Originally published in Charisma
The United States men’s soccer team is using the World Cup to demonstrate their faith to the world.
After a crucial 2-0 win over Australia on Friday, the team gathered in the centre of Lumen Field in Seattle for what was evidently a huddle of prayer — led by one of its most outspoken believers.
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And the whole world was watching.
At the centre of the circle was Mark McKenzie, a defender and very public espouser of the Christian faith, on a team that already has no shortage of the faithful.
Reflecting on his own career recently in a YouTube interview with the faith and sport site Sports Spectrum, the 27-year-old McKenzie made his perspective clear.
“We’re not doing this for the money,” he said. “We’re not doing this for anything besides glorifying God, right? You are a vessel for Him.”
Friday’s win for the team — coming a week after a 4-1 victory over Paraguay — was a historic accomplishment. As the New York Post reported, the American national team had not won two consecutive matches since the tournament started in 1930.
As ESPN’s Sam Borden noted — if a little skeptically — the win also opened the slightest window of hope that the US men’s team could actually win the whole thing.
But these players might be doing something more important.
On Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday, Jesse Bradley, a former professional soccer player turned pastor, praised the players’ prayer as “inspiring our nation.”
“When you see the team pray together, you see their heart,” he said.
For most Americans, soccer news in the past decade has been dominated by the women’s national team and its excruciatingly annoying leader Megan Rapinoe — an embarrassing squad of ingrates far more likely to kneel during the national anthem than to kneel in prayer after a match.
But at this year’s World Cup, they’re seeing a men’s soccer team that isn’t shy about its confidence in itself — but more importantly, isn’t ashamed of demonstrating its faith in a God greater than itself.
That might be especially important in a year when the US is playing co-host to the international tournament, but regardless of where the games are taking place, there are few better ways to make the whole country look good — with the whole world watching.
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