The ‘Soccer Capital of America’ is now gunning for the Soccer Capital of the World (Cup)

When the FIFA delegation flew into Kansas City to evaluate its World Cup bid, local organizers left nothing to chance. They mapped the delegation’s routes to avoid traffic, stationed volunteers at the airport, and pulled roughly two dozen children from Kansas City’s Guadalupe Centers out of school to play a scrimmage outside the downtown Loews Kansas City Hotel at 11 a.m., where FIFA officials were staying. It was done to show them that the sport is really that serious in the heartland.

It’s so serious that Kansas City has earned the title of the Soccer Capital of America. It’s even a registered trademark owned by their soccer club, MLS’s Sporting Kansas City. Now, with the tournament underway and the world’s attention fixed on a Midwestern city that most international visitors had never considered visiting (or maybe heard of), the city is making a strong case why that title should change to the world.

The smallest of the 16 FIFA World Cup host cities, the city has a metro of roughly 2.2 million people straddling two states, and is more widely known for its Chiefs and its barbecue. But that’s not stopping how their inhabitants see the city’s role on the world’s stage.

“Kan...