football fans, i feel your pain

15 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:11

In this monologue, the speaker, a Chinese‑American, expresses deep embarrassment and disappointment surrounding the United States' performance in the World Cup, particularly recalling a match against Belgium. While proud of his cultural identity, he laments that both China and the U.S.—two economic powerhouses—lack strong football teams. He briefly acknowledges China's marginal role in World Cup conversations, then shifts to hopeful optimism for the upcoming 2026 tournament that the U.S. will host, envisioning a historic comeback. The speaker’s tone is personal, reflective, and tinged with both frustration and cautious optimism.

Chapters

I feel you, I feel you, okay? As a Chinese American, there is no more embarrassing time than during the World Cup. In my entire life, I was proud of my cultural identity, but what do you mean? The two most powerful countries in the world with the biggest economies, the best technology, and you can't get a decent football team together. Are we serious? Okay, let me be careful with my words here because China is not even close to being in the vicinity of the World Cup talks. So at least we'll give the US that. But I can't say that I was proud when watching that game against Belgium. I really had hope. I really had hope for 2026. I thought that there was going to be something amazing that would go down in history. You know, we're hosting, it's supposed to be the greatest comeback ever, and then that happened. People are like, "Oh, why isn't China in the World Cup?" You mean why? One can hope.