The World Cup is the only football that matters

Every four years, when the World Cup ends, I make a promise to follow the players I’ve come to know, or the ones I’d forgotten about for four years, until the next tournament; but I never do. It’s not that following the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, or Ligue 1 is difficult, even in the United States: matches for all these leagues are on television each week. Instead, I glance briefly at the scores in the Monday papers. When the Champions League reaches the semifinals in spring, I pay slightly more attention, and might look back to see who were the losing quarterfinalists. But when it’s always the same teams by now, who can keep track of whether it’s Juventus or Chelsea that Real Madrid is playing? Finally, in May, I’ll watch the two Finals, the FA Cup and Champions League, on TV. Otherwise, football has failed to maintain my attention, and I broke my promise to myself.

Truly, I like only the World Cup, which I’ve watched since 1974. The