Illustration: Sarah Kilcoyne
Roger Bennett is the founder and CEO of the Males in Blazers Media Community, which acquired its begin as a soccer podcast in 2010. Unsurprisingly, the previous month has been busy, as Bennett’s crew has relentlessly chronicled the World Cup from a base in Atlanta, shuffling between host cities in an orange bus outfitted for broadcasting. “We’ve spent the 39 days of the World Cup working 18- to 20-hour days in a windowless lodge basement commandeered right into a state of affairs room,” he says. They’ve largely subsisted on supply meals, however after admitting to his spouse he “had not seen daylight in over 96 hours,” Bennett realized he ought to most likely begin choosing up some meals, simply to get exterior. “I need to be clear that the Particular Forces do slower lightning raids than I do after I go to a restaurant,” he says. “These should not leisurely visits. They’re barely sociopathic. We’ll be like, ‘How rapidly can you chop this? How rapidly can we get out of right here?’” There’s no time to lose; there may be soccer to be performed, and billions of persons are watching.
Thursday, July 2
I’ve my first cup of espresso at 5 a.m. I drink espresso all day — an enormous Americano is my weapon of alternative. I don’t have many superpowers, however I consider maybe my biggest life talent is my potential to drink espresso at any time of day and never lose any sleep.
The style of it fools my system into considering it has life. A World Cup marketing campaign is all about convincing your shattered physique and thoughts that you’ve vitality and might do something. For me, espresso is just like the sound of a bell to Pavlov’s canine.
I put together to do the morning spherical of reveals: Morning Joe, CNN, ESPN’s Get Up, and First Take and have Icelandic Provisions coffee-flavor skyr for breakfast. My style for it comes from a movie I made about soccer in Iceland a decade in the past. There are about 400,000 individuals in Iceland they usually had a soccer crew who genuinely believed they have been Vikings and something was doable. They proceeded to beat England. I attempt to channel that very same spirit, deluding myself that something is feasible if I assault the day with their ferocity.
At a sure level within the day, I’m on espresso and beers. Michelob Extremely is the pint of alternative. Nonetheless, the coffees preserve coming. I like opening a beer the second a recreation kicks off. It’s a reminder that what we’re about to see — a World Cup soccer recreation — is an immensely valuable second. As a child, you are feeling you’ve got an infinite variety of them, however as you become older, you notice simply how finite a quantity all of us have.
I’ve a second breakfast round 9:30 a.m., some eggs to maintain the vitality going. Meals simply retains being ordered all through the day. This can be a post-sleep life on a DoorDash-fueled food regimen. With out DoorDash, I’d be like Natalie Imbruglia, chilly and shamed and mendacity bare on the ground.
For lunch, I hit Each day Chew, a close-by café, for like 4 minutes and go away feeling happier for being there and responsible I couldn’t keep. I’ve a salmon pita that the salmon most likely feels honored to be concerned in.
We even have two dinners. The primary one is round 7 p.m. from El Tesoro — an incredible taquería proper by our bus that operates like a employees canteen. Household recipes, mother-and-daughter run — the form of place that simply looks like love pours out of it. Hen-tinga burros are the Messi of burros.
We eat once more round midnight, which has been once we tape our large present, so that everybody revs up and is able to ship at Messi ranges. (Or not less than above Jordan Henderson’s stage — the England participant who had simply six minutes, nonetheless managed to get a yellow card from the bench, after which broke his arm mistiming a celebratory leap over the promoting hoardings.)
This can be a late-night decide up from Magic Metropolis: lemon-pepper moist rooster wings. Magic Metropolis is a strip membership, and you can’t speak about lemon-pepper moist to anybody in Atlanta, from an NBA participant to a church chief, with out them being like, “Oh, you’ve acquired to go to Magic Metropolis to have the lemon-pepper moist, otherwise you’ve not lived.” It’s genuinely the totem of this society. Lemon-pepper moist makes that metropolis float.
Friday, July 3
Twelve cups of Dancing Goats espresso, which I like, from Haraz Espresso Home. And Starbucks — I’m 73 p.c made up of Starbucks at any second. My blood kind could be Starbucks Americano Venti.
Skyr. At all times.
DoorDash breakfast from First Watch: scrambled eggs with cheddar and Monterey Jack and artisanal toast. ALL RIGHT, LET’S GOOOOO.
DoorDash lunch is a Huli Huli rooster bowl from Mahana Recent: basmati rice, pineapple, spinach, mushrooms, and coconut–sweet-potato sauce.
For dinner, I take a uncommon foray out of the basement dungeon. Earlier than the World Cup, we hosted a program referred to as “Metropolis Guides,” during which we requested our followers in every metropolis the place visiting followers ought to eat and drink in every of the host cities. I need to get out to help one of many nominations that made my mouth water from afar: Antico Pizza. I cost out and in of there earlier than a 6 p.m. kickoff like Cocaine Bear.
I purchase a dozen Naples-style pies for my crew. All of the elements come from Italy — the crust is the style of heaven. As I chunk into the San Marzano with Romano, white anchovy, and garlic, I notice this second is the closest I’ll get to experiencing Italy on this World Cup. They did not qualify. The event was all of the poorer for his or her absence. However rattling, Antico makes me really feel like they’re in our midst.
Argentina performs Cape Verde tonight. The defending champions towards the darlings of the event. It is among the biggest video games of the 2026 World Cup. I’ll bear in mind the pizza simply as a lot.
After taping, we finish the evening at J.R. Crickets at 2 a.m. It’s one in every of my favourite locations on earth. To take a seat there in a sales space with a beer and 60 lemon-pepper moist rooster wings, too exhausted to talk however feasting, is to really feel alive. Barely. However alive.
