Why USA sings 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' after World Cup wins

The United States has spent the World Cup on the west coast, playing in Los Angeles, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area, but West Virginia is on the minds of fans and players.

The American team joins in with fans in singing John Denver's classic "Take Me Home, Country Roads" after each win, including the squad's knockout stage win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Some have questioned how the song became a staple of the American team's run, considering the squad's ties to West Virginia are scant, but 

Here's how the song became synonymous with USA soccer and the full lyrics to the song.

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USA Country Roads tradition at World Cup

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" didn't have the most natural of origins as a World Cup anthem for the United States.

According to The Athletic, FIFA World Cup chief strategy officer Amy Hopfinger was simply looking for a song that could create a memorable moment between players and fans after games, ahead of the USA's second match at this year's World Cup.

After receiving two options from FIFA's head of event production, "Take Me Home, Country Roads" was chosen and played after the United States' 2-0 group stage win over Australia. The fans sang it, the players took notice and it took off.

Players and coaches quickly bought in, with manager Mauricio Pochettino reportedly playing the song in his office days after the win over Australia.

The song's cowriter, Bill Danoff, told the Associated Press that its use has made him a soccer fan.

"I thought, ‘Gee, I wish John [Denver] was still here,'" Danoff said. "John got super excited about stuff like that, and it would have been fun to watch that game with him."

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" played after the USA's loss to Turkey but received a much warmer reception after the team's knockout stage win over Bosnia, which perhaps cemented the song as a victory anthem for the Americans.

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When did Take Me Home, Country Roads come out?

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" was recorded and released in 1971. Despite the song focusing on West Virginia, Danoff was inspired to write the lyrics while driving on rural roads in Maryland with his wife, who also was a co-writer.

Danoff, who is from Massachusetts, started incorporating West Virginia into the song after being inspired by some people he knew from the state. Danoff has said the song is about country roads more than it's about West Virginia or any particular state.

"It didn't have anything to do with Maryland or anyplace," Danoff told NBC 4 Washington in 2020.

"I’m a songwriter. I was looking for words. The words that I loved in that song were Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River," Danoff said. "They’re songwriter words, so that got me to West Virginia."

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Take Me Home, Country Roads lyrics from John Denver

Here are the full lyrics of "Take Me Home, Country Roads," according to AZLyrics:

Take Me Home, Country roads in sports

The song has been used for singalongs in other sports as well. Manchester United fans have sung a personalized version of "Country Roads" since 2014, while fans regularly sing it at the NFL's international games in Germany.

The song, of course, is regularly heard at West Virginia University athletic events, including football games.

From Germany, to Manchester and now to back to the United States, "Take Me Home, Country Roads" continues to be a deeply popular sports anthem 55 years after its release.

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What happened to John Denver?

Denver died at the age of 53 in a small plane crash off the coast of California in 1997, while practicing takeoffs and landings at Monterey Peninsula Airport.

Denver, who had about 2,700 hours of flying experience, was flying an amateur-built plane. An investigation determined that Denver struggled to switch fuel tanks when needed due to the unusual location of the valve he needed to find, and he crashed after running out of usable fuel.