Illustration: Sarah Kilcoyne
Roger Bennett is the founder and CEO of the Males in Blazers Media Community, which bought its begin as a soccer podcast in 2010. Unsurprisingly, the previous month has been busy, as Bennett’s group has relentlessly chronicled the World Cup from a base in Atlanta, shuffling between host cities in an orange bus outfitted for broadcasting. “We have now spent the 39 days of the World Cup working 18- to 20-hour days in a windowless lodge basement commandeered right into a scenario 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 in all probability begin selecting up some meals, simply to get exterior. “I need to be clear that the Particular Forces do slower lightning raids than I do once I go to a restaurant,” he says. “These are usually 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’s 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 — a large Americano is my weapon of alternative. I don’t have many superpowers, however I imagine maybe my biggest life ability is my skill 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 exhibits: 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 folks in Iceland and so they had a soccer group who genuinely believed they had been Vikings and something was attainable. 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 maintain coming. I really 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 treasured second. As a child, you’re feeling you’ve an infinite variety of them, however as you grow old, 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. It is a post-sleep life on a DoorDash-fueled eating regimen. With out DoorDash, I’d be like Natalie Imbruglia, chilly and shamed and mendacity bare on the ground.
For lunch, I hit Day by 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 in all probability 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 seems like love pours out of it. Hen-tinga burros are the Messi of burros.
We eat once more round midnight, which has been after we tape our massive 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 bounce over the promoting hoardings.)
It is a late-night choose up from Magic Metropolis: lemon-pepper moist hen wings. Magic Metropolis is a strip membership, and you can not discuss lemon-pepper moist to anybody in Atlanta, from an NBA participant to a church chief, with out them being like, “Oh, you’ve bought 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 really like, from Haraz Espresso Home. And Starbucks — I’m 73 % 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 hen 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 known 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 assist 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 group. All of the components come from Italy — the crust is the style of heaven. As I chew 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 in opposition to the darlings of the event. It is without doubt one of 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 night time at J.R. Crickets at 2 a.m. It’s one in every of my favourite locations on earth. To sit down there in a sales space with a beer and 60 lemon-pepper moist hen 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. Additionally it is 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.
Right this moment is World Cup Spherical of 16 day. Life on the street and the dearth of sleep — solely three to 4 hours an evening — blurs house and time. One thing that occurred three days in the past seems like eternally in the past, and it’s straightforward to neglect what metropolis you’re in.
July Fourth hits laborious, although. I’m cognizant my group is on the street 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 option to watch a match; the huge screens and particular digital camera angles make it really feel such as you’re truly on the recreation. It’s superb to take a seat in a sold-out crowd of Moroccans and Canadians dropping their minds. We’re very near the Canadian group — their supervisor, Jesse Marsch, is a detailed pal of the present. It was an agony to see them combat however fall brief; I compensated with extra lemon-pepper moist, extra Extremely, and extra espresso.
On the best way again, we cease off at Fox Bros., my favourite barbecue in Atlanta. We have now been there a ton through the years and shot with the twins who personal it a bunch. I really like their founding story — that they had 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.
Right this moment, the place is packed. I’ve a fast All the pieces Combo of 4 meats and two sides. The brisket is a number of the finest 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 hen 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. Finest 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 prepare dinner his household favorites. Grits, pancakes, and hen, all to die for. I really like sitting in a sales space and capturing the shit with a torrent of regulars who shuffle by means of. 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–model.
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 hen 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 commonly coated 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 really like this pub. We maintain an annual vote for America’s finest soccer bar, and out of 1000’s of nominations from all 50 states, this place was voted one of the best within the nation. The uptick in enterprise they obtained consequently 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 beautiful to see — they’ve pictures of us everywhere in the again wall, which could be very humbling and a bit mortifying.
Right this moment is a U.S. recreation day. We’re doing a “Matchday Reside!” in Atlanta, and proper earlier than kickoff, we’ve Becky Sauerbrunn, Killer Mike, and a pair of,000 followers be 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 the US and, I’d dare say, the world. My order is hen 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 the US group. They disappear with out a hint; after making the nation suppose they had been the actual 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 night time present.
I then proceed to drink 5 beers and finish the night time at 2 a.m. again at Waffle Home.
EAT LIKE THE EXPERTS.
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