KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Thursday, Kansas City finds out if it will be a host site for World Cup Matches in 2026. Sporting KC features a few players with experience in the World Cup, Graham Zusi and Matt Besler.
Both played for the US Men’s National Team in the 2014 World Cup. Roger Espinoza played in 2 World Cup for his native Honduras in both the 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil) World Cups.
“It’s a dream as a young kid playing in it, when you play soccer is to play in the World Cup,” Espinoza said. “I’m very happy that I achieve that goal and achieve that opportunity. A World Cup means lot, it means lot for the people in the country. It brings people together, you can see how it brings together the city that you’re playing in and elevated the soccer world in the host country.”
For Sporting KC defender Nicolas Isimat-Marin, he was seven when his native country, and World Cup hosted France, won the World Cup.
“It’s very nostalgic thinking about it. It was the best team at the time, especially with Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry and Dider Deschamps and Emmanuel Petit, so many big names,” Isimat-Mirin said.
Peter Vermes recalls the 1994 World Cup in USA and says the stadiums and the infrastructure have improved immensely and expects the attendance record to be as good or better than the record setting attendance in ’94, a record that still stands.
As for his memories from the World Cup’s he’s been to, he understands what it means to the host city to hosts the World’s Biggest event.
“Residents of the host country enjoy the opponents they’re playing against, they just enjoy the city that they go too,” Vermes said. “It’s a global event where everybody actually gets along and your getting to see the best soccer in the world.”
