THE VILLAGER TODAY

The real winner was America

The July 23 Villager cover pointed to Bob Sweeney’s page 4 commentary after Sunday’s World Cup.

Bob Sweeney ·

AI-generated editorial illustration: Empty stadium seats and a blank trophy case after a night match
AI-generated editorial illustration · The Villager Today. This artwork is illustrative and is not a photograph of the reported event.

The July 23 cover teaser said: “The real winner was America. See Barbwire Bob’s commentary on page 4. Also see related photos of The Denver Summit FC’s inaugural match at their new stadium on page 16.”

“Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” is one of the world’s most recognizable songs, Bob Sweeney wrote, after Sunday’s World Cup. Visiting fans filled cities, stayed in hotels, ate in restaurants, and discovered the warmth of American hosts. The championship trophy, he wrote, had been lifted; organizers and volunteers had built a foundation.

The Issuu page-4 image is a two-column opinion layout with masthead legal type in the gutter. Sentences that do not OCR cleanly — including the exact closing argument after the trophy line — are not reconstructed here.

Print source: The Villager, Vol. 44 No. 35, July 23, 2026, pages 1 and 4. Issuu edition. Cover teaser plus the readable Barbwire Bob lead. Unreadable mid-column sentences are omitted rather than guessed. Page 16 Summit FC photos are not reproduced.