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Guardian sources say Ernst Tanner has not rejoined the club after he was found to have violated league policiesDespite being eligible for reinstatement, former Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner has not resumed duties with the club, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation said this week, in part because he has yet to complete his league-ordered restorative practices training.Tanner was suspended through 1 June by Major League Soccer after a league-ordered investigation found he had violated “policies and standards of professional conduct required of League and Club leadership”. That investigation, which concluded in March, was the league’s second inquiry into alleged misconduct by Tanner; he had previously been investigated after an MLS Players Association complaint alleged multiple instances of racist, sexist and homophobic behavior.MLS initially closed its initial investigation when it was unable to substantiate those complaints. The Guardian’s own investigation late last year substantiated many of those complaints and raised additional concerns, prompting the league to reopen its investigation and, eventually, suspend Tanner without pay. Neither the league or Union offered any clarity into which specific allegations the investigation substantiated. Tanner has denied the allegations against him.MLS declined to comment on Tanner’s status. The Philadelphia Union did not respond to repeated requests for comment.The Union named former academy director Jon Scheer as sporting director last week, while also firing head coach Bradley Carnell after a franchise-worst start to the season. At the time, Union owner Jay Sugarman addressed Tanner’s status.“Ernst right now is still in the restorative process,” Sugarman said at a press conference. “We’re going to wait to see how that plays out. The reports we’ve gotten so far is that he’s taken it incredibly seriously. I think he was always planning to step back and go back to Germany at the end of his contract year so we’re running out of time as it is, but we’re going to have conversations with him once we get all the information from the league and the specialists who are working with him.”When asked whether Tanner could be assigned a different role at the club, Sugarman said it was “premature” to discuss a return before he sees the results of Tanner’s league-ordered training.During his time at the Union, Tanner built the club into a powerhouse and a model for MLS franchises looking to compete on a tight budget. The Union’s academy system, which Tanner helped construct and oversee, is among the league’s finest, having produced multiple members of the US roster at this summer’s World Cup.The Union sit in last place in the Eastern Conference and are in the midst of one of the worst seasons in MLS history. They return to play on 22 July, against the New York Red Bulls.

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In the first of a new series of dispatches, fans in US, Mexico and Canada tell us that they want visitors to have a good time but are angry about ticket prices, Fifa’s priorities and a lack of long-term thinking from politiciansThe 2026 World Cup features 104 matches in 16 cities across Canada, Mexico and the USA, from Vancouver to Mexico City and San Francisco to Boston. Before, throughout and after the tournament we’ll be hearing from fans in those cities about their experiences – some shared and some different – in our “My World Cup” series. Here some of our correspondents share their first thoughts.I’m much less excited than in 1994, when the World Cup was held in the US. It feels like an event for the rich now. It would cost $2,000 for me to go to a group stage match with my wife and two kids. None of those games is worth that, and the knockout stages will cost significantly more.If I’m just watching on TV, it might as well be on the other side of the world, which is a shame because 1994 had an amazing impact on me as a 14-year-old. I wish my kids and the city could experience that excitement. In 1994, fewer people in the US were aware of the tournament, but fewer Americans will get to experience it live this time.Most people in Atlanta are apathetic about the World Cup. People who care are disenchanted by ticket prices; those who don’t are not even talking about it. The news cycle does not offer any oxygen for it – except to remind everyone about the price gouging.I hope Fifa loses it shirt on it and people do not travel to the US or pay the exorbitant ticket prices. I also hope the expanded format backfires and people don’t tune in to the first round. I expect it will be similar to Qatar, with half-empty stadiums but plenty of extra games to generate revenue. Once the last 16 begins, the rest of the world will eagerly watch the competitive part of the tournament. I imagine the US will get out of their group and lose against the first decent opposition they meet (much like Qatar). KyleWith so much going on in the country and around the world – much of it distressing – I am finding it hard to generate a lot of enthusiasm for the tournament. In 1994 I attended all the games at Foxborough, including Diego Maradona’s game for Argentina against Nigeria in the group stage and the Italy v Spain quarter-final. Back then my excitement was sky-high: it was a lifetime ambition to experience a World Cup in person and I figured it would never happen again.This time around, maybe because it’s second time around, I am more jaded. However, I am sure once it starts I’ll get caught up in following the action, including watching games on TV. I am looking forward to international visitors at the museums where I work part-time; no doubt I am in for some good-natured ribbing about the US team and their poor prospects.I won’t be attending any games. The tickets are outrageously overpriced and the mechanisms for buying them were just too byzantine. I don’t sense much of a buzz. That may change as the tournament gets closer and as the weather improves. We did host a pre-tournament friendly – Brazil v France – which was very well attended. There is a large Brazilian population and nothing seems to diminish their enthusiasm or optimism.News about the tournament has tended to focus on negatives, in particular the impact on traffic. The stadium is in Foxborough, about 30 miles outside the city. There are trains – and they plan to beef up the service – but not enough for everybody who will want to use them. They have cut down on parking close to the stadium in response to complaints from the town. The town, the New England Patriots, the State of Massachusetts and Fifa only recently reached an agreement on traffic and parking. It has the potential to be an ugly mess.I look forward to the World Cup every