Soccer Luminaries Encounter Curious American Ball Sport, 2026 Edition
In the summer of 2024, numerous European soccer teams came to the United States for preseason training and exhibition games, and while they were here, they sampled the local culture, including baseball. You might remember I got a blog post out of it.
Well, the soccer people are back, and in greater numbers than ever, thanks to the World Cup. And they’re trying out our non-foot-based games again. Let’s see how they’re doing.
I know I probably come off as angry and cynical about the state of the world in general, but for all its faults (and they are innumerable), the World Cup is one of my favorite events in all of global popular culture. I’m not just saying that as a big soccer fan; I have an earnest, bordering-on-naïve belief in the power of sports to inspire friendship across national, ethnic, religious, and class lines.
We see this every day in the ballpark or on the street, where a simple “Go Birds” between strangers creates a feeling of mutual solidarity. But it’s so much more vivid on the scale of an event like the World Cup. Even when faced with the most xenophobic American government in decades, tourists have come here by the hundreds of thousands and learned that the vast majority of Americans just want to eat, hang out, and watch sports.
Which is, coincidentally, what they like to do in Brazil, Senegal, the Netherlands, and the other 40-odd countries that have sent teams to the World Cup. What unites us is greater than what divides us.
We’ve seen Lawrence, Kansas, adopt the visiting Algerian national team as its own. Scores of Norwegian fans sang and clapped through a Mets-Cubs game at Citi Field; within four innings, Steve Gelbs was wearing a Viking helmet in the outfield stands.
But no country loves eating, hanging out, and watching sports more than Scotland, whose fans took over Boston during the tournament’s group stage, drinking the local bars dry and adorning every statue with a traffic cone. It’s been almost 300 years since Britain and Massachusetts got along so well:
Scotland won just one of its three group stage games, with a narrow defeat to Morocco and a somewhat larger defeat to Brazil consigning the boys in blue to an early trip home.
Things might’ve been different if Billy Gilmour had been available. Gilmour, a dynamic all-action midfielder for Seria A runners-up Napoli, suffered a knee injury in a pre-tournament friendly and missed the World Cup.
But he was able to hobble out to the mound at Miami’s loanDepot Park before Scotland’s game against Brazil, and throw out a ceremonial first pitch:
When I covered this topic last, I noted that the physical act of throwing a baseball is alien to people who haven’t grown up doing it. Even if you’re used to playing cricket or handball, it’s hard to sync up the arm with the torso and the lower body without thousands of pitches’ worth of practice.
There’s some of that in Gilmour’s throw, but I’m inclined to cut him a huge amount of slack because his drive leg is in a brace. Especially because he threw a strike from just in front of the rubber. It’s not pretty, but it’s a strong, confident arm motion, and the result is perfect. Any first pitch that doesn’t end up at the backstop is a win, no matter where you’re from.
Scotland’s southern rivals also tried their hand at baseball during their overseas trip:
The perpetually sunburned Declan Rice explained to his Arsenal teammate Ebereche Eze that pitchers throw “from 20 meters away at 100 miles an hour.” We love a midfielder who not only knows baseball but can transition from metric to imperial units on a whim. Rice, great distributor of the ball that he is, offered to throw Eze some batting practice.
It could’ve gone better:
Someone make sure to deliver some pine tar to Emirates Stadium before the start of the next Premier League season.
England manager Thomas Tuchel had also been working on his fastball, in preparation for throwing out the first pitch before a Royals game at Kauffman Stadium. Tuchel looked nervous, and said as much to everyone he talked to, but when the moment came, he stepped up:
This is just terrific. He had the slightly awkward short-arm delivery typical of soccer people throwing baseballs, and his arm action was more tentative than Gilmour’s. England captain Harry Kane said he’d never seen Tuchel so nervous, and I believe him.
But it’s a strike from the rubber; Matt Quatraro barely had to move his glove. Good leg kick, decent engagement in the lower half. Tuchel even looked at home in a baseball jersey. England’s been inconsistent in group stage play so far, but you have to have confidence in a manager who’s this good in clutch moments.
One of the great shocks of this World Cup has been the U.S. national team, which not only topped its group, but looked positively imperious in doing so. We’re not used to seeing that, at least not from our men’s team. Some American fans were shocked to learn that men even play soccer at all. Surely this was the sole province of our four-time World Cup-winning women’s team.
Fear not: The women’s game is well represented. The consensus best player in the world right now is Atana Bonmatí, the playmaking midfielder for Barcelona and the Spanish national team. She’s won the past three Ballons d’Or Féminin, given to the best individual player in the world, as well as the 2023 World Cup and four Champions League titles.
