Like most of the world outside of the United States, John Oliver is very excited about the upcoming 20th FIFA World Cup, despite his strong feelings about FIFA itself.
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On “Late Night,” he said that FIFA was like “Breaking Bad’s” Walter White. They were awful, but the product they pushed is amazing. For this comment, he got one man to break into applause. When the rest of the audience tried to chime in, Oliver stopped them.
“I can only allow the first applause there,” he said. “The fact that the rest of you did not join in is going to have to stand.” That tepid audience response continued as Oliver got more in depth while talking about his passion for soccer, or football as it’s known throughout the world.
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Clearly, this “Late Night” audience was a good representative of America’s feelings about soccer in general. It’s not a dislike, so much as it is a lack of awareness or interest.
Oliver did tell Seth Meyers that Americans should prepare themselves for going 0-3 this year. He was positive about the potential of the young team, but said that they were going to be humiliated. The U.S. kicks off their tournament appearances against Ghana on June 16, Portugal on June 22, and Germany on June 26.
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The 64 matches of the 2014 FIFA World Cup begin in Brazil on Thursday, June 12, culminating with the championship match on Sunday, July 13.