INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Three decades after its paradigm-shifting first visit in 1994, the World Cup itself has finally returned to the United States, dragging conflict and controversy in its wake.
Scandalously high ticket prices. Politicians eager to manipulate the event for their own ends. Rudeness and hostility, and even the outright ejection of visiting players, staffers and referees by immigration and customs officials, including particularly targeted harassment of Iran, a team whose country is at war with the primary host nation.
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the planet’s most popular footballing spectacle has again become, well, a political football. But amid all the headlines and hoopla, probably no one is more excited for them to finally get on the pitch than the US men’s national team itself.
“The last few weeks were very intense,” key defender Chris Richards, who’s finally available for selection again after working through an ankle injury, said on Wednesday. “And now it's time to just hone in on what we do best, and hopefully get some good results.”
Every World Cup host’s first match is a massive occasion, and Friday’s Group D opener vs. Paraguay carries particular weight, in multiple contexts, for the USMNT. Most urgently, their dreams of a deep run in the tournament would be boosted enormously by starting with a victory.
Most (though not all) World Cup title runs kick off with three points, and the 13 members of the current squad who took part in Qatar 2022 learned firsthand how stressful things can get when those points are dropped. Conceding a late equalizer to Gareth Bale’s Wales ratcheted up the pressure in the Yanks’ subsequent games, and eventually left them drained and vulnerable in their Round-of-16 loss to the Netherlands.
Even with the more forgiving format imposed by FIFA’s expansion to 48 teams, higher seeding for the knockout stages is crucial. Win their group and the US will remain on the West Coast for the Round of 32; stumble through as a third-place finisher, and they might have to travel as far as Boston, and face a much stronger adversary.
“Based off of the last World Cup, I know how valuable the first game of a World Cup is, and in the group,” said midfield linchpin Tyler Adams on Thursday. “You don't concede against Wales, and you get three points in that game, how different does the group look, and how much easier it is to not have to play in must-win games? You don't want to leave yourself in a circumstance that you go to the third game and desperately need something.”
In the wider context, despite soccer’s enormous growth here over the past 32 years, the USMNT remain prominent pitchmen for their sport. Winning early and often, and ideally doing so in inspiring style, is their best hope of grabbing mainstream attention and stoking a groundswell of home support.
“It's contagious,” said coach Mauricio Pochettino in his matchday-1 press conference at the NFL venue formerly known as SoFi Stadium, officially redubbed Los Angeles Stadium by FIFA for this summer’s festivities. “We need to play with passion, we need to win games, so important – by playing with passion, and to translate, to make the fans feel proud about what they are seeing on the field. I think it is to create that emotional relationship.”
As they approach this momentous milestone, the core of this roster can call on some emotional relationships of their own. Mainstays like Adams, Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie have played together since their adolescent days with the youth national teams; many have known one another their entire adult lives.
“It just gives you that extra level of comfort. I think also you want to fight for guys like that,” said Pulisic. “I played with some of these guys for so long, you don't want to let them down. You want to give them everything, you want to have their back always. And I think that pushes you in tough times.”
Adams concurred.
“It's special,” he said, “and I think these are kind of the moments that you really need to stay present within it all, because no matter the circumstances, and no matter what happens, you're going through it with your best friends.”
The ‘94 squad won over millions, even many soccer skeptics, on their underdog run to the knockout phase. It might be asking too much of the current group to unite a nation currently racked by such profound divisions. But for now at least, everyone, from Pochettino down, is embracing the opportunity to dream big and aim high on home soil.
“In certain ways it feels bigger, being here at home now with our family and friends in front of us,” said Haji Wright, an LA native making a rare return to play in his hometown. “It does add a little bit of additional pressure, but I think that's a good thing. It could force us to perform in ways maybe we didn’t know we were capable of.
“The US is no different to any other country. There are good and bad sides to it,” he said of the contentious backdrop to this occasion. “With the tournament being here, hopefully the rest of the world can see what America is, and hopefully take the good with the bad.”
