{"id":5215,"date":"2026-07-18T18:33:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5215"},"modified":"2026-07-18T18:33:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:33:33","slug":"john-strong-and-stu-holden-enjoy-wonderfully-chaotic-experience-as-fox-lead-world-cup-broadcasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5215","title":{"rendered":"John Strong and Stu Holden enjoy \u2018wonderfully chaotic\u2019 experience as Fox\u2019 lead World Cup broadcasters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By their own calculations and tallies, John Strong and Stu Holden have each flown 20 times during the World Cup, covering nearly 30,000 miles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Trump shifts his tone on Jimmy Carter while grappling with Iran, inflation, and his own legacy<\/a><\/p>\n

As Fox\u2019 lead broadcast team during the tournament, they have called 21 matches in five weeks, wrapping it up with Sunday\u2019s Argentina-Spain final at 3 p.m., the third time Strong and Holden will be the English-language voices of a men\u2019s World Cup final.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would be understandable, then, if they were weary, or at least trying to shake off some jet lag.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But in conversation with reporters Friday in advance and anticipation of the capper to a wildly enjoyable World Cup, their main theme was gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel fortunate to be sharing this once again with one of my best friends in life,\u201d said Holden, the color analyst and former US national team standout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of surreal to think we\u2019re at the end of this,\u201d said Strong, the play-by-play voice. \u201cIf we\u2019ve learned with the three World Cups [that we\u2019ve called together], it\u2019s that every time we think we\u2019ve seen it all, the next game happens, and something even better happens. So I\u2019m super excited to see how we how we cap off this one. This tournament has been everything we could have hoped it would be. It was wonderful, and it was chaotic, and it was wonderfully chaotic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: <\/span><\/span>We are Boston, and we did stop worrying and just enjoyed the World Cup … and other thoughts<\/div>\n

Strong and Holden are matter-of-fact regarding their appreciation of the opportunity their jobs provide, which included calling all of the USMNT\u2019s matches through its loss to Belgium in the round of 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

Holden acknowledges he makes a conscious effort to stay in the moment, sometimes taking off his headset during a match so he can gauge the involvement of the crowd and soak in the atmosphere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Britain\u2019s Josh Kerr breaks the men\u2019s mile world record that stood since 1999<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOne moment that sticks out for me was after US and Bosnia-Herzegovina\u201a\u201c said Holden. \u201cThere was a really dramatic finish to that game, the red card [to Folarin Balogun in the Americans\u2019 2-0 victory in the round of 32], the Malik Tillman goal. \u2018Country Roads\u2019 is playing when it\u2019s over, I\u2019m taking a selfie video, panning to the crowd. I have this wave of emotion and goosebumps, and I look over, and John was emotional. He was crying.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I cried multiple times during US games in this tournament,\u201d interjected Strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat moment we take off our headsets after these big games, we exhale, because we love what we do and we get wrapped up in it,\u201d continued Holden. \u201cHe was overcome with emotion in that moment, and as a friend and broadcast partner, I understand what it means to him. I understand completely. I represented my country on the field, and I got to live out my dream. He\u2019s living his dream in real time, and it\u2019s never lost on me that this is what John has wanted to do from a very young age. It was cool to see him take a moment for himself, because these are the moments you want to remember.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: <\/span><\/span>The data that show just how successful the World Cup has been in the US<\/div>\n

Holden didn\u2019t outright make a prediction for Sunday, saying he\u2019s hoping for a match that provides \u201ca fitting end performance\u201d to a consistently compelling tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the contrasting styles of play,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have the Spanish control versus the Argentine spirit, and the greatest player of all time [Lionel Messi], and a player on the other side in Lamine Yamal that grew up idolizing Messi and could become the third teenager to win a World Cup final.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as we all expect Spain to have the ball and have this harmonious type of rhythm, there is no better team in the world to disrupt that type of flow and insert the chaos and insert all the emotion that they play with constantly and play on the edge in a way than Argentina can.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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WEEI continues to pay for Ottolini mistake<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

With each subsequent change to WEEI\u2019s afternoon drive program, it further confirms that the station and parent company Audacy made a silly mistake by removing Meghan Ottolini from the time slot in August 2024. When Ottolini, Christian Fauria, and Lou Merloni were broken up in December 2022 \u2014 Ottolini remained in the 2-6 p.m. role while Merloni left the station and Fauria moved to middays \u2014 they were coming off a fall 2022 ratings book with a second-place 9.2 share. The \u201cRich Shertenlieb Show,\u201d as currently constructed, will never get near that number \u2026 If WEEI was serious about challenging The Sports Hub\u2019s \u201cFelger & Mazz\u201d in afternoon drive \u2014 and it\u2019s clear it is not, but humor me \u2014 it would be wise to emphasize informed Celtics conversation. I\u2019d rather listen to Michael Felger do a six-hour podcast on the 1983 Milwaukee Bucks than talk about the Jaylen Brown trade one more time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Trump brings full weight of government to bolster false election claims<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In advance and anticipation of the capper to a wildly enjoyable World Cup, the main theme expressed by Strong and Holden was gratitude.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Strong and Stu Holden enjoy \u2018wonderfully chaotic\u2019 experience as Fox\u2019 lead World Cup broadcasters - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=5215\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Strong and Stu Holden enjoy \u2018wonderfully chaotic\u2019 experience as Fox\u2019 lead World Cup broadcasters - 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