four years. I’ve watched every one of them since, as a nine-year-old, I watched the 1966 World Cup final with my dad. I always thought of it as the world’s premier sporting event, even more so than the Olympics. I am sure that whatever cynicism and weariness I am feeling will fall away once the first games kick off. So, I am hoping for good football, a good atmosphere at games, a few surprises and some new stars. And please no co-opting the games to feed a political agenda – yes Donald Trump, this means you. David AchenbachI was so excited until the ticket process and prices came out. I love the sport, will follow the whole thing and would love to attend games, but it has priced me out of what I thought would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance. The buildup has been muted and apathetic in Dallas: barely any signs around and not much local promotion yet. It just doesn’t seem to be a big deal. I have not heard of any big national teams choosing to base themselves in the area, which is understandable considering it will be at least 35C (95F) in late June and July. Given the prices, the weather and the political turmoil, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity seems not so worth it.I’m just hoping for an incident free-tournament. I don’t want international or national politics to have any spotlight. I want great games and for our country to showcase what once made us great. I would like the US team to make the quarter-finals and for the tournament to be another springboard to launch the game’s popularity here. But my hopes and expectations are on opposite ends of the spectrum. AndrewI was looking forward to the World Cup being on my doorstep and was hoping to go to a game. But ticket prices are ridiculous. Most people here earn between 10,000 and 30,000 pesos a month (between £425 and £1,275).For various reasons there is a massive lack of enthusiasm. There is growing anti-US feeling here; there is concern about whether fans will be able to travel to games given visa bans; there is a high level of support for Iran; it feels as if the World Cup has been hijacked by the US; and politically Fifa appears to be bowing to the US. It is difficult to find anyone promoting the World Cup. Zero excitement.We love our football and the mood will improve closer to the tournament, but this World Cup is tainted and in my opinion the games should have been moved to Canada and Mexico the minute Donald Trump came to power. I hope the games in the US have minimal crowds and that people protest against the way the whole thing is being handled. This is not a World Cup that is bringing the world together. It’s one that proves football is mired in political agendas: a money-making machine that ignores true fans. The only thing I can say is anyone visiting games here will be treated with kindness and respect. They will be safe and welcomed. Heather ChambersI was extremely excited about the World Cup coming to Houston. Having seven World Cup games on my doorstep seemed like a dream. But my enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat by ticket prices, the difficulty of getting hold of them, and the dilution of quality by including too many teams. ‘Nosebleed’ seats for Saudi Arabia v Cape Verde cost more than $200 each. It’s a joke.The sad thing is, my love of football will probably mean I pay over the odds for tickets. I’ll probably bite the bullet and pay astronomical prices on the resale market for England’s game in Dallas. I’ve lived here for more than 25 years and I’m unlikely to get the opportunity to watch England in a World Cup game in Texas again.There is some excitement bubbling under in Houston but it’s subdued compared with what I anticipated. The sport has boomed in the US over the last couple of decades, and Houston is no exception, but it’s still a city more interested in American football, baseball and basketball. There are a few signs of the tournament coming here – they have decorated some areas with a World Cup theme) and there have been some infrastructure improvements – but I don’t think the city really knows what is coming. The infrastructure of the fourth-biggest city in the US may buckle under the strain of the additional tourists. Expect heavy traffic. Ian ShermanWhen I learned Kansas City was a host city, I was ecstatic and proud but also sad because my late brother Grant and our parents, who died either side of the pandemic, are not here to share the joy. Now, while I’m still proud of my city being on the world stage (and extra proud we will be the base camp for four national teams: England, Argentina, the Netherlands and Algeria), I am concerned about the state of our nation, the fact the US has bombed Iran, and Gianni Infantino’s bizarre venality toward our president.I’m proud to show off my city, but think visitors from overseas might be shocked at how far apart things are, how car-bound we are, and the lack of public transit infrastructure. I worry about world events affecting the tournament, sky-high ticket prices and, frankly and embarrassingly, the preponderance of guns in American cities; there was a mass shooting during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebrations, across the street from where the fan festival will be.My late brother is so strongly tied to all things World Cup, it causes me moments of deep grief; but also a desire to do what I can to create positive experiences of the world’s biggest soccer competition. I hate that Grant isn’t here to see this, and I lament the absence of everything he’d have written about it. But I also hope and pray our home town will do him proud.There is an air of what I would call wary excitement in Kansas City. The exorbitant ticket prices will keep many locals out of the stadium, but we’ll pack the sports bars and community viewing areas. Kansas City people love to hype where they live, and local businesses are excited for what could be a lucrative time. More than anything, we want the experiences Kansas City contributes to the World Cup to be free of violence and to be looked upon by the international community as unexpectedly amazing. We want visitors to feel as if they’ve discovered us, that we’ve welcomed them, and that they want to come back. In troubled times, world sporting events have the potential to bring us together in joyful ways, and don’t we all need that sometimes? Eric WahlI’m excited but conflicted. My first proper World Cup was in 1994 and, since moving to the United States in 2004 and adopting this as my country, I have dreamed about going to a game in my home city. Although, given the glaring anti-immigrant politics in the US and the war against Iran, it’s not great timing.On top of that Fifa is pricing out true fans . I went to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and had a