Saturday, July 4
As I’m a brand new citizen, Independence Day is one in every of my favourite days of the yr. It’s also the day my dad handed away two years in the past. So it’s a day full of pleasure and a way of absence. I really feel his presence in each soccer recreation I watch. I take into consideration his voice and what he would consider sure gamers who would thrill him. I begin the day with a double espresso, which was his drink of alternative.
As we speak is World Cup Spherical of 16 day. Life on the highway and the dearth of sleep — solely three to 4 hours an evening — blurs area and time. One thing that occurred three days in the past looks like endlessly in the past, and it’s straightforward to neglect what metropolis you’re in.
July Fourth hits laborious, although. I’m cognizant my crew is on the highway and away from their family members. World Cups are usually 30 days, however this one is 39. It’s an ultramarathon, and we’re all getting runner’s nipple.
It’s a younger crew, so we attempt to step it up. For the primary recreation, we go to Cosm, an immersive auditorium, which is a loopy Imax-esque strategy to watch a match; the large screens and particular digicam angles make it really feel such as you’re really on the recreation. It’s wonderful to sit down in a sold-out crowd of Moroccans and Canadians shedding their minds. We’re very near the Canadian crew — their supervisor, Jesse Marsch, is an in depth buddy of the present. It was an agony to see them combat however fall quick; I compensated with extra lemon-pepper moist, extra Extremely, and extra espresso.
On the way in which again, we cease off at Fox Bros., my favourite barbecue in Atlanta. We’ve been there a ton over time and shot with the twins who personal it a bunch. I like their founding story — that they have been simply cooking up meat across the Atlanta music backyard-concert scene for bands like Drive-By Truckers. I like how they’ve misplaced none of that founding ethos.
As we speak, the place is packed. I’ve a fast The whole lot Combo of 4 meats and two sides. The brisket is a number of the greatest I’ve ever had. It’s slow-cooked over hickory wooden, so it stays juicy. The ache of the Canadian loss is mitigated.
After taping our present on the bus, I take my co-hosts to Waffle Home close to Centennial Park round 1 a.m. for some “Smothered & Coated.” The road is across the block — so many Argentine followers lining as much as savor this superhyped spot.
This World Cup, international soccer has fallen in love with America, and America has fallen in love with international soccer. I’ve relished each experiences. As somebody who fell in love with America as a child from Liverpool — and who now travels the nation savoring each Jucy Lucy, XXXL sizzling rooster wing, and number of ribs — it has thrilled me to see the world go all in on Buc-ees nuggets and Whiz Wit cheesesteaks.
Sunday, July 5
I get up early to do the TV hits, powered by Dancing Goats espresso after which a 404 espresso.
Afterward, I’m going out to go to one other “Metropolis Guides” spot I am keen on: Residence Grown. Greatest breakfast in Georgia. Kevin, the proprietor, has lived out The Bear’s story line for actual. He was a buzzy New York chef who burned out, got here residence, and simply began to cook dinner his household favorites. Grits, pancakes, and rooster, all to die for. I like sitting in a sales space and taking pictures the shit with a torrent of regulars who shuffle by. I solely had 20 minutes there this journey, so I scarfed down a Skinny Hen plate and was able to assault the day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, Jim Harbaugh–type.
Lunch is from Delbar: a falafel plate, a mast khiyar (chilly Persian-cucumber–and–yogurt dip), adas polo (lentil rice with raisins), salmon kibbeh (wheat and salmon mixed right into a paste and rolled into balls), and a lamb kebob.
Later, we order from Anh’s Kitchen: veggie spring rolls and a rooster pho that goes throughout my keyboard when England scores the winner of their 3-2 victory in Mexico’s Azteca Stadium. One of many issues I don’t like about myself is that my keyboard is usually lined in meals. It’s the worth you pay for World Cup glory.
Monday, July 6
Starbucks espresso and skyr at 5:30 a.m., then espresso from the Salty Donut. A breakfast plate (eggs with cheese, bacon, and potatoes) arrives by way of DoorDash from J.W. Honey’s Brunch and Juice Bar.
Later, a prelunch pint on the Brewhouse. I like this pub. We maintain an annual vote for America’s greatest soccer bar, and out of 1000’s of nominations from all 50 states, this place was voted the most effective within the nation. The uptick in enterprise they acquired in consequence empowered them to open a second department proper by the World Cup stadium. It’s my first time at this new spot, and it’s pretty to see — they’ve pictures of us all around the again wall, which may be very humbling and a bit mortifying.
As we speak is a U.S. recreation day. We’re doing a “Matchday Reside!” in Atlanta, and proper earlier than kickoff, now we have Becky Sauerbrunn, Killer Mike, and a couple of,000 followers be a part of us for a pregame broadcast. The vitality is elite.
I can not eat proper earlier than a present, so later I hit the Busy Bee, one other place I am keen on. It’s one of many biggest fried-chicken spots in america and, I’d dare say, the world. My order is rooster and waffles with 4 wings, candied yams, collard greens, and cornbread muffins.
The employees are full of pleasure, and I go away able to tackle all comers — which is unfortunately not the case for america crew. They disappear and not using a hint; after making the nation assume they have been the true deal, they only don’t present up. It’s agony as we’ve spent the previous 4 years ready for this second. However for the fourth time in a row, they exit within the Spherical of 16.
Dinner is from Doc Inexperienced’s Gourmand Salads & Sandwich Bar — Mediterranean Chop salad with grilled salmon — as a result of I’m making an attempt to be wholesome earlier than we tape our evening present.
I then proceed to drink 5 beers and finish the evening at 2 a.m. again at Waffle Home.
See All
