By MONTE DUTTON

The World Cup has us running around, trying to think of a reason to say “Turkiye.”

The smallest country, by both population and area, ever to play in the World Cup is Curacao. It should be noted that world football has joined virtually every American sporting league in expanding the field from 32 to 48 teams, thus making it nearly impossible to miss playoffs.

That makes Curacau a mid-major. It’s a two-island country off the coast of Venezuela. One island is uninhabited. The population is about the same as Columbia. Columbia, S.C., not Colombia, South America.

I’ve also learned that Chechnya and Czechia are not the same. The latter is often called the Czech Republic. Many places are named for Vaclav Havel.

Yes. I’ve read a lot of Wikipedia these past two weeks.

The World Cup is in the background as I repeatedly fiddle around with my shoe-box home. I’ve been listening on the radio while I drive over to Hendersonville in search of travel-trailer accessories. I knock around Brevard looking for better wi-fi service.

The reserve players on all the teams wear brown vests. All I can figure is that officials realized no team had actual colors that ugly. Nothing against brown vests. They go better with a suit and tie.

Television obviously uses a worldwide feed with standard three-letter designations for each team. CIV is the Ivory Coast (Cote D’Ivoire). While I was watching Ecuador edge Germany, I wondered what those teams were on the other channel.

Ecuador was dressed like Germany usually does. Germany was wearing Seattle Seahawks colors for no apparent reason. Oh, well. I guess it’s like those yellow Red Sox getups.

Yes, I like watching this. As the cliché suggests, it is a beautiful game. Most matches remind me of Dean Smith’s old “four corners” before the shot clock. Then an imprecise pass, or an unusually precise one, opens the door to the net.

Like many Americans, my interest soars for the World Cup. Then, when it’s over, my interest turns passive. I like soccer, really and truly. I just like other sports more.

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