"It's been kind of like a little bit of a struggle to pick who deserves to go to the World Cup," Sofía Vergara said, turning a global tournament into a very personal decision about who sits beside her in the stands.
Vergara is not merely a spectator. She said she plans to attend Colombia's first U.S. game in Los Angeles on June 12, will return to the New York area for additional matches during the tournament, and has the World Cup Final outside New York circled on July 19.
Those dates matter because they compress a three-country tournament into a summer of travel and limited seats. "It's been good and bad because, like, for example, I'm going to be able to watch some games with them together," she said, describing the upside: family togetherness, food and noise, the rituals that turn matches into gatherings.
Vergara sketched the ideal match day in domestic terms. "We're going to be able to do what we do when we come together, which is eat and put together the family and everything," she said, adding as essentials "good food, good music, and good things to drink." For her, the World Cup doubles as a reunion: "When you're together, that's when you really get to enjoy each other and eat, and fight, and complain and it's fun."
There is a public-entertainment side to the buildup as well. Before the tournament, Vergara appeared in a Telemundo commercial with Owen Wilson, a promotional push that put her in front of viewers preparing to follow the FIFA World Cup across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
But the practical problem remains private and immediate. "It's also created some problems because I am going to be able to go to some games, and I cannot get all of them in the games," she said. The limitation is not sentimental; it is about tickets, travel and the finite number of seats next to her.
That scarcity has produced an awkward domestic calculus. She laughed about a celebrity text she received "yesterday"—"I don't even want to name-drop, but she texted me yesterday"—and then relayed the message: "She asked me if I was going to be in L.A. for the games." Vergara was referring to Shakira, who is scheduled to perform during the World Cup Final Halftime Show, and she was unequivocal about her plans to watch: "I'm very excited because I'm sure she's going to give a hell of a show like she always does. And she's very excited to do it. It's going to be amazing. For sure, I'm going to watch her."
The friction is small but telling: a chance for family bonding collides with the practical need to pick faces from a guest list. Vergara framed the choice as both a pleasure and a problem—she wants her relatives there to share meals and noise, but she recognizes she cannot bring every member of her extended family to every stadium night.
What remains unanswered is the one question everyone asks after a remark like hers: who will she bring? Vergara has not named which relatives will travel with her to Los Angeles on June 12 or who will join her for matches in New York and the Final on July 19. With those dates fixed and cameras on stadiums across the continent, the answer will arrive only when she turns up at the venues with her chosen guests.