The next Women’s World Cup isn’t until 2027, but Bonmatí is in North America this summer working as an analyst for TV in Mexico. And you know what’s close to Mexico? San Diego! Let’s see what she’s got:
?? Aitana Bonmatí throws the ceremonial first pitch before the MLB game between the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves at Petco Park. pic.twitter.com/ghsImzTMfd
— Barça Femení (@BarcaFem) June 23, 2026
Throwing from the flat ground in front of the mound isn’t as daring as Tuchel chucking the rock from the rubber, but I think it shows good judgment. First of all, Tuchel’s about a foot taller than Bonmatí, and he had to lob it from 60 feet, six inches to get the ball to home plate in the air. Second, Bonmatí is throwing to the mascot, not a guy with a catcher’s mitt and a full field of vision. Best not to take chances.
And third, a lot of what makes a great playmaking midfielder is knowing when to take risks and when not to. Barcelona loves taking the safe pass, and that’s all Bonmatí is doing here.
In terms of form, this is one of the better first pitches I’ve seen from a soccer player. She clearly knows the correct physical actions, she just needs to link them up more cleanly. Not that you’d want a big leg drive from 45 feet; throw the ball too hard and you’ll concuss the Swinging Friar.
What I like most about Bonmatí’s pitch is her arm action. It’s so loose and relaxed; I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a soccer player throw a ball that smoothly.
Also in New York for the World Cup: Mario Balotelli, the man for whom the “mercurial striker” stereotype was first forged. He threw out a first pitch before a game at Citi Field last week, and the announcer introduced him as “a UEFA Champions League winner, three-time Serie A winner, and one of Italy’s most accomplished football stars.”
Well, that’s two-thirds accurate.
I love Balotelli. I think every Millennial soccer hipster loves Balotelli. The ur-American Millenial soccer hipster, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, name-checked the former Manchester City and AC Milan star in a speech earlier this month.
I don’t know if he’s one of Italy’s most accomplished stars. They’ve had a bunch of those. Like, if I were Paolo Maldini I’d be a little annoyed to have Balotelli, as fun as he is, described that way.
That said, it’s great to see him out and about and having a good time. And this isn’t a bad throw:
Rather than try to replicate the pitching motion, Balotelli just squared up, flat-footed, and flung the ball to home plate. The arm action, which is carrying the whole load here, isn’t quite as easy as Bonmatí’s, but it’s way better than Tuchel’s or Rice’s, and I’d probably take it over Gilmour’s too. Not that he needs his legs to generate much power; Balotelli is an absolute tank.
Sorry, I just got sidetracked by an 11-minute YouTube video titled “Mario Balotelli CRAZY Goals.” Which does raise an interesting point: This guy loves to pull up and shoot from 30 yards out. He really should’ve tried to throw the ball in from center field. Maybe he’s getting conservative in his old age.
And just because every country is sending representatives for the World Cup doesn’t mean our own soccer legends can’t get in on the fun. Trinity Rodman, the star forward for the Washington Spirit and the U.S. women’s national team, brought out the official match ball ahead of the USA-Australia match in Seattle on June 19. And while she was in town delivering ceremonial balls to sporting events, Rodman dropped by T-Mobile Park to throw out the first pitch before the Mariners-Red Sox game that evening:
There’s not much to judge here; rather than fire the ball in, Rodman reared back off the rubber and lobbed it to Julio Rodríguez. Totally nonchalant, but right on target. That’s how we do it in the U.S. of A.
Our final first pitch comes from another USWNT legend, Ali Krieger. Krieger won two World Cups with Team USA and put away the decisive penalty kick in the USWNT’s famous shootout win over Brazil in 2011.
Turns out you don’t even need the World Cup as a pretext to have a soccer personality throw out the first pitch; Krieger was there in support of the Mets’ Pride Night:
It’s not the best effort of the bunch; Krieger’s got that stiff, short-armed soccer player throwing motion, which is a little disappointing to see from an American athlete, regardless of what sport she came up in. This isn’t a great time for American national pride in general, but at the very least, I thought we were more relaxed in the throwing shoulder than our European friends.
Still, Krieger stood on the rubber and got the ball to home plate on the fly. The fact that I’m nitpicking her throwing motion, or her location, speaks to how high the bar has gotten for first pitches in the soccer world. Go back to that England video and watch the whole section on Tuchel’s first pitch prep — they’re working hard on mastering the first pitch over in Europe. We should be on our toes, because the standards are only going to get higher.