Jamie Watson loves soccer. He played at the college level and is now a broadcaster for the sport on ESPN.
When Watson is the spokesperson for a media tour to promote the June 9 World Cup tune-up between Argentina and Iceland at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, his voice is full of energy and excitement. He doesn’t want you, whether you’re a hard-core soccer fan or just a casual soccer fan, to miss this.
Why is this such a big deal?
Lionel Messi.
The star for Argentina is the biggest name in soccer, arguably the greatest to ever play the game. Old school soccer fans would pull for Pele’, but Watson says the chance to see Messi play in person is an opportunity any sports fan should take advantage of.
“When you think of all the sports,” Watson said. “And you think of all the best athletes within the sports, if you ask those athletes who their favorite athlete is across all sports, most likely they would say Lionel Messi. He is your favorite athlete’s favorite athlete. He’s that big. He transcends sports and culture. People just want to be in the same venue with him.”
Check out this paragraph from Messi’s Wikipedia page.
“Messi is the most decorated player in the history of professional football, having won 46 team trophies.[note 3] His records include most goals in a calendar year (91), most goals for a single club (672 for Barcelona), most goals in La Liga (474), most assists in international football (61), most goal contributions in the FIFA World Cup (21), and most goal contributions in the Copa América (32). Messi has scored over 910 senior career goals and provided over 410 assists for club and country, resulting in over 1,320 goal contributions—the highest total in the sport’s history.
Messi led Argentina to the World Cup title in 2022. He’s 38 years old, still in impeccable shape. But at 38, the clock is ticking on an amazing career.
“Just to be able to see him play for what could be the last time in an Argentine National Team jersey,” Watson said. “He’s about to represent Argentina for the sixth time in a FIFA World Cup, simply unheard of in this sport. This guy is larger than life personality, it is something to see it in person. You’re not gonna have that many opportunities to do that after June 9. You don’t want to miss this. 90 minutes on the pitch, packed house, but also the party outside leading up to it will be simply remarkable. I don’t want anyone watching this to have regret that they missed out on it in seeing one of the greatest players of all time play.”
The World Cup kicks off June 11, so this is the final tune-up before the teams start competing for the most coveted prize in soccer. So why was Jordan-Hare Stadium selected for this mammoth event? Anyone who has ever seen a game at Jordan-Hare Stadium at night, and Argentina and Iceland will kick off at 7:30, knows it’s an incredible atmosphere.
“I think once you see what Jordan-Hare Stadium looks like on a game day, it’s simply remarkable,” Watson said. “I’ve been a fan from afar to watch it. I’m sure the Argentina and Iceland federations would have seen it and said ‘We want to be a part of this environment as well. The FIFA World Cup is gonna be played at some of the biggest venues in the country, so the road to 26 and this being the last stop on the Road To ’26, I’m sure Argentina said we want to play in a similar environment with a massive stadium that’s sold out to get our players ready to go one week later in the World Cup at a massive venue in front of a large crowd and also they know it’s a hidden gem to the soccer world. After June 9 and the Road To ’26 match between Argentina and Iceland the rest of the world is gonna know that Auburn, Alabama, they bring it when it comes to soccer and they know what they’re talking about down here in the South.”