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Roger Bennett trolls Auburn with 2026 World Cup joke about Georgia, SEC football

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp06/20/24

Ted Lasso brought us the memorable character Coach Beard, a dedicated and devoted assistant coach with a razor whip sharp sense of humor and an understanding of the intricacies of the World Cup and the beautiful game.

It also exposed the world to Brendan Hunt, the inimitable actor who plays Beard.

And ever since the show’s release, Hunt’s popularity has skyrocketed. He’s a coveted guest on talk shows and the like, and the ever-popular Men In Blazers show secured a sitdown with Hunt at a live event in LA on Wednesday night.

Whereupon it took no time at all for Hunt to understand a humdinger of a reference by Men In Blazers host Roger Bennett, contextualizing it in that bite-sized comedy that’s so wonderfully easy to digest.

“God I hope Georgia qualifies for the World Cup in America,” Bennett said, referring to the country. “Going to do everything in my G******** power to make it happen, am I right?”

Without missing a beat, Hunt picked up.

“And then they play in Atlanta?” he said. “Yes! The singularity will come to us.”

At this point perfectly teed up, Bennett went on to show his understanding of sports extends far beyond just soccer. American football is also something he’s quite familiar with.

“They’re going to play in Athens, it’s going to be unbelievable,” Bennett said. “Go Bulldogs! By the way, that is exactly how to make football go over the top in America, is to have international teams match up exactly to SEC football teams. Pity the bastard country that’s named Auburn.”

You can view the exchange below.

Poor Auburn.

But, hey, such is life in the SEC. It’s a cut-throat league where fans act with little remorse and anyone is fair game to be the butt end of a punch line.

In any case, the World Cup is creeping ever closer and American fans will get a chance to experience international soccer like they rarely do. The last time the World Cup was hosted in America was in 1994.

This cycle’s World Cup will be hosted in 2026 in three different parts of North America, with Canada, Mexico and the United States all hosting games. And yes, Georgia will get to host games, with Atlanta selected as one of 16 host cities for the games.