As I guess you all know by now, last week turned out to be four days in Rio and three days in Orlando! In between, I had plenty of time, while traveling, to reflect on the momentous events of this week.

The week began on Copacabana watching the roller-coaster game that was Brazil vs Chile, which was one of the best games of the World Cup so far and an emotional penalty shoot out to end it. I was so pleased for Julio Cesar, he is a great guy and has received some criticism in the Press over here, so it was very good to see him prove a few people wrong with those crucial saves.

From Copacabana it was off to watch a “cracker” at the Maracana, with Colombia thoroughly outplaying a rather lack luster Uruguay. Colombia looked very good and impressed me all around as a team, from defense to attack they looked like the complete deal. The stadium was filled with loud and boisterous Colombia fans, they must have outnumbered the Uruguay fans by 10:1 - a sea of yellow!

Then on Monday a complete change of pace and venue as I interrupted the “sunbathing” to escort Kaka and his family to Orlando. First of all, I have to say what a truly nice guy he is. A smile is never far away from his lips and he makes time for everyone he meets. I think Kirk Chin explained better than anyone with this Facebook quote “Kaka is so special. I stuck my hand out. He shook my hand, looked at me and for one second and I felt like he is a lifelong friend.”

The next two days in Orlando were a literal whirlwind of events – the airport greeting, Press Conference, VIP luncheon, Wall St. Watch Party, Media interviews, photo shoots, and in between all of this he managed to fit in a visit to the Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital to make some very sick kids feel very special.

The acquisition of Kaka as our first Designated Player really takes our club to a completely different level, and spending three days with him only confirmed what a superstar he truly is, albeit a very humble one. As a club we are now fully gearing up for March ’15 and our debut in MLS. The Kaka signing shows our intent, as I said in the Press Conference, we haven’t come to make up the numbers we have come to win!

The signing of Kaka fell on one of the biggest days for US Soccer in a long time, as it coincided with the Round of 16 game between the U.S. and Belgium. Being in Wall St. for the watch party provided me with an unique comparison between the events here in Brazil and there in Central Florida. I can tell you that the passion and enthusiasm I witnessed on Wall St. was every bit as intense as that of Rio. It was a great pity that the U.S. lost, not least because it robbed us all of future days like last Tuesday, days we can all share as soccer fans together.

The World Cup inevitably focuses lots of attention on our game and much has been written over the past few weeks about the “future of U.S. soccer”, “has the game finally arrived”, etc, etc. I think my feelings on the subject are best represented by the piece that Paul Tenorio wrote in the Orlando Sentinel. 

I have lived in America now for over 20 years and have therefore witnessed 6 World Cup tournaments as a Yank. I can tell you that no tournament has ever reached the heights of interest that this one has or captured the imagination like this. There is a generation of soccer loving fans in the U.S. now that is considerable in size and getting bigger every week. Every four years, the true fans of the beautiful game are joined by “World Cup fans”, the Americans who want to see their national team compete in a world-class competition but who don’t otherwise follow soccer religiously. The World Cup’s biggest gift to the US is that every four years it allows us to create new converts to our wonderful sport.

A certain percentage (who knows how many) of those huge crowds that came out all over the country to support the U.S. team will inevitably become diehard soccer fans, and that’s a good thing! The bigger the crowds the higher the percentage we convert. That’s what the World Cup allows us to do. It doesn’t define the sport in this country, it helps fuel it. Our job as fans is to welcome those converts with open arms, embrace them, encourage them and most important of all EDUCATE them with humility.

The same kind of humility that Kaka showed to Kirk Chin. Soccer is the world’s game and if it is to be America’s game one day soon then our job is to embrace and educate everyone who shows the slightest interest in the game. The World Cup doesn’t make the difference every four years, we the fans do every week. The World Cup simply allows us a vast and fertile ground with which to work.

Back in Brazil, Friday and Saturday bought us the quarter-finals and a couple of great games, especially the Brazil vs Colombia and Netherlands vs Costa Rica matches. It felt like all of Rio came to a standstill on Friday when Brazil played. In fact, it probably did, as the Government had declared Friday a public holiday! We joined hundreds of Brazilians fans at an outdoor watch party near where we are staying and had a great time celebrating their win with them.