blast, spending $100-200 on tickets. It’s ridiculous that spending more than $600 for a group game is considered normal – and that’s before the ridiculous price of parking, which most people will have to consider, given there is very little public transport to the stadium in LA.I’d like to take my wife and children, but the cost of tickets may not make that possible. It feels as if the tournament is catering to those willing to pay any price to attend a World Cup without knowing anything about the sport or the competition. My hope is that the tournament is accessible to more than just the people who can afford it, that it helps grow the game among the younger generation, and that people who travel from abroad have an easy time getting to the games and have a great experience, without having to worry about immigration enforcement profiling them. WalidI wasn’t keen on Mexico joining the North American bid from the start because it felt as if the US was using us to make their bid feel inclusive, but we were only getting scraps. The decision to play just 13 of the 104 matches in Mexico feels insulting as this is a football-loving country that has already organised two great World Cups.Being part of this World Cup in particular feels wrong. Under the Trump administration the US is poised to be one of the worst ever hosts. It is their obligation to have open doors to fans from all over the world and yet they are forbidding citizens of several qualified countries from visiting, or at least putting obstacles in their way, not to mention they will be the first host that is bombing one of the participating nations. Mexico has no enemies and we welcome people from anywhere, so being part of this discriminatory World Cup feels wrong.This is probably the worst Fifa has ever been, and although the World Cup will happen here, it feels like most people will simply not be a part of it. The ticket prices and the system to buy them is abusive and out of reach for 90% of people. I don’t know who will be going to the stadium. Most people I know cannot hope to pay the prices and the ones who can simply refuse to be a part of this abuse. I hope the stadiums are empty so they don’t do this ever again.I’ll watch on TV (although the increased number of teams makes it feel like most matches don’t really matter) and people can experience the World Cup at fan fests, but we’ve had them at every other tournament. Going to El Zócalo to watch a match will be no different to our experience of Russia 2018 or Qatar 2022. The matches will be in the Azteca, but they could be in Turkey, New Zealand or Antarctica – the experience for most of the Mexicans will be the same. The city is trying hard to promote the tournament, but I haven’t felt excitement in the streets.Finally, it is a wasted opportunity for our city in terms of planning. Our government has not made anything out of it. I live close to the Azteca stadium, an area with a big population, yet poorly connected to the rest of the city. The World Cup was the chance to build a subway in Coapa, to connect us to the rest of the system, but the city government abandoned any such plan. They have made some quick, last-minute improvements but they will not benefit locals in the long term.The World Cup has been a nuisance in daily life, a wasted opportunity in the long term, an abuse of the people who should enjoy the event,, an insult to a football-loving country that has been treated like an afterthought, and it is an embarrassment to co-host a tournament soiled by Fifa and Trump. Francisco Fontano PatánI’m very excited but don’t know anyone going to a game as the cost involved is just outrageous. I hope to enjoy the tournament in a fan zone. There is not much of a buzz in Miami. A lot of local bars are still not aware of the tournament and its importance. I’m hoping it goes off smoothly without incident. This is a very worrying time in this country for everyone. Geoff WillertonThe World Cup is the most important sporting event in the world so I am really excited, but I have mixed feelings. Most people on the street can’t afford a ticket, or a new jersey. This tournament feels distant from ordinary citizens. Fifa has turned it into a product for the few. At least regular people can gather in public parks to watch games, creating unofficial fan fests.I’ll try to attend one of the games in my home town, Monterrey, as they are a bit more affordable than in Mexico City. People aren’t thrilled and World Cup fever isn’t as present as I’d like. But as the tournament gets closer the mood will improve. I hope Mexico’s team can put on a good football exhibition. I don’t expect them to win the tournament, but at least to do a good job. In general I hope the event brings some positive economic effect. Jose GalindoLike most big events in New York, it will be largely ignored (sadly). There’s just too much going on in this city for anyone to care about a few “soccer” games out at MetLife Stadium, which is actually in New Jersey (and feels a world away from New York City). Even when we hosted the Super Bowl in 2014 you would barely have noticed. I’m excited to attend a couple of Australia games in San Francisco and Vancouver, but think it will be a big ‘nothing burger’ in New York City.It will be the same as any other day in New York, where it’s a million miles a minute and thousands of events can grab your attention. I don’t think anyone knows or cares that we’ll soon be hosting a World Cup final. That said, my big hope for the tournament is that we have peace, love, harmony and everyone getting along and having a good time. We need it! ParkerI was excited, but my interest has steadily declined due to the ticket prices, the peace prize and the rise of ICE. Maybe it was easier to ignore the venality of Fifa when the competition was further away, or maybe it’s actually got worse. I was initially planning to attend games, but the ticket prices and general ennui mean it’s unlikely. I’m waiting to see what the fan zones look like, but my expectation is that it will probably be another cash grab (and too hot to be out drinking for hours).In Philadelphia there are some posters around and some merchandise here and there, but not much excitement. It’s not something that comes up much in conversation – people often ask which “EPL” team I support when they hear my accent, but I don’t recall anyone mentioning the World Cup. I’m in two minds about the tournament: half of me wants to enjoy the games, the other half wants to see the whole thing fall apart so Fifa are not encouraged to keep bleeding the game dry of joy. James PowellI love the World Cup deeply, grew up watching games with my family, and will almost certainly be watching every single game this year. But the party I thought would descend on our region doesn’t seem to be coming. My