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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Conor Orr

Is France the Best Team at This World Cup or Is It Yet to Be Properly Tested?

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Truly the stuff of fever dreams over here in section 225 along the stadium’s north side. Pass the man in the tight striped shirt wearing a red beret and holding a fake plastic baguette and you turn the corner to find a pair of men dressed as mimes. They are waving a French flag to fan a young supporter of Les Bleus who has overheated and is slumped down in a chair as security forms a wall around him to cool down.

Around the corner comes Max, an athletically built male of about 5’10” who is dripping sweat beneath what looks like a heavy, non-breathable blonde wig decorated in a kind of braided pigtail. He’s wearing a traditional Swedish dress for Midsommar atop shin guards, soccer socks and tennis shoes. Follow him through the concourse and onto the patio, and you’ve arrived at Camp Sweden.

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