While supporters of Curaçao and Ivory Coast were at Philadelphia Stadium (known locally as Lincoln Financial Field) for their match, fans of all allegiances watched from the lawns of Lemon Hill Park at the FIFA Fan Festival.
Both matches in the 4 p.m. window, Ivory Coast-Curaçao and Germany-Ecuador, drew crowds of people at the Fan Fest in the final group stage matches of Group E.
Ivory Coast supporters watched their team secure its first trip to the knockout rounds at a FIFA World Cup with a 2-0 win over Curaçao.
Some fans at the festival planned to stick it out through to the U.S. match against Turkey at 10 p.m., while others were there to take in the festival’s environment briefly.
Ivory Coast to Chestnut Hill
Fans of Les Éléphants came from near and far to watch their team in Philly on Thursday.
Duski Kamagate was born in Abobo, a suburb of Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s largest city. He came to the U.S. to attend Chestnut Hill College and play on its soccer team.
Kamagate, sporting an orange Ivory Coast kit, attended Thursday’s Fan Festival with a few of his teammates from Chestnut Hill.
“I think it’s a great experience, being able to come watch the game, vibe and have fun,” Kamagate said. “I think it’s a good vibe.”
With Ivory Coast up 1-0 at halftime, Kamagate said he was not nervous about the country’s chances of making it to the round of 32.
“We don’t get nervous,” Kamagate said. “We’re used to pressure.”
Duski Kamagate (second from left) poses with friends at halftime of Ivory Coast-Curaçao at the FIFA Fan Festival on Thursday.
Victor Tarchala attended the Fan Festival in the same orange Ivorian kit that Kamagate wore, but with far less connection to the country.
Tarchala entered the FIFA ticket lottery for the games at the Linc three times, and was selected in September. He purchased tickets to every match in Philadelphia and has hosted his family from across the country in his apartment in King of Prussia.
Tarchala attended the Brazil-Haiti and France-Iraq matches in Philly, and will attend Croatia-Ghana on Saturday, but gave up his seat to serve as the designated driver for a group of friends on Thursday.
Tarchala said it was an even split within his friend group for which nation to cheer on.
“It’s literally divided, between me and my friends, half and half,” Tarchala said. “The other half really want Curaçao [to win]. We came to this one because the shirt was available.”
Jerry Hill brought an unexpected accessory with him to the Fan Festival.
The English fan traveled to America to take in the World Cup alongside his wife, Pauline. Hill brought a customized English flag paying tribute to Aidan Morris, an American midfielder playing for Middlesbrough, Hill’s hometown team.
Hill said the flag is one of many custom flags he’s made to support Middlesbrough, but since Morris is an American player, Hill wanted to bring it on his journey through the States.
“Within four games, I thought, ‘This kid’s special,” Hill said.
Jerry Hill and Pauline Hill pose with a custom-made Middlesbrough flag at the FIFA Fan Festival on Thursday.
Hill proudly displayed his flag, signed by Morris himself, in front of the main stage on Thursday while wearing a bright red Middlesbrough Hawaiian shirt.
While England did not have a game Thursday, Hill said he wanted to get a feel for the festival’s environment. Hill plans to take in England’s final game of the group stage from the New York New Jersey Fan Festival at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday.
The couple started their American journey in Florida for England’s friendlies, then traveled through Atlanta and Nashville before making a long haul drive to Philadelphia.
After they finished watching Ivory Coast-Curacao, the couple planned to compare a few cheesesteaks at Pat’s and Geno’s.
“My wife will get one, I’ll get one of the other,” Hill said. “We’ll split it in half and see which one’s better.”
Hill does not have tickets to a World Cup match, but he did attend England games in the U.S. when it hosted the World Cup in 1994. He was impressed with how the American game has grown since.
“It was completely different, soccer wasn’t big here then,” Hill said. “We were trying to bring our atmosphere to get the fans behind the team … On the whole, [it’s] completely different now. The U.S., the fans at the game, they’ve got it right.”
