Every 4 years, the whole world freezes for 2 months to witness arguably the most important sports event in history, the World Cup. Players from nations all around the globe compete in “the beautiful game,” (soccer/futbol) showing pride and passion for their country. The next World Cup will happen this upcoming summer, hosted by the USA, Mexico, and Canada. This World Cup is set to be different from the rest; for the first time, 48 teams instead of the usual 32 will compete, and there will be 3 host nations instead of 1. I interviewed Aviators and staff to see who they believed would be crowned the World Cup Champion, and their thoughts on some controversial soccer questions. Stay tuned and continue reading as some of these answers may surprise you.
Adrian: What country do you think is winning The World Cup?
Dr. Matsumoto: I’m going out on a limb, and I am going to say Mexico.
Yahia Qasem: I personally believe Portugal are going to win this upcoming World Cup based on their latest performance in their Nations League tournament and the Euros. They came out pretty strong and everyone thought in the previous World Cup they were going to beat Morocco, but with some bad decisions from the manager it led otherwise.
Mr. Duran: France is going to win it this year.
Mr. Atanga: I can’t say with precision but I do believe there is a possibility that a South American team will come out this time. I may have been looking at African teams but unfortunately Africa has not been much ready. I don’t know why, the players as much as the countries are not even motivated. I can talk about Cameroon, who are not even qualified, Nigeria, which was at the top, is also not qualified. With that I discovered that Africa is not ready but I can still have hope for other countries anyway. I think Morocco or Argentina or Tunisia are any of those countries. But I am hoping that the World Cup may go down to South America.
Adrian: Who do you support for this upcoming World Cup and why?
Muaath Rakha: I’m probably going to support Egypt, it’s my home country. I know it’s highly unlikely for their chance of winning but you gotta wish for the best.
Chisom Okpara: I support France because my country didn’t make the World Cup, Nigeria, so I am backing France to win the World Cup.
Mr. Gutierrez: I’ve always supported Mexico since 1994 and I don’t see that changing anytime soon so, it’s always Mexico.
Ms. Mendoza: I support Mexico, I always have. My family is from there, I am a Mexican citizen, and it is my favorite team.
Adrian: What is one nation that might upset this World Cup?
Muaath Rakha: One nation I’d probably say is Portugal because their performance in their last World Cup was very disappointing especially because everyone thought they were going to win against Morocco. Their team is still strong but I don’t think they’re cut to win the whole thing.
Mr. Gutierrez: I’ll say France because they’re due. They disappointed in 2014 and I think they are going to do it again in this tournament. They are coming off that World Cup loss so I usually believe in that hang-over where the losing team usually does bad so I’ll pick France.
Kelly Fernandez: One nation that I think is going to upset in the World Cup is definitely Mexico, for sure. Sadly they are expected to win but they’re not, they’re not going to do that good. They haven’t been winning any games lately, the chemistry isn’t there, the coach isn’t really putting the effort he should like he sees the mistakes but he’s not fixing them.
Yahia Qasem: I think one nation that is going to upset is England, even though they basically are the USA of soccer like in the Olympics who usually have an insane team. The same thing with England it’s their best players that play in the top clubs all coming together, usually they do decent but not as expected.
Adrian: What country in the World Cup would you like to go visit?
Noah Castellanos: The country I would like to visit the most would definitely be Mexico. My mom is from Mexico and I’ve always wanted to go and it seems like a great environment too.
Ms. Mendoza: I’d like to see New Zealand because I hear it’s a beautiful country.
Mr. Atanga: To go visit truly I don’t really know, I can’t say precisely. I’ve not visited South America yet, maybe I can go down to Ecuador, that’s going to be a nice place. Ecuador I think is qualifying for the first time, right? Maybe I can go down to Ecuador and see what it looks like. Historically, I have a tie with Ecuador, even though it’s not a good one.
Dr. Matsumoto: There’s so many great options but one place I’d like to visit is Cameroon because it just sounds so exotic and fun. Take me there!
Adrian: What is a country that you believe will be a Dark-horse (not expected to go far but exceeds expectations) this World Cup?
Yahia Qasem: I’m going to have to say Jordan, based on their last Asian Cup performance a few years back. They made it to the final and they were very strong so I’d feel like it would be very interesting seeing them play against some of the best teams in the world.
Noah Castellanos: A country that I think will be a dark-horse will have to be Germany. They have a lot of good players even though they haven’t been good in a while. I feel like they could probably do well this year.
Chisom Okpara: A country that I believe will be a dark-horse is Portugal because they have a lot of squad depth and I believe they are going to offer a lot of quality.
Mr. Duran: I think it’s going to be Japan. I think they are going to make something happen in this tournament.
Kelly Fernandez: I think Morroco. They do good and when they play the hard teams they push their hardest. If they do their best they can definitely win.
Adrian: If you had to pick a theme song for your own personal World Cup, what song would you choose and why?
Muaath Rakha: I would have to pick “Worth it”, it is definitely a song that is perfect for the World Cup.
Mr. Gutierrez: “We Are the Champions” by Queen because that is the first song that came to my head and usually the one they play when the winner wins.
Chisom Okpara: I would choose “Location” by Dave and Burna Boy because I feel like it fits the current theme.
Mr. Atanga: I don’t really know precisely but theme songs are usually provided by the countries of the host. I would prefer for the Americans to come up with a theme song of their own, not mine, but any song that will want to lift up World Peace; I would like that one. Not really any specific songs, but we can always compose one.
Dr. Matsumoto: 100% “hold on for one more day” (She sang this) by Wilson Phillips because, why? We all gotta hold on for one more day.
Adrian: Who is arguably the most important player in all of soccer’s History?
Noah Castellanos: The most important player without a doubt is Lionel Messi, even without a doubt if I am being biased because that’s my favorite player. What he’s done for his country and his team, it’s insane.
Ms. Mendoza: I think Diego Maradona from Argentina because he had a lot of great goals, he was controversial, and he was simply an interesting player.
Mr. Atanga: For me, with my own generation, I would like to pick out Pele, and then Maradona. Within those two people. I think Pele enlightened the globalization of soccer, he was the one who it made known almost fully World Wide. Normally soccer was more of Europe, but when Pele came down from South America it showed how global soccer can be.
Kelly Fernandez: My goat Messi, like I think Ronaldo is good because of his technique and everything but I definitely think Messi. The way he controls the ball and knows his players; like he takes time to know his players and he has that chemistry with them. He’ll give you the pass to make the goal and he won’t be selfish and try to take it himself. I think Messi is arguably the best player.
Mr. Duran: I think it’s Pele because he brought to light a different style of soccer that wasn’t being represented on the world stage at that time.
Do you think the people interviewed have elite ball-knowledge? Let us know in the comments.
