This Is What a World Cup Summer Smells Like in America

Grill smoke, cut grass, and something else entirely. A sensory tour of the host-city sidewalks.

<p>Close your eyes in any host city this July and you can navigate by smell alone: charcoal, sunscreen, street-cart elote, fresh-cut park grass.</p>

<p>Backyard grills are running double shifts. Match days have quietly become cookout days, and nobody voted on it — it just happened.</p>

<p>The three-country tournament has turned menus into passports. One block grills carne asada, the next flips burgers, the next experiments with butter tarts.</p>

<p>Decades from now, this is what people will remember. Not scores. Smoke, summer, and a ball on every screen.</p>