Pitch Perfect?

Futebol, fussball, sakkaa, calcio, voetbal: the world’s most popular sport has arrived in North America. The twenty-third FIFA World Cup kicked off on Thursday, June 11, as Mexico faced South Africa at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City; it will conclude on Saturday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the 82,500-capacity home of the New York Giants, who also play football, but mostly with their hands. Over the course of five and a half weeks, four dozen teams will meet in 104 games in cities across three countries, from Vancouver to Miami, from Toronto to Monterrey.

Roll up, roll up, for the transcontinental soccer ball jamboree. This summer’s tournament features World Cup newcomers such as Cape Verde, Uzbekistan, Jordan, and Curaçao (which with a population of 160,000 is the smallest country ever to participate), alongside some of the game’s perennial superpowers, including Germany, France, Spain, Argentina, and Brazil. Luckily for Canada, one historical...