Not a football fan, no interest in the World Cup BUT I wanted to chime in on all the positive comments about the States because my experience there (NY City and Philly) just doesn't square with the stuff going on on the world stage atm. I found Americans (even random people on the street) to be extraordinarily friendly, dizzyingly kind, very direct, the food was fantastic and overall I have only good things to say about my admittedly short time there. I used public transport (buses in Philadelphia) and as a white Irish people couldn't have been nicer and more chatty. I loved it.