It’s World Cup time again — time for those remaining Americans who do not yet dress their children in FC Barcelona jerseys to become overnight experts on a subject that will sneak its way into even the least athletic conversations in the coming month.

For a crash course on the crazy haircuts, celebrity girlfriends and, yes, actual soccer, for this World Cup, which begins in Russia on June 14, we spoke to Roger Bennett, the Liverpool-bred New Yorker who is a host, along with Michael Davies, of Men in Blazers, the irreverent soccer site, podcast and TV show that has become a go-to for Americans who are obsessed with the sport and appreciate sardonic British wit served up by the Imperial pint.

Just in time for this quadrennial global carnival, the men of Men in Blazers just published a soccer primer, “Encyclopedia Blazertannica,” and are embarking on a road show throughout the World Cup. Mr. Bennett’s 12-part podcast on the rise and fall of the American World Cup team in the 1990s, “American Fiasco,” is currently riding high on iTunes.

That the United States team failed to qualify for the first time since 1986 is unlikely to dampen enthusiasm, Mr. Bennett said: “Americans love a circus, and they love having an excuse to cut work and daytime drink en masse.”