World Cup Visitors Leaving with New View of America, Clint Brewer Says

Kaitlin Housler

Public affairs specialist and journalist Clint Brewer said the U.S. scored a significant public relations victory by hosting the FIFA Club World Cup, arguing that visitors from around the globe left with a dramatically different impression of the country than the one they expected.

Speaking Thursday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Brewer said international visitors – particularly from Europe – arrived with negative perceptions of the U.S. shaped by media coverage but discovered a welcoming and comfortable nation instead.

“It was a fantastic win,” Brewer said. “I think it’s pretty well documented, but we had people from all over the world come here, and it largely surfaced on social media but also in news coverage, and particularly [among] Europeans, the general consensus was, ‘We had been told not to go to the States, that it was dangerous, that it was difficult to be there’… And they just had the greatest experience and met the most friendly, helpful, kind people that they’ve ever met in their lives, and a lot of them don’t want to go back.”

Brewer said many visitors were also surprised by the American standard of living.

“They also have been incredibly impressed at the relative level of standard of living in the United States,” he said.

To illustrate that point, Brewer compared U.S. and European incomes.

“You have to remember, just for some perspective, per capita income in the US… technically the poorest state in the country is Mississippi. Almost every European nation except Luxembourg and Belgium have lower per capita income than Mississippi,” he noted.

He added that everyday aspects of American life left a lasting impression on international visitors.

“All of these people come over here, and they can’t believe simple things that we take for granted like Buc-ee’s and Waffle House and the fact that suburban homes have three and four bedrooms—even if they’re not particularly palatial or well-appointed, but people live comfortably here,” Brewer said.

“They didn’t understand what air conditioning was. Things that we as Americans, simple comforts that we take for granted have astonished people from all over the country, particularly Europe,” he added.

Beyond material comforts, Brewer said visitors were also struck by Americans themselves.

“The kindness of our people and the ability to travel freely across the country. Just our freedom and our comfort and our style of living has completely impressed everybody, but it’s really been the people,” he said.

According to Brewer, many foreign visitors expected to encounter violence and political unrest because of America’s international reputation.

“America obviously gets a lot of bad press overseas about what happens here. They think everything’s a political assassination… or a shooting or fentanyl or political rancor or race riots or whatever. And what they found out was a very peaceful, friendly nation,” he said.

Brewer rejected suggestions that the flood of positive social media posts praising the U.S. had been orchestrated.

“No, there’s not. It is organic, and some of it’s coming from the soccer players themselves,” he said.

Brewer pointed to examples of international teams being embraced by local communities, noting that Algeria established its training base in Lawrence, Kansas, where residents organized a hometown-style welcome.

“The University of Kansas had an Algerian national team day. They had a parade through the streets, an old-fashioned American hometown parade to welcome them, and everybody in Lawrence, Kansas started wearing Algerian national team jerseys to make them feel welcome,” he said.

Brewer also highlighted how elite international players experienced everyday American life with little fanfare.

Discussing Spain’s teenage star Lamine Yamal, Brewer said, “There are videos of him just walking through Walmart buying stuff. This kid’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars at 19 years old. He’s one of the five best players in the world, and there are American teenagers… with their cameras talking to him in Walmart like he’s anybody else.”

He also described Norwegian striker Erling Haaland’s experience traveling across the United States.

“There’s a video of him… he started a Snapchat and a TikTok just to document his way through America,” Brewer said. “And there are clips of him sitting on the patio of the hotel where he’s staying at with little old ladies walking up to him going, ‘I hear you’re one of the best soccer players in the world.’ He goes, ‘No, that’s that guy,’ and points to… some coach.”

Brewer said those interactions reflected an authentic side of America that many foreign visitors had never seen.

“Even the players have experienced it. So it’s been a big win for us. I think… the net effect has been to really at the grassroots level change the hearts and minds of a lot of Europeans about what takes place in this country,” he said.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.

 

 

 

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