I watched the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a few friends at a German restaurant in Brooklyn. Co-host Mexico went up against South Africa, who had made their return to the World Cup after failing to qualify for the last three tournaments. Unsurprisingly, many of the other patrons watching the match supported Mexico. Together, my friends and I were a motley crew: A Dane, a Singaporean, an Eritrean, three South Africans, and a Peruvian-American.

I had arrived at the bar wearing a 1998 South Africa jersey, MCCARTHY 17 emblazoned on the back for Benni McCarthy. The country’s highest scorer—an impressive thirty-one goals for the national team—and its most decorated player, McCarthy won a Champions League trophy with FC Porto under José Mourinho. He then went on to play in the English Premier League and establish himself as a highly capable striker. McCarthy was born in 1977 in Hanover Park, a township the Apartheid state classified a “coloured” group area.…