The World Cup Is Here. Even If You Don't Care About Soccer, You Might Want to Watch.
(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) — The sound hits you before the picture does. A roar, then another, then the kind of collective exhale that only happens when tens of thousands of people are watching the same thing at the same moment and cannot believe what they just saw.
That is football. Not the American variety with its shoulder pads and play clock, but the one the rest of the world simply calls the beautiful game. Right now, it is happening in backyards and bars and living rooms across the country, and closer than you might think.
This summer, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is being played across North America, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. At 48 teams and 104 matches, it is the largest edition of the tournament in history. And for the first time in 32 years, the games are on American soil.
If you have never watched a match, or watched one long ago and forgot what pulled you in, now is a reasonable time to look again.
The rules are not complicated. Two teams of 11 players each, including a goalkeeper, try to put the ball in the opposing net more often than the other side does in 90 minutes. What happens inside those 90 minutes is where it gets interesting. Unlike American football, which stops after every play, or baseball, which pauses between every pitch, soccer flows. The clock runs. Players cover five to seven miles per match. Opportunities to score are rare enough that when a goal finally comes, the reaction is proportional to every minute of tension that preceded it.
Tactics matter. Teams press forward to trap opponents near their own goal, cutting off passing lanes and forcing mistakes. Others sit back and hold their shape, then burst forward on the counterattack when space opens up. Set pieces, the corner kicks and free kicks that interrupt open play, can change a game in seconds. So can a red card, which sends a player off and leaves his team to finish the match shorthanded. The sport rewards patience and punishes errors. That combination is what makes it hard to look away.
The U.S. men's national team opened its Group D campaign June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, referred to as Los Angeles Stadium for the duration of World Cup play. The Americans gave the home crowd reason to celebrate, winning 4-1 over Paraguay. Striker Folarin Balogun scored twice, Giovanni Reyna added a goal in stoppage time, and an own goal from Damian Bobadilla opened the scoring in the seventh minute. The team plays Australia on June 19 in Seattle, then returns to Los Angeles on June 25 to face Turkiye.
For many locals, soccer was not a stranger growing up. Kids all across Ventura County got their first taste of the sport in AYSO leagues, including AYSO Region 121 in Simi Valley, where volunteer coaches ran practices on local fields and enthusiasm was the main requirement. Then high school arrived, and other sports pulled them away. The enthusiasm never fully disappeared, though. Drive past a park on a warm weekend evening and you may still spot a pickup game in progress, usually men, many from countries where soccer is not a weekend hobby but a national passion.
That infrastructure still exists for the next generation. AYSO Region 121 continues to offer recreational youth soccer in the area. Simi Valley Premier Soccer Club, with roots in the community going back more than 40 years, offers competitive play with coaches licensed through Cal South and the U.S. Soccer Federation. More information is available at svpremiersoccer.org. Eclipse Simi Valley Soccer Club fields teams for boys and girls from the under-9 through under-19 age groups, with a focus on individual development and sportsmanship. More information is available at eclipsesoccer.com.
Whether this World Cup translates into lasting enthusiasm for the sport is a question Americans have asked before. The 1994 World Cup was also held here, and the sport grew in its wake without ever fully taking root alongside football, basketball or baseball. Maybe this time will be different. Maybe it will not. Either way, the matches are on, and the locals are watching.
If you want to watch with a crowd, a few nearby spots have you covered.
Cronies Sports Grill at 2752 Cochran St. is a well-established local sports bar with screens throughout the room, cold beer on tap, and a relaxed atmosphere that has made it a go-to spot for watching live sports in the valley.
Lucky Strike Moorpark at 706 E. Los Angeles Ave. is showing all 104 World Cup matches through July 19, with bowling, arcade games and a full bar alongside the coverage.
Breakers Sports Bar and Grill at 398 N. Moorpark Rd. in Thousand Oaks is showing matches all tournament long. Doors open at 3 p.m. daily except Mondays.
The tournament runs through July 19. The final will be played in New Jersey. Between now and then, 104 matches will determine which country lifts the trophy. Some of those matches will be memorable. Most will not. But the ones that matter, the ones where the stakes are real and the crowd can feel it, those are worth your time.