THE BEAUTIFUL GAME IN H-TOWN
How Houston will handle the World Cup now that the countdown has begun
Dec 19, 2022, 4:52 pm
Lionel "Leo" Messi will be 39 when the Cup comes to Houston. Photo via: Wiki Commons.
How that the excitement of World Cup is over, will soccer fever linger in Houston, or will soccer fade back to a second-tier sport like swimming and gymnastics between Olympics years?
It’s an important question, because as we reported, the World Cup is coming to North America in 2026. Games will be held in 16 cities, including here in Houston.
Argentina’s thrilling, high-scoring (for soccer, anyway) victory over France in the World Cup final should keep soccer fever at high pitch for the next four years. That would be especially true if Argentinean global soccer icon Lionel "Leo" Messi is still playing when he's 39.
When global-minded Houston hosts the World Cup
This town will turn upside down with international tourists and homegrown soccer fanatics paying top dollar — times 10 — for everything from hotel rooms to fajitas to T-shirts to parking.
You think Taylor Swift tickets were hard to get? Wait till the World Cup gets here and secondary market sites like StubHub quote prices that look like national debt ticker in Times Square.
Don’t be surprised if houses on your street suddenly are listed on Airbnb and flying flags from the world over. The World Cup here is going to be big. We’re talking Super Bowl big.
“Hosting the World Cup in 2026 will be another watershed moment for this great soccer city,” Glenn Davis, host of Soccer Matters on ESPN 97.5 FM (7 pm Tuesdays), tells me. Davis is Houston’s go-to guy in the media. He’s been talking soccer on the radio for more than two decades.
“Youth will attend and have these beautiful indelible moments with their parents,” Davis continues, “shared memories that will last a lifetime. This connection can trickle down to the grass roots in so many ways. Equally important is to promote the sport of soccer in our city over the course of the next four years and to realize this is equally important to the economic and exposure gain the city will get.”
Ken gets behind football, er, soccer
I became a soccer fan — well, not so much of a soccer fan as a Houston Dynamo fan — when the Dynamo relocated from San Jose to Houston in 2005. I liked two things about the sport: it involved a ball and it’s easy to understand what’s going on: kick the ball into the goal. I still have no idea what offsides is, though. Frankly, I don’t believe the players or referees know, either. I think the referees feel they must call offsides twice a game. Same deal in hockey.
My kid was a youth soccer player back then, and if I had to endure watching small children play soccer, I might as well watch the pros play at Robertson Stadium. First time I went to a Dynamo game, I saw rat traps next to the concession stands on the main concourse.
The Dynamo really hustled for publicity those first few years. It helped that the Dynamo won the Major League Soccer championship their first two years in Houston.
Houston's Brian Ching: A Dymano — but not a trivia dymano
Brian Ching, the high-scoring star of the team, came on my little AM radio show every week to talk about upcoming games and play trivia against a wide range of opponents.
I recruited children, strippers and porn stars, homeless people — whoever wasn’t busy Friday morning — to compete against him. Ching never won. It took him a while, but he finally caught on that I was giving the answers to his trivia opponents. Now, Ching owns Pitch 25, the soccer-themed restaurant and bar in downtown Houston. The place was packed during World Cup.
When the beautiful game gets ugly
I started going to soccer games when I visited Europe. That’s some crazy stuff. One time, I bought a ticket for the Roma AC vs. Juventus game at Stadio Olimpico in Rome. I got screwed — my seat was in the Juventus fans’ section.
Uh-oh. The section was protected by Plexiglas barriers and guarded by security police with automatic weapons. That didn’t stop Roma fans from throwing chairs and sandwich bags filled with urine over the Plexiglas. I escaped without injury or pee-soaking.
In Nice, fans started a fire in the stands behind the visiting team’s bench.
In The Netherlands, my overnight train to Paris was delayed due to “hooliganism” by fans who didn’t like the outcome of the Ajax vs. Rotterdam game.
The World Cup in Houston won’t turn NRG Stadium into a war zone, but it’s going to be amazing fun. The countdown is on.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
We have so much more to discuss. Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday!
*ChatGPT assisted.
___________________________
Looking to get the word out about your business, products, or services? Consider advertising on SportsMap! It's a great way to get in front of Houston sports fans. Click the link below for more information!