IRVINE, Calif. — It was the day after Andrew Rick played in the one MLS game he had featured in for the Union this year, and it had not gone well. The 20-year-old was in net for a 4-3 loss at Orlando City, with the decisive goal landing in the 90th minute after the Union had rallied from 3-1 down to tie the score.
Rick was still in a bad mood when he got home, so he decided to distract himself by playing video games.
Then the phone rang.
“It wasn’t a saved contact, and I just saw that it was U.S. Soccer,” he said.
He picked up, of course, and found veteran U.S. men’s national team staffer Sam Zapatka on the line. The program wanted to have some extra goalkeepers on hand for practices, and wanted Rick to be one of them.
Andrew Rick (second from left) watching a shot come his way in the Union’s Concacaf Champions Cup home game against Mexico’s Club América in March.
“It was not a great day for me up until that call,” Rick said. “He let me know the news, and I changed my mood immediately, to say the least.”
Two weeks later, he set off for the journey of — well, maybe not a lifetime, since the point is he might play in a World Cup some day. But certainly his lifetime to date.
“It’s a dream,” Rick said. “I wouldn’t think that at this stage of my career, I would be in the place that I am in now, and to have the ability to train with all these [players] — and a lot of them I’ve watched play when I was pretty young — to now get this experience to train with them and be a part of the group, it’s unbelievable to say the least.”
Rick is one of three goalkeeper prospects, all the same age, who have been with the U.S. team this summer. At first, it was him and Diego Kochen of Spanish superpower FC Barcelona, a highly-touted player who has been to a few senior camps already. Kochen left in the first week of the tournament, amid news of a potential loan move for next season, and Julian Eyestone of English Premier League club Brentford came in.
Andrew Rick (left), Julian Eyestone (second from left), and other players jogging at a recent U.S. practice.
So not only has Rick gotten to hang with the stars, but he’s the only one of the trio who will have been there the whole time.
New and old friends
“Me and Julian are super-close,” he said, noting they were roommates on a U.S. under-20 squad that went to Argentina in March. He had not met Kochen until now, but they got along well too.
“We have a lot in common just from age alone, and there’s not a lot of other guys here that are our age,” Rick said. “So just being able to be around those guys and have someone closer to my age is nice, just because we can talk a bit more and fit in together. And Diego, he’s been in this environment before, so he also kind of helped me fit in with the other guys and reach out and talk to them a bit.”
Among the senior players, none means more to Rick than Matt Freese. They’ve known each other for around eight years, and Rick watched Freese on a similar journey to his: from the Union’s youth academy to becoming Andre Blake’s backup on the first team.
Andrew Rick (second from right) with the three U.S. goalkeepers on the World Cup team: from left, Matt Freese, Chris Brady, and Matt Turner.
“Freese has been there for my first Union II training, my first [Union] first team training, and my first men’s national team training,” Rick said. “I’ve known of him for probably, I don’t know, since I’ve been a Union fan. When he was joining was kind of when I started to really get into it, and when I was joining the academy … And obviously he’s a great role model, amazing person.”
Freese returned the favor, joking that Rick “might have been, like, two when I met him.” But the praise that ensued was sincere.
“He’s doing a great job,” Freese said. “I think for [all of] them, it’s such a unique experience to be able to be within the group in an environment like this, training every day but also getting to know us off the field. Certainly on the field as well, and being tested and seeing what the future may hold for them.”
Manager Mauricio Pochettino has been paying attention too. There’s certainly a practical side to having extra bodies on hand, but Pochettino is also happy to do something for the bigger picture.
Mauricio Pochettino (right) with goalkeeper coach Toni Jiménez.
“I think, always, we’re thinking to try to help develop young players, even if we don’t know if we’re going to be here or not in the future,” Pochettino said, referring to his contract expiring after the World Cup. “But I think we need to work like we are going to be forever here, on a long-term process. That is why one thing is to get the result today, and provide everything to the federation and the team [for] the possibility to perform now, today or yesterday; but at the same time, to help, in parallel, the evolution and development of the young kids that are going to be the important players for the future of this country.”
Rick confessed to being an extra level of thrilled because he’s a fan of English club Tottenham Hotspur, perhaps the best-known former home for Pochettino.
