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No soccer scandals, please, we’re Yanks

Shouldn’t soccer’s flip side — the corrupt, grubby truth about the World Cup, global money and fan violence — be shown to hip American fans in all their unvarnished glory? 

On the eve of the U.S. vs. England match, David Rothkopf argues in favor of just all that: 

“Soccer has all the chaos, violence, scandal, corruption and controversy that have made other popular American pastimes so big and so irresistible. Promoters shouldn’t hide all that behind a veneer of bringing the world together with elegant players and swooping scissor kicks. For better or worse, Americans have come to expect beer and crashes at NASCAR races, showboating and rap sheets from football stars, and pro basketball players with mega-mansions and sex scandals. Soccer — and the World Cup — have all that and more.”