friends planned to go to the fan zones together but we might not have any fan zones. I also thought we’d be able to attend at least one game, but the prices are just too high. I’m not willing to pay $250 to watch Austria v Jordan from seats in the stratosphere. If ticket prices drop substantially, I would love to attend the Paraguay v Turkey match because Turkish fans are incredible.I really wanted my friends to “feel” the World Cup. I wanted them to come join me and make friends with Paraguayans, Algerians, etc. But who is even coming? It won’t be the kind of World Cup where you walk down the street and know you’re in a host city.The most infuriating thing is how organisers are prioritising sponsors and VIPs over fans. I don’t think American sports executives understand the World Cup or why it matters on a fundamental level. Our host city committee CEO said the Super Bowl was the event they were preparing for the most, and that the World Cup is just a tier below. If we had event organisers who understood soccer, they would do everything in their power to channel the energy from fans and generate a World Cup atmosphere. Instead, they’ll probably just put on some concerts.A lot of people aren’t into soccer and don’t know the World Cup is this summer, never mind in our back yard. Others do know but don’t care. For the people who do care, it’s too expensive for them to attend. Everyone is depressed by the ticket prices. It’s worse than if the World Cup was halfway across the world. It’s here, but we can’t even take part. That’s heartbreaking. AliMy whole family is super-excited about the World Cup coming to Seattle. We attend Seattle Sounders games, follow the city’s sports teams and all four of us – my wife and I and our two daughters – applied to volunteer. The stadium is downtown and I will be attending the fan zones with my daughters as much as possible. My wife and I are from Bristol in the UK, so naturally we will support England and the USA, but we recently vacationed in Curaçao, so a bit of our hearts will be with that tiny island’s team.Seattle is a very sports-oriented city with several professional teams. Seattle Sounders have been playing here since 1974 with a solid set of fans. The population understands soccer and follows the game. Unsurprisingly, the mood is very positive, with banners around town ramping up the energy.On a serious note, security plans are being put in place for the games. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl this year and the resulting championship march drew a crowd of almost a million fans to downtown: good practice for World Cup event security. I hope fans in all the host cities have a super-fun time, and I’m looking forward to meeting fans from other countries and showing off what a great place Seattle is. Roger Paul Probert-BakerI’m very excited. Toronto is a unique city as all nations are represented here and during the World Cup our streets, bars, homes, back yards and stadiums are full of fans from every corner of the world. The World Cup was made for a city like Toronto. When Italy won it, a million Italians flooded Little Italy in the city. Germans, Portuguese, Cameroonians, French, Brits, Scots and Mexicans will all participate in friendly competition by honking their horns every time one of their teams scores – and they will flood the streets when they win. That’s amazing to witness.I live in a Portuguese neighbourhood and they are excited to see stars such as Ronaldo. Toronto lives and breathes World Cup football and this year it will explode. It’s a fun, beautiful game. I’m hoping all the games are moved to Canada and Mexico! Peter Nazir FaizI became a soccer fan in my teens and remember thinking it would be amazing to live in a World Cup host city. Now that I do, though, I’m not excited. The big things dampening my enthusiasm are how awful Fifa is, how monstrously large the tournament has become, and how expensive and inconvenient this tournament is for host cities. I won’t be going to games because ticket prices are insane. I plan to go to public viewings, though I’m not super-excited about the fan festivals, which seem like a bit of a cash grab despite general admission being free. There’s at least one unofficial public viewing area at Granville Island that I have high hopes for, though.There is not much anticipation in Vancouver. The politicians and bureaucrats are all in a tizzy, but the impression I have is that the average Vancouverite is both mildly interested in the tournament and mildly annoyed by the traffic and transit inconvenience that will come on matchdays.This is more a hope for the US, where I grew up, but I hope no one gets shot. My country of origin is a powder keg right now, and I don’t have a great deal of confidence in the ability of US authorities to keep fans safe, particularly at fan festivals and places that are not part of the stadium experience. Ian Holliday

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Just days away from the opener, the tournament has yet to feel fully real for fans and even some playersOrganizationally speaking, the 2026 World Cup began on 13 June 2018, when then-Fifa general secretary Fatma Samoura sternly instructed the delegates to cast their vote in a cavernous conference hall in Moscow.Yet mere days away from the tournament’s kickoff in Mexico City, it doesn’t really feel like the thing is here yet. At least, not in the US. And not in New York, the host city for the final.It can be oddly difficult to tell when and where a World Cup has well and truly started. It’s not when the draw takes place; there’s too much winter left, too much club soccer to be played. It also isn’t the opening match, or the preceding ceremony; if anything, those seem late. The thing exists tangibly in the weeks and months before that, as the world prepares and positions itself for the impending tournament.Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie, who will probably make up much of the United States men’s national team midfield this summer, were 19 when their home country was named as a co-host. That’s when they knew that their nation, for which both men had made their senior debuts on the same day seven months earlier, had qualified automatically as one of the three co-hosts.“For me, it started to feel real probably after [this past] season finished, because we had a lot of pressure at our club level,” said McKennie. “So I wanted to just finish my season off with Juventus and then, after that … I think it’ll start to hit me more. Obviously, whenever you get the message that you’re named to the roster, that’s another big moment where you realize, OK, it’s starting.”