The pristine fields of the Wake Med Soccer Park is the site of the six-day soccer festival called The Soccer Tournament, a $1 million winner-take-all event. | Photo by John Joyner/NCAA Photos/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
The $1 million winner-take-all soccer spectacle is bubbling with star talent and some pretty awesome moments in its first week
It’s been around for two years but after two days of The Soccer Tournament in Cary, North Carolina, it’s evident that this year’s edition is shaping up to be the one that puts the $1 million winner-take-all tournament on the map.
Yep, you read that correctly, there is an ex-pro-am tournament better known as TST, that is forking out $1 million to a winner in both a men’s and women’s division. There are eight teams on the women’s side but on the men’s, 48 teams infused with former college and professional players from all over the world — in addition to ex-NFL athletes (we see you trying to ball, JJ Watt and Chad Ochocinco) — and even sports personalities like Pat McAfee have fielded teams in an effort to split the pot.
TST is an offshoot from sports visionary John Mugar, who started The Basketball Tournament, or TBT, a $1 million March Madness-style basketball tournament roughly a decade ago.
TST is soccer’s version of the event, and after the first day, it’s been must-watch soccer. ESPN certainly thinks so, streaming the event exclusively on its platforms.
If you haven’t been watching, here are our picks of top three moments of the tournament so far.
Pat McAfee can ball a lil bit.
Pat McAfee is known for his outlandish antics as a podcast host and an ESPN analyst, but he was never someone you’d think knew anything about “The Beautiful Game.” That idea was supplanted when he infamously referred to Concacaf, the North American federation that governs soccer as “Concafa,” in an interview with French legend Thierry Henry.
Well, McAfee proved to everyone that he might not know much about soccer, but he can play a little bit going back to his high school days. His TST team, known as Concafa FC (which lets be honest is fn hilarious), arguably has the goal of the tournament following this assist from McAfee that was buried in the back of the net via a scissor kick from CBS Sports Golazo analyst Mike Grella.
JJ Watt plays soccer…sort of.
The funniest sight of the tournament thus far? How about 6-5, 289 pound former Houston Texans linebacker JJ Watt getting his soccer on as a member of a team loosely representing English club Burnley FC.
In case you were wondering, yes Watt plays soccer like football right down to his Air Jordan I football cleats. In between posting up Chad Ochocinco and fatshaming TST fans in attendance, he’s going full force on the competition.
Three essentials for Chad Ochocinco
Chad Ochocinco has always made his love of soccer known. In his offseasons from being an NFL All-Pro wide receiver, he’d workout — and even tried out — with MLS clubs. Here’s the thing too: in addition to still being lightning fast, Ochocinco can ball too, and did so as part of The Nati SC, his TST club that went up against JJ Watt’s Burnley side on Wednesday. What’s his secret to remaining in top physical shape and being good enough to compete for $1 million? A nap, McDonald’s and … half a Viagra. Oh, and water, of course.
