cup, CSUB players say the tournament could spark even more interest in soccer across the region. And they tell me they may even travel to games themselves next summer \u2014 all while rooting for their home countries.<\/p>\n
The first game in California is set for summer 2026 \u2014 and soccer fans here in Kern County say they\u2019re ready.<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 The World Cup is coming to California \u2014 and soccer energy is growing fast.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[7625,48714,151,155,153,152,4472,21022,12672,166,26595,23132],"class_list":["post-86891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-america","tag-athletes","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-downtown","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-ball","tag-califronia","tag-canada","tag-county","tag-csub","tag-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}