JOHANNESBURG — Henry Kissinger called me, which does not happen often, but does happen on the eve of World Cups — a reflection of a shared obsession and a fair indication that soccer (football, actually) will trump the global battle for treasure and influence over the next month, or rather transfer it to the pitch.

On the U.S. team, one of whose attractions is that it has not yet mastered the professional foul, Kissinger was laconic: “We’re better but we don’t have a national style that I’ve been able to figure out. We’re a work in progress, just as we are in managing international affairs on a global basis.”

It’s true that adjusting to 21st century shifts in global power is proving arduous for the United States — much less room for the cynical diplomatic foul — and that there’s still a naïve quality to the American game, despite its opening 1-1 draw with England high in the South African veld and its second-place finish last year in the Confederations Cup.

Recurrent dreams had surfaced about England’s prospects before that dismal draw — the world has few more insistent illusions than those surrounding English football. They soon gave way to what a commentator called “the usual mixture of hope and horror” attendant on Rooney and company.