Goalkeepers of the Group Chat: The Thankless Job One Friend Always Gets Stuck With During the World Cup
Every friend group has one. It might be you. Here's how to know.
In every group chat this summer, there is one person holding the entire operation together, and they are exhausted.
They're the one who posts the match schedule in three time zones. Who reminds everyone which bar has the sound on. Who mutes the chat's one chaotic member during tense moments and takes the heat for it. The group's designated keeper — not of goals, but of order.
During this summer's World Cup across the US, Mexico and Canada, these unsung coordinators are working overtime. One confessed to maintaining a color-coded spreadsheet of who's watching where, 'because if I don't, we end up at three different bars again.'
The role is never assigned. It's simply revealed, usually by the first scheduling disaster of the tournament. If you're reading this and thinking of a friend, send them a thank-you. If you can't think of anyone — congratulations. It's you.
