The World Cup has been the buzz of the town, and it’s given our local radio hosts plenty to talk about as well. Check out some of the best reactions to the first couple weeks of World Cup reaction from the guys at 1310 AM/96.7 FM The Ticket and 105.3 FM The Fan below, including the international fandom coming to D-FW, the growth of soccer in the U.S., and the prospect of Messi breaking an all-time record on Texas soil.
Craig Miller, The Musers: “The stadium looks better than it’s ever looked. It’s beautiful, the grass is beautiful, everything about it, it just looks fantastic. … It was really exciting, there was a lot of action. It was a great match. The fans were thrilled, the announcers were thrilled.”
Corby Davidson, The Hardline: “If you’re going to the game on Monday, you have a chance to see — shortlived, I get it, because Mbappe is probably gonna own every record there is to own over the next eight years — but you have a chance to see Lionel Messi break the all-time World Cup goal record. He ties [German’s Miroslav Klose], and then you get to see him [break the record] in Arlington. Arlington, Texas, could be the host of the record-breaking goal in World Cup history. … It was so great [seeing Messi play], my kids who don’t watch a ton of this outside of the World Cup just were wrapped up into every minute. I loved it, and it’s all Messi. There’s a quality to him that transcends the sport, and there aren’t many people who have ever existed, whether it’s at that sport or other sports, that can say that.”
Bob Sturm, The Hardline: “I’d also ask the bigger question of: What is this doing to this sport in this country? We always have those big conversations, but this feels so different than anything we’ve ever experienced before. …
“The growth of international soccer has already happened, which is why the very cliché question of ‘When is soccer going to explode in this country?’ It’s already happened. The incremental growth of the sport is such that 35 million Americans watch the English Premier League. And that’s growing … That kind of growth kind of shows you, the revolution has already happened.”
Davidson: “I don’t know what we were expecting for this World Cup here, but I think we’ve all been blown away by the countries that have shown up here to D-FW and just knocked it out of the park from the fandom standpoint. There were 18,000 tickets sold to people from the U.K. yesterday, and that was probably pretty conservative. It’s unbelievable.”
RJ Choppy, Shan and RJ Show: “What a weekend for foreign travelers to come to America and realize the greatness of Buccees, of chips and salsa, and of other things we have in the United States. … My favorite part of the World Cup, is how eye-opening America is to travelers from other countries. They were told Americans were very rude, and they’re saying everybody’s been awesome. They were saying it’s unsafe, it’s been very very safe. … It’s been crazy.”