Has she never been to the south?
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway, but some of the best content of the tournament has come from international fans visiting the United States for the first time.
North America is the host of the tournament this year, with the United States, Canada and Mexico hosting World Cup games. Many football stadiums across the country – like in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia Seattle and the San Francisco Bay area – will be transformed into football stadiums for the competition.
Teams from all across the world have already made their way over to the States (and Canada and Mexico), along with fans from all over the world are already making their way to the United States and documenting their travels, leading to some great content as their minds are blown discovering the best that America has to offer.
One guy in particular has taken over the internet, a German fan named Freddy who seems to be getting the full American experience – including Walmart, Waffle House, and Buc-ee’s.
(Unfortunately, Freddy didn’t get the full Waffle House experience, complete with an all out brawl between degenerate “patrons” and the staff, or even a full restaurant country music sing-a-long, but he still had a great time at the American staple).
The internet has fallen in love with Freddy for his childlike wonder and amazement at things that we take for granted living here all the time, like having 10,000 varieties of soda to choose from:
And he even got to see the ultimate display of American patriotism with a bald eagle flying around Auburn’s stadium:
Sports teams have even taken notice, with the New Orleans Saints giving him a tour of their facility and LSU rolling out the red carpet for him while he was in Baton Rouge:
But more recently during his trip, Freddy discovered one of the greatest American treasures of them all: Ella Langley.
Freddy says that he had never heard of Ella before getting to the United States, but that she’s become “the soundtrack of their trip.”
Now, Ella is obviously one of the biggest artists in not just country music, but ALL genres, right now, so it’s no surprise that Freddy would get introduced to her while he’s here. I mean, turn on pretty much any radio station at this point and you’re pretty much guaranteed to hear an Ella Langley song at some point.
Ella even tweeted at him to send her a DM, and it looks like our German-born Ella Fella will be headed to a concert at some point this year. Just a generational run from the lad.
Seems like our German friend Freddy has experienced some genuine southern hospitality.
Now, that’s not really a surprise: Anybody in the south will tell you it’s full of some of the most welcoming people you’ll ever meet who are always eager to show off what makes the south so special.
But apparently one CNN analyst has been watching…well, too much CNN, because she was caught off guard by how welcoming the south has been to international visitors in the country for the World Cup.
During a story on Freddy’s trip, CNN analyst Christine Brennan expressed her surprise at the reception the foreigners have received in the south:
“I saw some conversation … about how the rest of the world is looking at the United States and feeling that we are – it’s a foreboding image and that we are inhospitable. And here is a German tourist, and others as well now on social media, saying, ‘No, no, no, the Americans are great.’
So what a shame that that’s the image that the world has, many have, of us. But how wonderful, again, that sports can bring people here and show people that the United States and you know, the South is welcoming a German tourist in a way we would never have anticipated.”
Who exactly wasn’t anticipating the south to be welcoming? Because I could have told you exactly how it would go. It seems the only people who are surprised are those who already look down on the south themselves. The rest of us know the truth, and know that southern hospitality is still very real.
Keep it up, Freddy. And if you make it to Nashville on your journey, holler at the team here and we’ll show you some true country music history… like the rooftop of Chief’s where Morgan Wallen threw a chair.