“Two days ago, I was playing against Nottingham Forest, hoping to achieve something,” said Adams, a Bournemouth player in the Premier League. “Yesterday, [I] got off the plane and we’re in Times Square. I think it’ll probably hit tomorrow, when we start training properly and really start preparing.”Adams and McKennie were speaking at US Soccer’s World Cup roster unveiling event at the swanky Pier 17 complex at South Street Seaport in Manhattan. In a bonanza of red, white and blue, the 26 players picked by head coach Mauricio Pochettino were announced one by one, trundling on to a large concert stage on the building’s rooftop. They emerged to loud music and from in between blasts of smoke, clad in grey suits over knitted T-shirts and white sneakers. Then they stood about as the rapper Gunna performed in front of them.The whole thing was a bit much. “That’s America,” Adams wryly noted.Yet such events exist exactly to signal that the World Cup really is here, that it isn’t just a far-off notion. This remains tricky in a country where, as much as the popularity of soccer has grown, the international game is still mostly treated like the Olympics, something to get into for a few weeks every four years. The NBA playoffs are near their apotheosis – with the New York Knicks in the finals, no less – while the hockey and baseball seasons are ongoing as well. There’s a lot going on, and the World Cup, for now, is just one of those things.The most evidence of the impending tournament can be found in the various businesses that sponsor the thing. Shop for a bucket of paint or a rake at a hardware chain and you may stumble on some signage, if you’re paying attention. Pharmacies have plush mascots for sale among other officially licensed trinkets. “To see all the different branding and things that are being put up around the country has made it that much more real in the past couple weeks,” said the US captain, Tim Ream.Weighing anticipation and the present is a tricky balance for players to strike. They are expected to live day to day, practice to practice, game to game. And for the US, absent a qualification process that stretched over a year or two, they lacked the usual signage that demarcates the cycle.“I think I kind of felt it on the horizon,” said Christian Pulisic. “Obviously, you’re focusing on what you’re doing at your club, but I’d say once I got here and kind of was with the team and felt these fans and support and buzz around the World Cup, is when I really started to feel it.”Players on the bubble experienced Monday’s Fifa roster deadline differently. “Probably within the last month was sort of when all these players were very, very nervous and wondering what was going to happen and hoping to be there,” said Gio Reyna, whose eventual inclusion felt unlikely for long stretches of the past year. “Coming down the last couple of weeks of the season, I think it was on everyone’s mind.”And now that the team has finally assembled, some members still don’t entirely sense that the moment is here. “Maybe that first game of the World Cup, being a part of that, maybe is when it will really hit; or maybe it will be a week after the entire World Cup – I’m not sure,” said defender Miles Robinson. “It’s slow to really sink in.”Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: U.S. Men’s Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now. He teaches at Marist University.

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Sergiño Dest scored the US’s opener on Sunday thanks a collection of little actions from his teammatesThe United States men’s national team has undergone considerable change from one window to the next throughout Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure. And it makes some sense; the Argentine had plenty of first-hand assessments to conduct, limiting the core group’s ability to iron out patterns of play and forge partnerships.Still, amid all that turnover, Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest were expected to remain the first-choice options at full-back (or wing-back, depending on the system) for the 2026 World Cup. Both had been essential in the 2022 cycle, after all, and continued to fare well when healthy for their club teams (Fulham for Robinson, and PSV for Dest). That “when healthy” caveat has worked overtime throughout Pochettino’s nineteen months in charge, though, with Dest suffering a torn ACL just before the 2024 Copa América and Robinson missing for much of last fall due to knee issues.On Sunday, in Pochettino’s 25th game as USMNT boss, he picked Robinson and Dest as starters together for the first time. With the tandem restored, the US looked like a much more thrilling and dependable version of itself.Robinson and Dest fit the modern job description for wide defenders, although they’re hardly clones of one another. Robinson is more positionally measured, comfortable staying along the touchline and occasionally dropping into the channel to join the midfield. Dest carries a bit more dynamism, popping up all over the field to capitalize on whatever opponents offer. Both players have shown a knack for the give-and-go, and are able to forge passing triangles in tandem with defenders, midfielders, and forwards alike.They’re complementary profiles that dovetail nicely with the other presumptive US starters. The benefits each player brings were on full display on the opening goal in a 3-2 win over Senegal.Five minutes after the opening whistle, Ricardo Pepi – making his first US start since 18 November 2024 – forced Senegal goalkeeper Mory Diaw to clear the ball toward midfield thanks to some tireless one-man pressing. Thereafter Pochettino’s side began a lengthy sequence of possession, with Dest joining the line of attackers beneath Pepi while right center-back Alex Freeman shifted wider, occupying a traditional station for a right-back. The 21-year-old’s Freeman’s rapid rise from the Orlando City academy to the USMNT and Villarreal has been among the US player pool’s most vital developments. The son of former NFL great Antonio, Freeman has exceptional vision and understanding of how to maximize the freedom that accompanies a wide center-back role.In this instance, his versatility in shifting wide allowed Dest to stay in the US’s most advanced line as Tim Ream prodded the ball to Robinson along the opposite flank.Meanwhile, Christian Pulisic and Pepi scampered off the ball to offer Robinson his next option. With Krépin Diatta committing to close down Robinson’s dribbling lane along the touchline, the wing-back opted for Pepi’s lateral run into the channel.OFten an understudy since Folarin Balogun committed to the US over England and Nigeria, Pepi is still arguably the pool’s best hold-up forward – an argument aided by what he did next. As two opponents converge to force him into a turnover, Pepi spotted Pulisic making a direct run up the channel with minimal obstruction remaining between him and the goalkeeper.With