Burt's Eye View: Singing at the World Cup

By Burt Ross · Mon Jul 27 2026

We all experience things differently.  My best guess is that those of you who watched the World Cup did so because you wanted to see soccer played at its finest. I watched for an entirely different reason. I wanted to observe the various teams singing their national anthems. Yes, you heard me correctly.

At the beginning of each match, the two teams would enter the field in a solemn procession. The players on one team, each holding the hand of a young child, for reasons I do not know, would walk to the left in front of a huge replica of their national flag displayed on the ground, and the other team would do the same, but to the right.

Then the national anthem would be played for each team. I enjoyed observing the players from the different countries. For instance, the players and coaches on the United States team sang along, but some of them seemed to struggle with the words. There was considerable mumbling. Let’s face it, the melody and the words to the “The Star-Spangled Banner” aren’t the easiest to sing. When was the last time you used the word "spangled"?  Some of our players were not having an easy time of it.

There were other teams whose players were having an equally tough time. Several players on the Swiss team did not appear familiar with the words, and the anthem seemed more like a somber hymn than a robust anthem.

On the other side of the coin, there were Argentina, Mexico, and England. The Argentinian players practically shouted out their anthem. The Argentinian team not only sang their national anthem with vigor, but after a game which extended into 30 minutes of overtime, the players then led their thousands of fans in singing “Boys, We Believe Again.”

The Mexican players belted out their anthem, joining tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen in the stadium located in Mexico City. Not one of them held back with full throated singing. It appeared quite inspirational to the team, but not enough for them to win the match.

My favorite team from a singing perspective was the British. They performed a solid version of “God Save the King” before the match, but after they won a grueling game, the team joined thousands of their fans in a piped-in version of “Wonderwall” by the rock band Oasis. It was amazing the team still had the energy to stand, let alone to sing.

The greatest contrast was between the French and Spanish teams before their semi-final match. Few countrymen have more fervor in singing their anthem than do the French. As they sang "La Marseillaise" with gusto, the militant nature of the song came through, especially in its refrain, "Grab your weapons, citizens! Form your battalions! Let us march! May impure blood water our fields!" Fortunately, they did not the have time to sing all seven verses.

Now you might not believe me when I tell you that everything you have read in this column up to now leads me to the point I want to make. I could not believe the Spanish team. Not one player on the team knew the words to their national anthem. Not one coach knew the words. Nobody in the stadium sang the words. In my entire life, I have never seen such an unadulterated lack of patriotism.

I could not begin to understand why no Spaniard participated in the singing of their national anthem, and so I wrote to my good friends at ChatGPT demanding an answer: “Why do the Spanish people refuse to sing their own national anthem? Do they not love their country or are they all suffering from collective laryngitis?” The response was swift and to the point, “You idiot, the Spanish national anthem has no lyrics.”

POSTSCRIPT: Despite having a wordless national anthem, the Spanish team won the World Cup, beating the French team 2-0 in the semifinal and Argentina 1-0 in the final.