“My first day he welcomed me. We just a quick conversation about just where I’m at and all that,” Rick said. “I was a huge ‘Poch’ fan as a kid, now I get to to be coached by him. So it’s an honor.”
A day in the life
On most practice days — and there have been more than usual, with a week between games so far in the first 48-team World Cup — Rick has been amid the first team’s action. Other days, the prospects work separately with assistant goalkeeper coach Jack Robinson.
Andrew Rick getting some work in with the ball at his feet.
“I think this World Cup’s a bit different to the last, at least talking to some of the other guys, and just seeing it in general,” he said. “But I think the main thing is just being exposed to the environment. If I ever want to get back to this level — and hopefully when I do get back to this level — just knowing what it’s like, and knowing some of these guys and building that relationship with them now while I’m here, is going to be so important down the road for me.”
When game day arrives, Rick and Eyestone get to spend most of it with the first team.
“We’re basically with the team until they walk out, and then we go into these seats that are right behind the bench,” Rick said. “So we’ll walk in with the team, we’ll watch warm-ups from the pitch. We’ll be in there for the team talk before the game, and then once they walk out, we’ll go to a separate section that’s right behind the bench and watch from there.”
At halftime, it’s back to the locker room, then back to the stands, then on to the field to join what have so far been celebrations and applause for the big crowds.
He’s well aware that his up-close perch would cost a fan thousands of dollars.
“The ticket prices are crazy, but the good thing is it’s not affecting attendance,” Rick said. “I’m not going to lie, I was a little surprised — I was expecting a lot of people to be scared of $3,000 tickets for one [person], but it seems thankfully I’m wrong. Because, I mean, Seattle was amazing. Best experience I’ve ever had with a crowd, there.”
He has talked with colleagues back in Chester, naming goalkeeper coach Phil Wheddon (who worked with U.S. national teams in the past), Nathan Harriel, and fellow goalkeeper George Marks. Rick also was well aware that he’ll come home to a new manager, as Bradley Carnell was fired a few days after he left town.
Rick knows interim manager Ryan Richter well, since Richter was promoted from coaching the Union’s reserve squad. But it turns out their relationship goes back much farther.
After the Union fired manager Bradley Carnell, Union II head coach Ryan Richter was promoted to the top job for the time being.
“He was my Union Juniors coach when I first started, he was my u-12, coach. He was my u-15 coach, he was my union first team assistant coach, then he was Union II coach, and now he’s the first team head coach,” Rick said. “So I feel like I’ve kind of been there every step of the way through the pathway with him. He’s a great guy, and I know how he wants to play and all that super-well just. … I’m proud of him.”
That moment of reflection led to Rick looking back at his own growth along the way.
“If I’m being honest, coaching u-12 Andrew is very frustrating, and then coaching u-15 Andrew is also very frustrating,” he said. “But I give him credit, because he’s been dedicated through it all, and now he’s got the ultimate goal which is being the first team head coach.”
At a moment like this, Rick can dream of his ultimate goal, too. However long it takes him to get there, at least this summer has given him a special way to see the path.
Two dense blocks, one of orange, and one of dark blue, broke up the kaleidoscope of color in the stands at Philadelphia Stadium on Thursday. Fans came bearing jerseys and flags from basically any national team you could think of — from France and England to Honduras and Anguilla.
And yes, even some Eagles jerseys.
Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast was the least marquee matchup on Philly’s World Cup game slate. The teams don’t have the star power of France’s Kylian Mbappé, Croatia’s Luka Modrić, or Brazil’s Vinicius Jr., nor the massive stateside fanbase of Ecuador.
That made it the easiest ticket to acquire for local and passionate soccer fans, as well as diehard supporters of both nations.
In the end, it was the fans clad in orange who went home happy, watching a pair of goals from Ivory Coast forward Nicolas Pépé fuel a 2-0 defeat of Curaçao to advance to the knockout stage out of Group E.
Ivory Coast’s Ange-Yoan Bonny (right), goes for a header against Curaçao’s Deveron Fonville during the first half of their Group E match on Thursday.
Curaçao is the smallest nation in the World Cup, an island of just over 155,000 residents. Curaçao has fielded an independent team under its own flag since 2011, and had never qualified for the World Cup before this year.
