StubHub’s World Cup Own Goal

Theoretically, World Cup soccer is supposed to be more than the sum of its parts, an event that makes hearts around the world grow three sizes and constructs larger-than-life legends out of 5-foot-7 individuals. But in practice, it all ultimately shakes out to a zero-sum game. For every instance of someone rising to the occasion (Lionel Messi’s first career World Cup hat trick, Michael Olise reading Kylian Mbappé’s mind), there’s someone else who gets sent home with slumping shoulders. (Like the Iranian team, eliminated by a few millimeters, plus one Austria-Algeria farce.) Even Messi himself isn’t immune: You show the world a magisterial statue of the Argentine soccer god, and the world will show you a shittier angle.