Reporter's Notebook: A Lone Star Samurai Blue experiencing a World Cup match in Dallas

We caught up with the Japanese national team the day before their match at "Jerry World" — aka Dallas Stadium — for the FIFA 2026 World Cup . We had been walking around downtown Dallas after a wonderfully heavy Tex-Mex lunch, taking in the sights of a city completely caught up in World Cup fever. When we found out Team Japan was staying at the W Hotel just a few blocks away, we decided to brave the 90-degree Texas heat and walk over just to see what was happening. Our timing couldn’t have been b