Despite its small size, it’s a country with a strong sporting tradition. A team from Curaçao memorably won the Little League World Series in 2004, and MLB stars like Hall of Famer Andruw Jones and Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies hail from the island.
But in the World Baseball Classic, Albies competes for Team Netherlands, as Curaçao has never fielded an independent team. That’s why this team resonated so much with Isla, one of what she estimated was a group of 5,000 fans who traveled up from Curaçao for Thursday’s match.
“What we are doing now, this is nation building,” said Isla, a Curaçao native who was there for the game. “It has to do with our identity, with our people, with our history of slavery. The island of Curaçao is now building on this. Since we can play under our flag, every match is a party for us. Every game, we win.”
Curaçao fans cheer in the stands ahead of their nation’s World Cup match against the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia Stadium on Thursday.
‘It’s a dream’
Curaçao’s underdog story resonated beyond the island. Plenty of local fans came ready to rep Curaçao, including Anna Villarreal from Monterrey, Mexico, who wore a Mexico jersey and carried a “Mexico supports you Curaçao!” sign. Villarreal, 24, is spending the summer at the University of Maryland and snagged tickets to attend her first World Cup game in Philadelphia through the FIFA lottery after a lifetime of passionate soccer fandom.
“We grew up watching the World Cup, but it’s in Brazil, Russia, Qatar — expensive!” Villarreal said. “Watching it in high school, college, kindergarten, but now it’s in North America, I’m so excited to have the opportunity to go to a game. … I don’t really have words. We grew up watching it on TV. I never thought I would be here right now. It’s a dream.”
Anna Villarreal from Monterrey, Mexico, wore a Mexico jersey but carried a sign ‘Mexico supports you, Curaçao!’ into Thursday’s game against the Ivory Coast.
Devon and Jay Geyer, siblings from Philadelphia, attended the game as a birthday trip. Jay now lives abroad in the Netherlands, so they chose to attend Thursday’s game to support Curaçao, thanks to that connection.
“As a Philadelphian, it’s cool to see people come here and really enjoy it and appreciate it from an outside view,” Devon said.
Plenty of Philadelphians jumped on the Ivory Coast bandwagon, given the team was headquartered in Chester at the Union’s training facility. Louie, a 23-year-old from central New Jersey, has Ivorian heritage and got all his friends on board, starting chants on the Broad Street Line on the way down to the stadium.
Côte d’Ivoire fans already bringing it on the Broad Street Line. Louie (the chant leader) is from Central Jersey but has family from Côte d’Ivoire. pic.twitter.com/RiFk43xRsn
“We went to the Union, they had their open practice and their scrimmage against the Philadelphia Union II,” said Giovanni Morales, one of Louie’s friends. “It was really nice to see them play, good atmosphere, good fans, everything was good.”
Ken Palmer, 70, was cheering along with them on the train. His dream 70th birthday gift was a trip to Ivory Coast, where he spent 13 of the first 18 years of his life while his parents worked as missionaries, before moving back to the United States. A trip down to Philadelphia from his home in the Poconos to watch the national team play in the World Cup with his kids was close enough.
“I tend to be a quiet, calm watcher, but I’m already excited,” Palmer said. “It’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Another group of friends from Ontario got tickets through the FIFA lottery and decided to back Ivory Coast after finding jerseys in a Facebook group. They were hoping to get tickets in Toronto, but after striking out, decided Philadelphia was close enough for a road trip.
Compared to the games featuring some of the biggest national teams like France and Brazil, Thursday’s game was by far the least expensive. Tickets were as low as $300 on the secondary market in the lead-up to the game, and while they did rise closer to game day, many fans cited the cheaper tickets as their primary motive for picking this game.
Pat Diamond and Joe Staudenmayer, lifelong friends from South Jersey, picked this game because it was the easiest Philly game to get tickets for. Thomas Khatib drove up from Washington, D.C., and paid $350 to sit in the lower bowl, a price he felt was reasonable — although much more expensive than the free tickets he got to a Belgium-Saudi Arabia game at the 1994 World Cup. He attended with a fellow diehard soccer fan friend, both wearing Germany shirts. “Germany tickets got too expensive,” Khatib said.
