The hit 1999 HBO show The Sopranos is still heralded today for its great storytelling, depicting immigrants and their American-born children and what the American Dream actually looked like once you strip away that mythology. Showrunner David Chase won multiple Emmys for the series, but it might be the small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that people resonate most with today. Ahead of the 2026 World Cup—originally billed as a celebration of the U.S. in addition to Mexico and Canada—these moments become all the more prophetic. Soccer fans from all over the world will descend upon the U.S., and it’s none other than the show’s commentary on the state of American infrastructure that takes center stage.
The memes are almost everywhere: One shows the straight-from-Italy Furio disgusted while looking out of a cab window at the standard American road, complete with the fast-food chains, struggling shoe stores, and nail salons that make up America’s strip malls. Perhaps you’ve seen another Sopranos meme, of the show’s main character similarly sitting in a car that picked him up at Newark Airport, somberly looking out onto the fuel and wastewater treatment facilities that dot the New Jersey Turnpike, a scene juxtaposed earlier with his family’s idyllic trip in Italy. Tony Soprano’s America, rendered in all its asphalt glory.