the defenders committed, Pepi paid homage to his time in the Eredivisie with his take on a Cruyff turn, threading a ball between them and into Pulisic’s stride without overpowering it back into open territory.Here is where Dest’s loitering paid off. With Pepi having drifted wide to help with the buildup, the nominal right back offered Pulisic a potential target in the box.Pulisic rewarded his run with a low cross just outside the six-yard box, and Dest powered it into the net beyond a helpless Diaw.In total, the US strung together 20 passes in 64 seconds between Diaw’s clearance and Dest’s goal. Those final four passes – from Ream to Robinson to Pepi to Pulisic to Dest – took the team from inside its own half to a tap-in in just ten seconds. It’s a sequence that simply can’t happen on the international stage without some well-forged chemistry.Combinations like the ones maximized in this sequence haven’t been repeated often during the new manager’s surveil of the player pool. Those efforts unearthed understudies and alternatives, like Freeman and backup left-back Max Arfsten, but it has left Pochettino’s side without a distinct tactical identity amid all of his chopping and changing.You can still catch glimpses of this lack of understanding in the United States’ momentary lapses, as seen on Sadio Mané’s first goal to bring Senegal back into the game. Already up 2-0, Robinson attempted a one-two with Adams, another pair that hadn’t started alongside one another since November 2024. While Robinson was able to nutmeg his mark, the ball was undercooked and easy for Diatta to seize, beginning a break upfield that required just two passes to turn the turnover into a goal.On the whole, though, the US looked more in sync on Sunday than they have in a while; a vital step to restore hope around this team. The returnees who brought the US to the round of 16 in 2022 are refining those past combinations while forging new ones with newer members like Freeman and Sebastian Berhalter. Effective pressing and off-ball movement requires such cohesion, and they’ll need it.The US should expect to face a low block against its first two group stage opponents (Paraguay and Australia) before a stakes-dependent showdown with Turkey that could offer scarce openings behind the backline. Senegal proved more adventurous than any of these group opponents, stationing its block further upfield, so it’s possible that spaces like those seen on Dest’s goal will be much harder to come by.For now, however, there’s reason for optimism once again around the tournament co-host. Pulisic is back among the goals. The US has beaten a second opponent in four games among the world’s top dozen. And with Robinson and Dest maximizing wide areas together at last, those byways to advance upfield have reopened just in time.

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As a skint 23-year-old I did two weeks in the US. It remains a personal favourite tournament 32 years laterYou never forget your first World Cup, and the tournament’s return to American shores this year will stir vivid memories for anyone who attended USA 94. It was a curious and distinctive tournament, one that heralded the World Cup’s more expansive, commercialised future, while also seeming a world away from the jamboree that returns 32 years later, twice as big and at least twice as lucrative.I managed to do two weeks of it as a skint 23-year-old earning £9,000 a year, alongside my mate Paddy, a student. We took in only two games – both goalless draws – but soaked up enough of the occasionally raucous, often tepid, atmosphere for it to remain a personal favourite World Cup all these years on.Now, in an age when US investment pumps up pretty much every level of the English professional game, it’s difficult to overstate how distant and mutually suspicious the footballing relationship was between Europe and the US in 1994. Host media seemed fixated on hooliganism and other nefarious perceived threats to the American way of life – England’s failure to qualify did little to dispel this – while Europeans were wont to sneer at an assumed audience of couch potatoes lacking the sophistication or concentration span to appreciate the beautiful game. The Fifa president, João Havelange, unhelpfully stirred the pot in this regard by suggesting splitting games into quarters.But these fears did not materialise and USA 94 was a joy to attend. Sometimes in spite of itself, but a joy nonetheless. The football and crowds surpassed expectations – the former needed to after Italia 90’s cynical stodge, the latter setting a World Cup finals average-crowd record of 68,991 that still stands.This, remember, was two years before the inception of Major League Soccer. In 1994 football felt like a countercultural phenomenon in the States, the secret reserve of convivial geeks and obsessives buttressed by the interest of immigrant communities. And while TVs in bars were fixated on OJ Simpson, whose dramatic car chase by LA’s finest dominated the airwaves in the opening week, there was fandom to be found.Which brings us to New York, and Ireland v Italy, one of the few occasions when the World Cup took over a city in the manner it might be expected to in Milan, Munich or Barcelona. Our attempt to buy tickets foundered on the huge sums quoted in various East Side and Midtown bars, so we watched in a marquee at an Irish festival in Queen’s. On arrival an Italian bloke who was married to an Irish woman thrust beers into our hands, and we were away.Ireland in New York was much more than a football gathering – it was a huge diasporic celebration of first-, second-, third- and beyond-generation Irishness: Dubliners, New Yorkers, London Irish, Glaswegian lads in Celtic shirts. A guy from Belfast implored us: “Don’t go back, lads,” reflecting America’s promised-land lure and an uncertain moment in wider Irish social history, with the first ceasefire still a couple of months away and the Celtic Tiger hype yet to kick in.And of course Jack Charlton’s side pulled off perhaps the best result in Ireland’s history, when Paul McGrath produced what at the time I considered the finest individual defensive performance I’d seen. Not being in the stadium really didn’t matter – the party was the thing, and it continued late into the night back on Second Avenue, where even police drawing batons and herding people back inside the Green Derby bar could not dampen the mood. Here was that centre-of-the-world feeling every World Cup needs.Another striking feature of USA 94 was the sheer number of British supporters there as neutrals, kickstarting a trend for less partisan, more curious spectatorship seen at most tournaments since. At the first game we attended, South Korea 0-0 Bolivia at Foxboro Stadium in Massachusetts, a large group of Cardiff fans made