The 2026 World Cup officially began in a Moscow conference hall on June 13, 2018, when FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura instructed delegates to cast their votes. But days before the tournament kicks off in Mexico City, with the final coming to New York, the event still feels strangely distant in the United States.
The disconnect is real. Players, fans, and even the host nation itself seem caught between preparation and disbelief. Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie, centerpieces of the US men's national team midfield, were only 19 years old when their country was named a co-host and automatically qualified. They've had years to process the reality, yet it hasn't quite landed.
"For me, it started to feel real probably after the season finished," McKennie said at US Soccer's roster unveiling at Manhattan's South Street Seaport. "So I wanted to just finish my season off with Juventus and then, after that, I think it'll start to hit me more."
Adams, a Bournemouth player in the Premier League, offered a starker picture of the whiplash. "Two days ago, I was playing against Nottingham Forest, hoping to achieve something," he said. "Yesterday, I got off the plane and we're in Times Square. I think it'll probably hit tomorrow, when we start training properly."
US Soccer staged an elaborate announcement at Pier 17, with all 26 roster picks introduced one by one on a rooftop stage under dramatic lighting, smoke blasts, and a performance by rapper Gunna. The players wore matching grey suits with knitted T-shirts. It was, as Adams wryly observed, quintessentially American in its excess. "That's America," he said.
Yet such spectacles exist precisely to hammer home that the World Cup has arrived. The challenge is getting an entire nation to believe it.
Soccer remains a curiosity in the American sports calendar, something fans dip into every four years like the Olympics. The NBA playoffs are heating up, with the New York Knicks in the finals. Hockey and baseball seasons churn on. The World Cup, for now, competes for attention rather than dominating it.
Evidence of the tournament's approach does surface in odd places. Hardware stores display branded signage. Pharmacies stock plush mascots and official 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 US captain Tim Ream.
For players, the emotional timeline is equally fractured. Without a qualification campaign stretching over months or years, the usual buildup cycle never materialized. Christian Pulisic said he focused on club soccer until arriving with the team. "I think I kind of felt it on the horizon," he said. "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."
Those waiting to learn if they made the roster experienced the final weeks before Monday's FIFA deadline with particular intensity. Gio Reyna, whose inclusion seemed doubtful for stretches of the past year, described widespread nervousness among bubble players. "Coming down the last couple of weeks of the season, I think it was on everyone's mind," he said.
Even now, with rosters finalized and training underway, some players struggle to accept that the moment is here. Defender Miles Robinson expressed genuine uncertainty about when reality would set in. "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," he said. "It's slow to really sink in."
Author James Rodriguez: "America's problem is that the World Cup is arriving on a packed sports calendar, and the roster unveiling spectacle can't compete with live playoff basketball and baseball happening right now."
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