SEATTLE – Whatever your vision of a perfect Fourth of July weekend in this town looks like, the US men’s national team probably deserve credit for attempting their own version while they’re here.
Granted, the Yanks have to work through the weekend, with their typical training routine on Friday, Saturday and Sunday ahead of Monday afternoon’s weighty World Cup Round of 16 faceoff with Belgium at the venue formerly (and futurely) known as Lumen Field.
Yet it’s "fun work," you might say. They’re clearly enjoying their second Emerald City stint of this tournament as they prepare for quite possibly the biggest game of their lives, with the city rolling out the red carpet for them and their families this Independence Day. And that means something for this group, with so many of them playing their club soccer overseas now or for long stretches in the past.
“It is special, obviously,” USMNT captain Tim Ream told reporters at Husky Soccer Stadium Saturday morning. “It's doubly special because it's during the World Cup, and triple special because it's here in the US.”
The Yanks were the Mariners’ guests of honor at a sold-out T-Mobile Park Friday night, where both sides swapped plenty of merch, head coach Mauricio Pochettino threw out the ceremonial first pitch and Cristian Roldan carried the Ms’ trident out onto the pitch before hyping up the crowd with a short, sweet motivational message:
The sight of Weston McKennie and Tim Weah tossing a baseball back and forth before Saturday’s training suggested the occasion left an impression. The heartland vibes intensified when McKennie cranked up Old Crow Medicine Show's 'Wagon Wheel' on a large boombox as the team began to warm up, and a grinning ‘Poch’ took a lap past the media pack extending Independence Day wishes.
“That sort of stuff can only happen in America. So, I’m very, very proud,” striker Folarin Balogun said on Friday morning of the Mariners junket. “This is a very unique experience for me, being in the World Cup in your home nation. And yeah, I think you’re seeing, we’ve been able to be so focused, but at the same time have so many things we can do to distract ourselves and to take our mind off the high-pressure environment.”
#USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino just wished members of the media a “happy birthday” because it’s the nation’s 250th anniversary
— Pardeep Cattry (@pcattry.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Next, the USMNT and their loved ones were scheduled to take in the Saturday night fireworks from a rooftop bar downtown, one of the many ways in which U.S. Soccer’s support staff have worked to give the squad some downtime and levity amid the pressures of a World Cup campaign on home soil. For those who grew up Stateside, it’s a comforting callback to younger days.
“Just the typical standard: barbecue, enjoy time with family all day, fireworks in the evening, and just celebrating, obviously, what it means to have freedom, to have independence,” said Ream, who joked about how out of touch his English friends and neighbors were about July Fourth back when he played for Fulham and Bolton.
“It doesn't have to be this big, extravagant thing, but just acknowledging why we are a country, and how we became a country, and how we became independent is enough for any of us.”
For many dual nationals like Balogun, Sergiño Dest, Antonee 'Jedi' Robinson and Malik Tillman, it’s another taste of Americana, the sort of experience they’re getting in unprecedented doses this summer.
“I feel like just some of the things I see in America, it’s totally different for me,” said Balogun, an Anglo-Nigerian who grew up in London. “Just the sheer size of the country, it really puts everything into perspective for me. I’m really enjoying just the experience of being out here for a long time. Usually, I’m here for about 10 days for a camp, so this is up there with probably one of the longest stretches I’ve had here, and I’m able to just soak everything in a bit more.”
The team’s good vibes on Puget Sound cut in sharp contrast to the wider nation’s particular sociocultural moment, with government-employed edgelords using the USMNT’s success to post nativist agitprop on the Department of Homeland Security’s social-media channels and the "America's 250th on the National Mall" event in Washington, D.C. turning into a sort of federally-sponsored Fyre Festival.
While some segment of their growing fanbase probably has MAGA elements, the USMNT themselves don’t seem particularly interested in wading anywhere near all that, and really, they don’t have to. They know full well – as does anyone who’s been paying the slightest bit of attention to their story – that their very existence, with all its shades of diversity, is a repudiation of that dark side of the American character, a beacon of hope on this otherwise uneasy edition of July Fourth.
“As a group, with all our different backgrounds, where we all have grown up, it’s a true representation of what America is, you know? it’s a melting pot of people, personalities, of characters,” Ream said. “It’s a perfect representation of what the US is and what it’s about.”