Salome Munoz and her husband live in Lansdale, Pa., but trace their own heritage to Colombia. They’re rooting for the Colombian national team, but Colombia wasn’t headed to Philly. As huge soccer fans, they wanted to still make the trip to a local game. The cheapest was Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast, paying $550 per ticket in the lower bowl.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Muñoz said. “I’m going for Curaçao, my husband’s going for Ivory Coast. I’m going for Curaçao because this is their first time, it’s a small country, anything that happens to them is brand new. I want to see a country vibe, just like Colombia has in so many other occasions when we’ve been to the World Cup.”
The mostly local crowd, as compared to some of the other nations, was more subdued than other World Cup atmospheres. The neutral fans didn’t know the songs or the chants, and so aside from the two passionate fan sections, it felt a bit more like a Thursday afternoon Phillies game than the intense atmosphere at some of the other matches. But almost everyone still walked out happy, no matter what jersey they wore.
Over the last several weeks, Philadelphia has become a hub of World Cup activity. Folks are packing bars, some of which are open until 4 a.m., for watch parties, hosting rallies on the Art Museum steps, and making their way to South Philly for a match at Philadelphia Stadium or to Lemon Hill for FIFA Fan Fest.
Most of that excitement has revolved around the nations and players descending on the city for games. But now, as the U.S. men’s national soccer team was to play its final group stage game on Thursday, against Turkey outside Los Angeles, the Hershey Co. has brought another World Cup experience to the city, one that focuses on USMNT star and Hershey, Pa., native Christian Pulisic.
A family waits in line to participate in the final soccer station at the Hershey’s Soccerland pop-up event at Dilworth Park on Thursday.
On Thursday, the candy company based in Hershey unveiled its Soccerland at Dilworth Park next to City Hall, a celebration of all things Pulisic.
“Hershey Soccerland represents our efforts to really support Christian Pulisic as he’s on the biggest world stage for the World Cup,” said Hershey senior brand manager Katrina Vatter. “He’s a Hershey native. So we want him to know that no matter the fact that he’s playing on the world’s biggest stage, we are here to have his back.”
With the smell of chocolate in the air, the pop-up event features a three-hole golf circuit played by kicking a ball, giving fans a chance to score limited-edition Hershey’s Pulisic’s bars that feature custom wrappers with his printed signature, as well as a “Pulisic’s Playground” T-shirt.
There’s also a paint-by-numbers station, allowing fans to contribute to a mural of ChocolateTown’s hero.
“No matter where soccer has taken me, my story started in Hershey,” Pulisic said in a press release. “Growing up there shaped who I am, and knowing that support is always behind me gives me a sense of comfort and confidence wherever I play. Being able to celebrate that connection with Hershey’s means a lot to me.”
An Ivory Coast fan kicks a soccer ball on the second station of the pop-up event at Dilworth Park, outside City Hall on Thursday.
“Philly is right in the neck of the woods from Hershey, about an hour away,” Vatter said. “So we thought it was a great way to rally the state of Pennsylvania to continue to support Hershey’s and really show everybody what Christian’s hometown is all about.”
Soccerland is open until 6 p.m. on Thursday and continues Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Georgette Luna planned her Father’s Day weekend down to a T, splurging $3,000 on three tickets to the Friday World Cup match in Philadelphia. The Fishtown resident, her husband, and her father — who traveled from New York — would go to Reading Terminal Market, she thought, barhop to mingle with fans before the game, and then head to the stadium early to tailgate before seeing Brazil take on Haiti.
She had purchased the tickets on the third-party ticket resale platform StubHub last fall, but the seller she bought the tickets from never transferred them. She called StubHub frequently in the months, weeks, and finally days leading up to the match, wondering when the transfer would go through.
Every time, a StubHub representative said her “tickets would transfer to her on the day of the game,” Luna said. But by Friday, the group — who could not wait to see Brazil play, since their favored Chileans did not qualify for the World Cup — never made it into the stadium.
