Opinion

For the first time since 1994, the World Cup is back in North America. Sixteen cities — 11 in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada — will be holding matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The host sites for 2026 World Cup games will be finalized in the first half of 2022, and, to no one's surprise, the games being contested in the United States will be played at rather large football stadiums.

Canada and Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies is learning how one simple comment can create a media whirlwind. I hate to add onto the storm, but as someone who writes about soccer, I must answer the question people might be asking. That question being: what did Alphonso Davies say about Harry Maguire?

Maguire has had a season to forget with Manchester United. His games have been strewn with mistakes, errors and opponents scoring goals. United’s captain and head of defense has received hefty criticism and has almost become public enemy No. 1 for United fans.

Some of the worst USA soccer chants are used far too often.

When the United States was paired with England in the 2022 World Cup draw, I knew there were going to be problems. With the shared language and historic rivalry on and off the field, there was bound to be beef. Fights on the internet broke out almost immediately between the two fan bases, with England fans pointing out Americans’ chants. 

There comes a time when every footballer experiences defeat on a totally embarrassing level. Lionel Messi has lost 8-2; Cristiano Ronaldo has twice been defeated 5-0. Fortuna's wheel is always turning.

But the great wisdom imparted by this game is to "meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same." One must be gracious in victory and defeat, but this old cliché is always put to the test when you're on the receiving end of a thrashing.

Manchester City worked tirelessly on Tuesday to break through Atlético Madrid’s defense to earn a 1-0 victory in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal. The game was advertised as an unstoppable force meets immovable object, and Atlético Madrid delivered in terms of dropping everyone into defense.

The original purpose of this piece was to find players who began their careers in American soccer in the lower league and worked their way up to Major League Soccer — not players who went out on loan, rather athletes who signed for a USL or NPSL club, impressed at that level, and drew the attention of an MLS side.

But after a thorough examination of numerous MLS rosters, I found that this type of career path is almost nonexistent; such upward mobility is nearly impossible in American soccer.

While everyone's been wasting their time arguing over the tactical masterplans of Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone in the build-up to Manchester City and Atlético in the Champions League, a better philosophical discourse has been raging in the bottom half of the Premier League table, where Brighton manager Graham Potter is urging supporters to stop yelling "shoot" at his players while Burnley boss Sean Dyche is playing the devil's advocate by instructing his men to "kick it in the net."

The World Cup draw has been completed, and USMNT fans now know their team is going up against England, Iran and the winner of Ukraine/Scotland vs. Wales. The U.S. will need to be at its best to come out of this group, and this way too early USMNT World Cup roster can get the job done.

This mock USMNT World Cup roster is taking several things into account, including that every available American player is healthy and predicting how players will perform with their clubs over the next seven months.