{"id":392023,"date":"2025-11-20T10:43:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T10:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/392023\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T10:43:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T10:43:20","slug":"usmnts-2026-slate-takes-shape-world-cup-sendoff-in-chicago-march-friendlies-booked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/392023\/","title":{"rendered":"USMNT\u2019s 2026 slate takes shape: World Cup sendoff in Chicago, March friendlies booked"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow The Athletic\u2019s live coverage of today\u2019s World Cup play-off draws.<\/a><\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Just as the U.S. men\u2019s national team was concluding its 2025 calendar here on Tuesday with a win over Uruguay<\/a>, its 2026 schedule was coming into focus.<\/p>\n

The USMNT will play four friendlies in the buildup to the World Cup \u2014 two in March in Atlanta, and two in the weeks leading up to the tournament during a multi-city, pre-World Cup camp in late May and early June.<\/p>\n

The first two opponents were effectively finalized when Portugal and Belgium qualified for the World Cup on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively. That means they won\u2019t have to go through a European playoff in March, and will be free to meet the USMNT at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that month, as The Athletic previously reported<\/a> they would.<\/p>\n

In the pre-World Cup window, the second game will be in early June against Germany in Chicago, according to multiple sources briefed on the plans. The first will be on the East Coast, with planning currently focused on Charlotte, and the opponent to be finalized after the Dec. 5 World Cup draw, sources said.<\/p>\n

Those games will take place after the USMNT\u2019s World Cup squad is named in late May. Unlike some predecessors, who used the first week of a pre-World Cup camp as a final tryout, U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino indicated last week that he plans to select his roster before camp opens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s difficult when you bring more than 26 [players], and then you need to tell [a player], on the last day, \u2018you are out,\u201d Pochettino said. \u201cI prefer \u2026 to bring the 26 that you believe are going to be in the squad, and if something happens, you call someone (else).\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino indicated last week that he plans to select his roster before camp opens. (Stephen Nadler \/ ISI Photos \/ USSF\/Getty Images for USSF)<\/p>\n

The 26 will gather in the Atlanta area on May 27. They\u2019ll begin camp at U.S. Soccer\u2019s new national training center in Fayetteville, Georgia, which is slated to open in the spring. The \u201cNTC\u201d will be the USMNT\u2019s home base until roughly June 5.<\/p>\n

During that camp, the team will travel briefly to the other eastern market \u2014 likely Charlotte, a non-World Cup host city, as required by FIFA rules \u2014 for the first of two friendlies on the last weekend of May.<\/p>\n

Pochettino and his squad will then depart Atlanta for good a week later. They\u2019ll play the Chicago friendly on the first weekend of June \u2014 provided Germany doesn\u2019t somehow end up in their World Cup group. Per the FIFA Rankings and seeding protocol for previous draw, both should be in Pot 1, which would rule out the possibility.<\/p>\n

The USMNT will then fly to Southern California, their home base for the World Cup itself.<\/p>\n

From June 7 onward, the team will train at the University of California, Irvine<\/a>, which is about an hour southeast of Los Angeles. It will play its first 2026 World Cup game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, just outside Los Angeles, on June 12.<\/p>\n

On June 17 or 18, the team will travel to Seattle for its second game, which is June 19 at Lumen Field. It will then return to Irvine and prepare for its third and final group game, which is June 25 back at SoFi (which FIFA will rebrand as \u201cLos Angeles Stadium,\u201d for commercial reasons).<\/p>\n

From there, the USMNT\u2019s schedule depends on its results. If it wins Group D, it would go to the Bay Area for a July 1 match in the Round of 32 at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara. If it finishes second, it would go to Texas for a July 3 game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, near Dallas. If it finishes third, its progression and path would depend on its point total and results in other groups. (The eight best third-place teams, out of 12, will advance to the knockout rounds.)<\/p>\n

If it finishes fourth, of course, its World Cup would be over.<\/p>\n

The USMNT\u2019s immediate next steps<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. will learn either two or all three of its World Cup opponents on Dec. 5 at the World Cup draw, which will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Pochettino and other U.S. Soccer officials will attend the draw, plus various meetings, workshops and events adjacent to it. They\u2019ll also be at a Dec. 2 summit in New York.<\/p>\n

The draw will help determine how Pochettino and his staff spend the next few months. Opponent scouting will begin, along with promotional events and preparation for the March training camp.<\/p>\n

The USMNT\u2019s World Cup kit will also likely be revealed in March. (USMNT players got their first glimpses of the kit this month.)<\/p>\n

What the USMNT staff won\u2019t have over the coming months, though, is contact with players. There will be no January camp in 2026<\/a>. The four-plus months between Wednesday and March 23, 2026, when the USMNT will gather again in Georgia, will be the longest period Pochettino has spent away from players since taking the head coaching job last fall.<\/p>\n

He does not, however, plan to visit players at their clubs. He rarely communicates with them outside of camps<\/a>, and doesn\u2019t plan to change his approach in early 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to understand that it\u2019s so difficult to be involved with the players in this period,\u201d Pochettino said Monday. \u201cAnd we need to respect the coaching staffs that they have in their clubs. We need to really trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they need something, OK, we are here to help you,\u201d he later added. \u201cBut if not, they need to do everything to be in their best form to be selected for March.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow The Athletic\u2019s live coverage of today\u2019s World Cup play-off draws. TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Just as the U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":392024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[111,2147,960,148962,117,5386,1818,2842,33687,124,221,33686],"class_list":{"0":"post-392023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-belgium","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-international-football","16":"tag-mexico-mens-national-team","17":"tag-portugal","18":"tag-soccer","19":"tag-us-mens-national-team"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115581617010522860","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}