The World Cup, more than any previous version, symbolizes the contradictions of the joy of play being entangled with nationalism, global capitalism, and repressive theocratic autocracy.
Lionel Messi's tenure at the top of the soccer world has coincided with an upsurge of feminism in Argentina and its sports culture, changes Messi has quietly supported.
Exposés of the brutal conditions faced by migrant laborers who built Qatar's World Cup facilities echoes the history of American public works, where workers' bodies and lives were subordinated to budgets and timetables.
The World Cup will depart Volgograd on Thursday after a final first-round game in this city along the Volga River. What will remain are all the echoes of the past.
