Welcome to Soka 101, the podcast where we scratch your soccer riches and apply a smooth balm to your burning soccer questions.

That intro was much more gross when read out loud, but I'm going to move on with the topic of the day for this one, the big one, the World Cup.

Yes, the United States men's international team are officially qualified for the 2020 edition of the Big Jamboree in Qatar, along with 28 other teams and a few

places still to be decided. But what is the World Cup? Why do we have it? Why is it such a big

deal? And what does its future hold? My name's Ryan Bailey and three other hosts have qualified

to enter this episode, starting with Hello Taylor Rockwell. Hello, Ryan Bailey. That is a phenomenal introduction, my friend. Well worked. Well worked. Yeah, I don't know. I was a bit too gross off the top. Now everybody out loud. It looks better on the page. That's kind of your brand, right? When I think Ryan Bailey, I think, gross off the top, but then grows on you over time. That's what this is in my business card, actually.

You're quite right.

Joe Lowry's also here. How are you, Joe? Good. I'm applying that bomb as we speak. And does it ball me for you in sunny Scotland, Graham Rutherland? No, it is literally snowing today, Brian Bailey, in Scotland. I'm not even kidding. That is not a joke. It is snowing today. By the way, I like that for listeners, these are meant to be evergreen episodes. And really, it could be March. It could be June. It could still be snowing in Scotland. It could still be snowing in Scotland. Graham's feeling a bit ill. That's evergreen enough for us, I think, for this episode.

I'm Ryan Bailey, by the way. I qualified as host for this podcast just to keep that theme going. More on qualification for World Cup shortly. Why don't we get straight into the meat of this thing, guys? What actually is the World Cup?

Let's come at this as novices or for novice soccer fans, if you will.

So the 2018 World Cup final back in 2018 in the summer,

1.1 billion people watch that game.

It's probably the biggest sporting spectacle in the world besides the Olympics.

We can probably agree on that.

But Taylor, what is it about the World Cup?

Why is it so loved?

Yeah, I think it's because it's just a global party in my mind.

And I think that is what the original founding members of FIFA sort of envisioned when they came up with the World Cup.

Because at the time, the Olympics are very dominant, but the Olympics are emphasizing amateurism. And so I think FIFA had this idea that we could have a tournament that could include the kind of burgeoning professional

ranks, but it could be this thing where we have different teams from around the world with

different cultures, different playing styles coming together, and it

brings the people of the world together, but you also get this clash of style on the pitch,

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