The Spring ’26 edition of The Solver features Nick Semaca ’80 providing quick-hit insights on what to watch for during a World Cup match. With matches being contested at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, just minutes from campus, including the final, there is added reason for local fans to pay attention.

Semaca, a self-professed “sports nut,” became a professional sports owner with the Joliet Slammers before his love of football (soccer) led him to Leyton Orient in 2021. He has since invested in clubs in Germany and Naples, Florida, and most recently became the majority owner of Wealdstone FC, a London-based club in the English National League.

To understand why the moments Semaca described matter, it helps to zoom out and look at what makes the World Cup, the most-watched sporting event in the world, feel so different. For Semaca, it starts with scale.

“Football is clearly the most popular sport on the planet,” he says. The kind of energy and interest American fans associate with the NFL or March Madness shows up all over the world, with all eyes focused on the same event. In fact, the final match in this World Cup is likely to be the most-watched television event globally of all time.

That reach comes with something else: scarcity. The World Cup only happens once every four years, and over nearly a century of competition (22 tournaments, not including the upcoming one), only eight countries can call themselves champions. Even the traditional powers don’t win it often. England, for example, has done so only once. Even some of the world’s best players—Semaca cites Norway’s Erling Haaland as a modern example—never get to play on the sport’s biggest stage because their home country fails to qualify.

He encourages casual fans to pay attention to the culture. “Immerse yourself,” he says. “See why these fans are crazy, see what they do, see their rituals and you might find a new team to root for.” Even without understanding every detail, the experience itself is part of the appeal.

This year, the United States joins Mexico and Canada as hosts. It will be the first time the tournament has been staged across three nations. The 2002 Cup was hosted by Japan and South Korea, and the 2030 event will be hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain, with additional portions hosted by Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, allowing more fans across multiple regions to experience the tournament in person. “Hosting the World Cup is the ultimate recognition that you're a footballing nation,” Semaca says.

The event’s format adds to the pressure. With this year’s tournament expanding to 48, 16 additional spots are available across the six confederations recognized by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the sport’s global governing body. The expansion also guaranteed a first-ever berth for Oceania and introduced smaller, six-team international tournaments to decide the final berths. As a result of the expansion, four nations: Cabo Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan will make their World Cup debuts. Meanwhile, Italy again failed to qualify, making it three straight tournaments without the four-time World Cup champion. As Semaca puts it, “the only rule in football is that football doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do.”

The tournament opens with the “group stage,” where teams are seeded and placed into 12 groups of four teams, each identified by a single letter. In this stage, each team plays one match against the other three nations in its group. With just three matches in the group stage, there isn’t much room for error. One loss, or even a draw, can put a team in danger, although given the expanded nature of this World Cup it is likely that most, if not all, of the strongest squads will progress from the group stage.

From there, everything narrows. The top two teams in each group and the eight best third-place teams advance to a 32-team, single-elimination tournament. The “knockout rounds” are straightforward: win and move on, lose and go home. If a match is tied after 90 minutes, it goes to extra time. If the match is still tied after extra time, it is decided by penalty kicks. “Football is a pretty exhausting sport,” Semaca says. “You're going to play 120-plus minutes before you even go to penalties.” There are no second chances. The event’s format helps explain why the tournament rarely follows a script and strong teams don’t always advance.

Some teams arrive carrying expectations. Countries like Brazil, Argentina, Germany, England and France enter each cycle believing they can win. “They’re dying every four years to have their chance to be number one,” Semaca says.

Other nations arrive with a completely different mindset. They play with less pressure and more freedom, looking for moments that can shift a match or define a tournament. “The smaller countries… want to go bloody some noses,” he says.

You start to see that difference once the matches begin. Over a long club season, talent tends to win out. In a short tournament, one moment can decide everything.

For U.S. fans, that dynamic is familiar. The United States usually enters outside the group of favorites but with a chance to advance. Progress is often measured by how far the team can go and how it performs against stronger opposition. Semaca notes that advancing through the knockout rounds is “sometimes a function of the draw,” and that success can come down as much to who a team faces as how it performs.

Once you understand that mindset, the details start to stand out more. The late goal carries more weight. The missed chance feels bigger. Even the crowd becomes part of the moment. After the final whistle, it’s common for players to exchange jerseys as a small but lasting show of respect.

That’s where this connects back to the Solver. The speed, the pressure, the structure of the tournament and the atmosphere in the stands all influence what happens on the field. When you know what to look for and why it matters, the game starts to open up in a different way—one that’s easier to understand and appreciate.

– Charles O’Brien