CHICAGO — Oh, what could’ve been.Sixty-thousand-plus flag-waving fans. Parking lots full of tailgaters, wine, Malört and song.The City Beautiful. The Beautiful Game.Snarling traffic, full trains and long lines …OK, not everything would have been blue-sky perfect in Chicago if the city had been hosting the World Cup again. But on a mostly sunny day on the shores of Lake Michigan, it sure felt like a futbol town.Alas, this was just a World Cup preview and not the real thing, because Soldier Field was slammed Saturday with a decidedly pro-American crowd — still not a guarantee 32 years after the last World Cup here. It was a fleeting cameo for Chicago as the World Cup comes back to the United States. Local celebrities like Candace Parker and Chance the Rapper lent their auras to the festivities. Perhaps if it were a real game, Caleb Williams and Common would’ve been here too. (Maybe they were, but I didn’t see them.)For the last four decades, ever since the run-up to the 1994 World Cup, Chicago has always shown up for international soccer games.Back in 1993, the U.S. and Germany played in front of a city-record crowd of 53,549 in a U.S. Open Cup match at Soldier Field. This time, 63,636 showed up to watch the national team play Germany in a send-off game.Germany won 2-1, but there were plenty of bright spots for an American team hoping to make some noise on their home turf, just like in 1994.In the first half, Antonee “Jedi” Robinson thrilled the American fans with a lightsaber volley goal off a Christian Pulisic corner kick. Robinson’s celebratory backflip was a perfect bit of showmanship.