Get Ready for the World Cup Rowdies
The British Are Coming Like It's 1776
The DFW World Cup matches have dropped:
Sunday, June 14, 2026: Netherlands vs. Japan (3:00 p.m. ET)
Wednesday, June 17, 2026: England vs. Croatia (3:00 p.m. ET)
Monday, June 22, 2026: Argentina vs. Austria (12:00 p.m. ET)
Thursday, June 25, 2026: Japan vs. UEFA Playoff Winner B (6:00 p.m. ET)
Saturday, June 27, 2026: Jordan vs. Argentina (9:00 p.m. ET)
Tuesday, June 30, 2026: Round of 32 (Match 78)
Friday, July 3, 2026: Round of 32 (Match 88)
Monday, July 6, 2026: Round of 16 (Match 93)
Tuesday, July 14, 2026: Semifinal (Match 101)
We more or less lucked out with most of these teams:
Jordan: small fan base of spirited young males
Austria: polite, moderate, small fan base
Croatia: polite fans known for their chanting, small fan base
Japan: very polite and respectful fans, larger fan base
Netherlands: the “orange craze,” a larger fan base but also with good behavior
And then we have England and Argentina!
What festive rowdiness is in store with these two. England has tens of millions of fans, and are currently overcoming their historic reputation for hooliganism. Argentina also has millions of intensely passionate fans. Both of them have elements in their soccer culture that go well beyond fan clubs.
English soccer culture includes the idea of “firms” or gangs associated with soccer clubs that seek out violent conflict with rivals. In Argentina it’s barra brava, which means “fierce gang”: hierarchical organizations led by a jefe and his lieutenants who enforce discipline and exercise territorial control over a section of a stadium.
Wowzers!
It’ll be fun. Also vibrant. Expect lots of chanting fans and increased police presence, traffic, noise, and minor incidents perhaps, to go with the increased economic activity.
Don’t forget about that last one. DART is already counting the sales tax it will get from Irving next year.
But at least all the fans can use DART to get to the games!
Oh wait, they can’t. Arlington isn’t in DART.
That is because they’re smart. They used the $100s of millions to do cool things like build AT&T stadium. Irving gives our $100s of millions to DART to fund a mobile homeless shelter.
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There are so many mixed feelings about DART. The people that benefit from the program the most are not the people that are riding. Smaller more efficient vehicles should be the answer.