As World Cup opener nears, U.S. men know they’ll play under a spotlight

IRVINE, Calif. — Compared with what it was like playing in his first World Cup in 2022, this year’s version will be a “slightly different experience,” U.S. midfielder Cristian Roldan said this week.

That’s an understatement.

Four years after the U.S. men advanced to the round of 16 in Qatar, half a world away from their families and fans, the team will open the tournament Friday in Inglewood, California, just 14 miles from where Roldan starred in high school. When the U.S. plays its second group-stage game in Seattle a week later, it will be in the same stadium where Roldan plays professionally for Seattle’s MLS team.

“You can feel that energy, you can feel that support, and now it’s about translating that energy, that support, that pressure, into something good for our games coming up,” Roldan said. “For me in my backyard, and my adopted city, to be able to have three group-stage games in the cities that I spent my whole life, I mean, it’s a beautiful story, honestly.”

But what will be the ending of that story?

Since it finished third in the first World Cup in 1930, the men’s national team has never advanced past the quarterfinals, and it got to them only once, in 2002 — before five current team members, including right back Joe Scally, were born.

Many on the U.S. roster got a preview of that home-soil spotlight two years ago when the U.S. hosted and played in Copa América, the tournament that crowns the best team from North and South America. The U.S. didn’t advance to the knockout stage, a result that swiftly led to coach Gregg Berhalter’s firing.

“I think a lot of us experienced that pressure and kind of that feeling of what it means to play for the fans, so for us we’re kind of taking that experience and gonna build off it,” Scally said. “And of course it’s nice to be in America.”

In Qatar four years ago, the U.S. team felt isolated, a time difference and geographic separation that removed some of the energy around the team but also meant its miscues didn’t reverberate quite as loudly. That won’t be the case in this tournament. A sellout crowd in Chicago’s Soldier Field watched the team’s loss in a friendly last week against Germany. When the U.S. team opened a raffle for fans to attend Monday’s training session in Irvine, it got 32,000 applications for 5,500 spots.

“I think the group is in a really good place at the minute,” center back Tim Ream said Monday. “I think we’ve all been, I wouldn’t say overwhelmed, but pleasantly surprised by the excitement and the buzz around the team and in the stadiums. Pulling up here with 5,500 fans ready to watch a training session is incredible.”

After Berhalter was fired, U.S. Soccer signed a big name to lead its team during this World Cup in Mauricio Pochettino, the 54-year-old Argentine who has coached in pressure-packed situations before when he managed Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League final in 2019 and later managed Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. His record with the U.S. is 15-10-1.

Pochettino appeared in good spirits this week talking with journalists before the team’s training in Irvine. His players, meanwhile, have been left on edge because he had yet to tip his hand about which 11 players he will choose to start Friday against Paraguay.

There was “not a ton of clarity” about whom Pochettino would select, said goalkeeper Matt Turner, who is competing for playing time with Matt Freese. Turner felt that the constant need to audition for minutes had encouraged intrasquad competition and that “the mentality is very, very strong.”

“Everybody is trying to make the most of their opportunities when they get to step onto the pitch, so for us it’s, you know, take care of business but focus on one day at a time and kind of relax a little bit in some ways,” he said. “The hard part was getting here. Now we need to relax and make sure that when the matches roll around, we can bring that maximum intensity.”

U.S. players described Friday’s opener as an opportunity to set the tone for the rest of the tournament, whether it ends in the group stage, after matches against Australia on June 19 and Turkey on June 25, or extends into the knockout stage. The U.S. and Paraguay are familiar with each other after they played in November, when a 2-1 U.S. win featured goals by Gio Reyna and Folarin Balogun and a late brawl.

“You can get a poor [opening] result and still win a World Cup like Argentina” in 2022, Roldan said. “But ... it’s really tough to do so. And so, for us, really, the first 15 minutes, 20 minutes, I want to see a strong performance. I want to see a team that’s on the front foot.”

There have been potentially positive signs in recent weeks. In its 3-2 win over Senegal on May 31 in a World Cup warmup, U.S. star Christian Pulisic scored his first goal in five months, a 19-game drought that spanned games for both his club and his country. And this week, key defender Chris Richards took part in training for the first time since he tore ligaments in his left ankle on May 17 while playing for Crystal Palace of the English Premier League.

When the U.S. hosts its first game of a men’s World Cup since 1994 on Friday, the banged-up but talented Richards will be a work in progress whose potential for the tournament remains unclear. Just like his team.

“It’s the World Cup, so I’m going to make myself ready regardless,” Richards said. “I’m feeling good. Maybe a little swollen, but nothing tape can’t help.”