They wanted $690,000 for a football ticket. My jaw dropped. [English Practice]

Well, did you enjoy the Men's Football World Cup in America, Mexico and Canada? What did you think of it?

Some people are saying that 'America ruined the World Cup'. One article I read in iNews, 'Eight Irritating Ways America Has Ruined This World Cup' by Pete Hall.

He writes complaining about the smell of popcorn, that fans didn't get to sit together, and that those hydration breaks ruined the flow of the game.

Hydration breaks - that's where the players had to stop for a drink of water. So quite a few negative articles about the World Cup!

Or at least America's handling of it. Did they really 'ruin the World Cup'? Let's explore that together today.

And meanwhile, you'll be getting lots of great vocabulary and doing your English language listening practice.

And if you're catching a slightly sad tone in my voice, then yes, I am sad that England lost in the quarter-final (I mean the semi-final!!).

Never mind, we'll have another go in four years' time. So Pete Hall writing in the iNews listed those "Eight Irritating Ways That America Ruined The World Cup'.

While he's having a good old moan, there are some things which quite legitimately - that means 'with good reason' - which quite legitimately people might complain about.

The first thing, those ticket prices! Rafael Naam reported for NPR - that's National Public Radio in America - Rafael Naam reported that a family wanting to see the first US game, the first US team match, they would have needed over $6,700 for seats.

And those weren't premium seats either! Those were ones high up at the top of the stadium, far from the pitch.

And FIFA's 'dynamic pricing model' - that means that prices changed - well that pushed good quality tickets for the final to nearly $33,000, bought directly from FIFA.