by Sean Murphyi.I learned about death and taxes later but first; I understood that there was also the World Cup. It was Kissinger who helped convince Brazil to let their hero practice the beautiful game in America (Brazil had, in 1961, actually declared Pelé a non-exportable national treasure). As this year’s knockout stage reminds us, the World Cup is undefeated at humbling favorites and turning cads into conquerors. The World Cup forces a very specific subset of Americans to confront the fallacy that our exceptionalism is axiomatic, established, incorruptible. And we love ourselves too much to give our hearts to a beautiful game, anyway.