From Football to Futbol: Come Join our FIFA World Cup Extravaganza!

A few weeks ago my husband, on a work trip to Washington D.C., waltzed into the eccentric craft beer bar we used to frequent when we were newly dating residents of the nation’s capital. The bar’s longtime owner Commie, a rough on the exterior (patrons have strict rules like NO STANDING), soft on the inside humanitarian (he closes the bar twice a year to build schools in third world countries) inevitably asked about me. Before my husband could finish a sentence that began with, “She’s running the football….,” Commie’s eyes lit up. FOOTBALL?  She’ll be covering the World Cup, no?

Upon my husband timidly informing Commie that no, soccer coverage wasn’t in the cards, confusion abound. Why wouldn’t she cover the World Cup? EVERYBODY watches the World Cup.

Commie was right and thanks to his dose of logic we here at The Football Girl will be partially transforming into The Futbol Girl for the world’s most viewed sporting event. (You can watch every match of The FIFA World Cup on FOX Sports or the FOX Sports App from June 14th-July 15th.)

So what business does an NFL writer have dabbling in futbol? Not much if I’m trying to pretend to be in the same stratosphere as soccer luminaries like Grant Wahl, Simon Kuper or one of my other favorite soccer voices, Shireen Ahmed.

Luckily for everyone’s sake I’m well aware of my many soccer limitations to the point that after five minutes I can’t craft a legitimately silly metaphor better than: I’m limited like France after Zinedine Zidane earned his infamous red card in the 2006 World Cup Final. (Why did it get so quiet in here???)

While I might not make the ideal partner for World Cup trivia night at the local pub, I bring a keen sense of wonderment to this majestic event and have been crash coursing the history, the pageantry, the matchups and, perhaps most importantly, the best Moscow Mule mugs.

We at The Futbol Girl are thrilled to bring you an array of not-your-typical World Cup coverage, starting with the relatable perspective of an amateur soccer watcher ready to take in everything World Cup. We’ll also have few special soccer  contributors in the lead up and throughout the event, along with plenty of surprises.

As an integral part of our month long frontier, we have teamed up with our friends at FOX Sports to play The FIFA World Cup Tournament Pick ‘Em. My bracket is ready to dance…

Now I want to see yours! SIGN UP HERE and tweet me (@thefootballgirl) your finalists. There are PRIZES EVERYONE! We’re in this together, futbol girls AND football girls!  The best part is on the very slight chance that your FIFA World Cup Tournament Pick ‘Em get busted after the group stage, you can take a mulligan and fill out a new FIFA World Cup Knockout Bracket!

Coming up next week on The Futbol Girl: a detailed breakdown of how I chose my bracket. Think borscht, discounted flights, and perhaps a spot of actual analysis.  Plus, we’ll get any soccer newbies up to speed with some World Cup basics. Don’t worry; we’re not doing away with that other form of football.

This post was crafted as part of a paid partnership with FOX Sports.