themselves known. Southampton and Derby supporters sat behind us, and a groundhopper from Bury regaled us with red-hot stadium chat on the train from Boston. It was the nerds’ World Cup, all right. And all for $25 ($55 today) for a decent seat close behind the goal.The stadium experience in some respects reflected those pre-tournament fears: officious stewarding, obtrusive sponsorship and an excessive police presence that jarred with a low-key game between two well-behaved, well-supported teams who would fail to make the knockouts. Games in Boston also reflected a common drawback of the US stadiums: venues this far from city centres are not conducive to the kind of spontaneous street festivities so integral to the tournament experience. Vast crowds would spring up at the grounds, then disappear again.Twenty-four hours earlier, USA had achieved their most impressive World Cup result since toppling England in 1950 – a 2-1 win over Colombia that subsequently acquired tragic notoriety with the killing of Andrés Escobar, scorer of the own goal that put the Americans ahead. The talk of the Boston bar where we watched this one? OJ.Our next port of call was Giants Stadium and Ireland’s crucial final group game against Norway. Pub word-of-mouth had put us in touch with a ticket tout based in Trump Tower – named after a bloke I’d not heard of at that point – who relieved us of $120 each (and the chance of affording anything to eat on the final day of our trip) for the privilege of watching the notoriously sluggish 0-0 that took Charlton’s side through and dumped the Norwegians out. Boy was it hot.Yet some brilliant football was played in those temperatures: Bulgaria’s sensational quarter-final toppling of Germany in New Jersey also took place in a middle-of-the-day scorcher, as did Romania’s 3-2 win over Argentina in the last 16, a generational classic, in Pasadena.Though only a handful of teams’ supporters travelled in large numbers to the first North American World Cup, it built on the culture that had begun to take off in Italy four years earlier, in which fans could blag, doss and drink their way around a tournament on relatively modest means. That way of World Cup life, stymied at the past two tournaments, will be difficult to revive at this summer’s most politically charged of events, where prices will limit the chances of the many World Cup debutants to enjoy the kind of melting-pot merriment enjoyed in 1994, and where the biggest threat of violence is from forces of the law rather than those they might be policing.

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El Tri reached the quarter-finals the last time they hosted the tournament. They’re hoping old methods can revive the team after a disastrous outing in 2022It was January 1986 and the temperature at the peak of La Malinche, one of Mexico’s tallest mountains, had plummeted to a bone-chilling cold. A group of soccer players training for that year’s World Cup ran through a dense fog to the summit 14,600ft above sea level gasping in the thin air. Their Serbian coach, Bora Milutinović, had pushed his players to the limit, seeking not only to test their physical endurance but also hoping for a psychological breakthrough. Up there, the Mexico players suffered, shivered and cursed. But through hardship they became a family. That fabled image of survival on the mountain became the foundation for Mexico’s best-ever World Cup performance, the last time they played on home soil and one of only two times El Tri reached the tournament’s quarter-finals.Forty years later, the myth of La Malinche hangs over Mexico’s preparation for this summer’s tournament, which once again will be played on home turf. The team’s coach, Javier Aguirre, was one of Milutinović’s players at the 1986 World Cup and he has seemingly been inspired by the old belief that isolation and shared struggle can work miracles. At Aguirre’s urging, the Mexican Football Federation – just as it had in 1986 – took the controversial step of removing national team players from their clubs during the most decisive phase of the Liga MX playoffs. By the time the World Cup kicks off on 11 June, the players will have been sequestered together for 30 days.The departure of 12 players from Liga MX – first for a period of forced rest and then for training at Mexico City’s High-Performance Center – generated considerable discontent among the fans of clubs competing in the playoffs. The result: the tournament, which is supposed to be the highlight of the year, has become a lackluster affair.Chivas de Guadalajara, who traditionally only field Mexican players, lost five teammates to the national squad. Missing half of their starting lineup, the Red and Whites lost in the semi-finals to Cruz Azul, who only gave up one player, Érik Lira, to international duty. Cruz Azul went on to beat Pumas in a low-quality final.Former Mexico goalkeeper Félix Fernández, now an analyst for ClaroSports, voiced concerns that are shared by many fans in the country about Aguirre’s decision.“I think there’s no better way for a national team player to reach the World Cup than after playing in the [playoffs], because those are the most intense, most demanding matches,” Fernández says. “Yes, of course, there’s a risk of injury, but injuries can also happen in training.”But there are reasons why Aguirre and his staff made their decision. In 1985, Milutinović took the players away from their clubs for a full year. They toured the world, playing more than 20 friendlies in Asia, Africa, Europe and South America.Decades later, Milutinović still believes the decision was correct.“In my time, the only way we could accomplish anything was to be together,” the 81-year-old says over the phone from China, where he is travelling. “Thanks to that time spent together, we created a suitable environment where we were mentally prepared, and it was so effective that we played a very, very successful World Cup in ’86.”He says the team spent two weeks on La Malinche, climbing up and down the dormant volcano many times, including at night. Players in later interviews talked about being terrified of heights and crawling on all fours. A couple of players wandered off and got lost and the team had to rally together to find them. “That lesson we learned helped us create a positive atmosphere and have confidence in ourselves,” Milutinović says.He says that in 2026, a player spending a year away from a club is “impossible … times are different”. But he warns that “a month is nothing”.Part of Milutinović’s plan in 1986 was for Mexico to gain a wealth of experience on the global stage, something this year’s team won’t have time for.