India, July 11 -- When Matthew Smith took his five-year-old son to a World Cup game in the Los Angeles area earlier this month, they opted to take public transit instead of driving from their nearby coastal city.

It was Smith's first time on the LA Metro in a decade, and the experience exceeded his expectations.

"Seems like a very functioning transit system, which is somewhat surprising given its reputation," he said.

That is the reaction Metro officials were hoping for as they used the 2026 FIFA World Cup's eight LA games to introduce - or reintroduce - people to the region's public transit system, often an afterthought in car-centric Los Angeles. It is an early test run of sorts for the 2028 Olympics, which organisers have billed as ...