“Before the World Cup, we played 56, we had won [29] of them. There was confidence and everything … You play the game the way you train,” he says. “Every training session is a competition, a desire to be better, to compete, and above all, to enjoy it. Enjoy the game.”Critics such as Fernández worry the current players aren’t capable of absorbing a message of unity and joy similar to the one Milutinović preached back then.“Nowadays, the amounts of money [players] earn can easily detach them from reality,” Fernández says. “The camaraderie has been greatly diminished. Today’s footballer is constantly on his cell phone, watching TV series and movies. It’s not like before when you’d get together in a room with four or six of you to talk. This lack of interaction ends up affecting them on the field.”Mexico have played six times this year, but only half of those have come with their full-strength squad. Their Europe-based players were missing for their most recent match, last week’s 2-0 win over Ghana. But Ghana fielded a weakened team too, and their coach, Carlos Queiroz, didn’t even attend the game.Fernández and others also believe there are deeper problems that can’t be fixed with a month of extra training sessions. The roots of these deficiencies lie in top-level decisions made since the team’s failure at Qatar 2022, when El Tri crashed out in the group stage, their worst finish at a World Cup in four decades. The insularity of Mexican soccer means young players often stay at home rather than gain valuable experience in the top European leagues. The decision to end promotion and relegation in Liga MX also means a lack of jeopardy that can sharpen players’ edges.“The Mexican national team today doesn’t have the level to be among the top 17 in the world,” Fernández says. “Terrible decisions have been made, and nothing has been done. It never crossed their minds that Mexico was hitting rock bottom.”With the exception of the team’s two best players – Genoa captain Johan Vásquez and Fulham’s Raúl Jiménez – the squad is either in poor form or lacking match fitness. Milan’s Santiago Giménez is coming off a series of injuries and his scoring has dried up. Edson Álvarez (Fenerbahçe), Luis Chávez (Dynamo Moscow) and the inconsistent rookie Obed Vargas (Atlético Madrid) have all missed time at their respective clubs.Fernández says the lack of stars in their prime has led to an unusual phenomenon. Billboards on Mexico’s streets show the faces of former stars such as Rafael Márquez, now an assistant coach for El Tri, instead of members of the current squad.Milutinović, ever an optimist, believes Mexico’s passionate fans will ignite pride in the players. He saw how the country pulled together in the aftermath of Mexico’s devastating earthquake in 1985. “The fans and everything else had a huge influence on Mexico achieving that result in ’86,” he says.Milutinović also believes Mexico’s preparations for this World Cup could benefit some Liga MX teams. For example, the five Chivas players who missed the playoffs to join up with El Tri will come back with invaluable World Cup experience and make their club team even stronger.“For me, Chivas is the champion,” he says. “Working with young players is key. It leaves behind a squad with a future, in a World Cup environment that will serve them well.”For now, on the training pitches in Mexico City, the players are racing against time, under the guidance of Aguirre, to find the rhythm and mental strength they need to face their biggest challenge. Thirty days in a bubble to try to fix years of systemic problems. The outcome is uncertain, but if history is a guide, maybe coming together for an intense period will give the team the boost they need.Milutinović says he never told his players they had to win. He just told them they had to give everything of themselves and look out for each other. Before every game at the 1986 World Cup he repeated a mantra: “La Malinche, La Malinche, La Malinche”, evoking the mountain in front of them they needed to conquer. We will find out if this year’s team are up to a similar challenge in the coming weeks.

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USMNT head coach has drawn broader interest, CEO saysWorld Cup camp opens after squad reveal on TuesdayUS men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino has had talks with Serie A side Milan about taking over as manager next season, the Guardian can confirm.Italian journalist Nicolò Schira was first to report news of Pochettino’s talks with Milan.Pochettino’s status was the hot talking point as the US opened training camp at the US Soccer Federation’s new national training center in Fayetteville, Georgia, on Wednesday, but most have expected that his run at the World Cup will be his last games with the team before a return to European club football.Speaking to reporters, US Soccer CEO JT Batson said Pochettino and the organization are focused on the World Cup, declining to confirm specifically that Pochettino and Milan had held talks. However, he added that Pochettino and his staff “have been transparent about club interest for the last couple of years”, adding that “there’s been a longer list of outreach than what has even been reported.”Batson also declined to say whether US Soccer was engaged in extension discussions with Pochettino, and similarly deferred comment when asked if another big-name manager such as Jürgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola could be next, saying the organization is “focused on this summer”.Asked when the federation intends to begin succession planning, Batson said that the organization has monthly succession planning meetings for all of the national teams and high-level executive roles.“As a part of that, we have plans for renewals, we have plans for interims, and we have plans for replacements because you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.The players, at least, are taking the news in stride. Asked whether Pochettino’s status would create a distraction for players just as camp opens ahead of an all-important home World Cup, midfielder Tyler Adams said it’s done nothing of the sort – likening the situation to any of the players present who are coming up on the end of their respective contracts with their clubs.“I think as any manager or player, like there’s guys in contract situations right now that have to figure out what to do either before the World Cup, after the World Cup. It’s gonna be the same deal with coaches,” he said. “[Pochettino is], you know, fully present with us every single day, finding ways to make us better, focusing on the trainings just as we are.”The US play their first pre-World Cup friendly against Senegal on Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina, then face Germany on 6 June in Chicago for their final test before the tournament starts. They open the World Cup on 12 June against Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood, California.