“We’re standing outside the stadium and obviously everybody is in full celebration, and here we are, supposed to be living this World Cup moment together for the first time, and there’s just this feeling of disappointment,” Luna said.
As the World Cup takes over the country, people across U.S. host cities have shared the same story: Fans in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, New Jersey, Seattle, and, of course, Philadelphia arrived at stadiums hoping their tickets would be transferred to no avail, with most facing issues with StubHub. Other reports indicate fans are having similar issues on SeatGeek.
StubHub, for one, blames FIFA’s tech infrastructure and the rollout of a new mobile phone app weeks before the tournament for why tickets have not been transferring on time. FIFA has urged fans not to buy tickets on third-party platforms, saying it “may result in issues, including the inability to cancel or accept transfers,” as well as a higher risk of fake or invalid tickets.
But fans who lost out on a generational moment are more interested in how platforms like StubHub plan to resolve these issues.
Stephanie Fred of Bristol and her 9-year-old son, Levi, are heartbroken after their tickets to the Monday France vs. Iraq game never materialized, even as they stood outside the stadium. To make matters worse, Levi, a soccer player himself, had been trying to see his favorite player, French superstar Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappé scored two goals, tyingfor the second-most goals scored by a player in men’sWorld Cup history. Fred’s son could hear the cheers from outside the stadium. He broke down into tears that did not stop even later that night, she said.
During Philadelphia’s first World Cup game, between Ecuador and Ivory Coast, Jayden Quezada, 17, and his parents came to Philadelphia from Bensalem, hoping for an Ecuadorian victory. But they were turned away. The night before the game, the trio had spent $4,350 to get three tickets through the TickPick app after seeing a social media advertisement. By the time they arrived at the stadium, the tickets still had not been transferred to their FIFA app.
“They have been the biggest fans since before I was born, and they don’t get to go to Ecuador often because of work,” Quezada said. He said they would try to get a refund, but missing the game was “really sad because we were looking forward to feeling the Ecuadorian pride.”
For that game, a line of more than 50 fans waited for help with their failed tickets. Monica Rojas, 22, and her friend Jose Avil, both Spanish speakers, were confused about what to do after the ticket office explained the problem with their ticket in English. The pair had driven two hours from New York, after having bought tickets on StubHub for $2,000, including parking. After a FIFA volunteer interpreter intervened, the pair found out their tickets had been refunded.
Brazilian fans cheers before a FIFA World Cup Group C soccer match between Brazil and Haiti at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday, June 19, 2026, in Philadelphia.
StubHub blames FIFA
StubHub is aware that fans are not receiving the tickets that they bought, and a company representative blamed FIFA.
“The issues fans have experienced at this World Cup are largely driven by performance problems with the event organizer’s own ticketing infrastructure, which has created transfer failures across all resale platforms,” a StubHub spokesperson said.
StubHub said the launch of a new FIFA app right before the World Cup began has led to delays, failed transfers, and access issues that have affected all resale platforms, not just StubHub.
The ticket reseller also said sellers are required to fulfill their ticket orders or they face financial penalties and bans from the platform.
Bad actors on resale platforms can engage in a practice called “speculative ticketing,” where buyers will list a ticket that they do not yet own on StubHub and other platforms, in the hope that they will find a cheaper ticket later and recover profit, said Scott Friedman, owner of the Ticket Talk Network podcast and an industry veteran who is helping to sue StubHub on behalf of 160 buyers and sellers who said company practices harmed them.
StubHub does offer a “FanProtect Guarantee‚” a promise the company will find replacement tickets or refund the order when a ticket does not transfer. But the policy repeatedly states that resolving these issues falls under StubHub’s “sole discretion.”
StubHub ticket protection measures can look like replacement tickets, a full refund, or a voucher worth 120% of the value of the tickets. During the World Cup, the company said, it is prioritizing replacement tickets so fans can get to a match.
France forward Kylian Mbappé sprints for a pass against Iraq during the first half of a FIFA World Cup Group I soccer match Monday, June 22, 2026, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Refunds can’t replace a once-in-a-lifetime moment
All of this leads to confusion, and eventually disappointment, when the tickets never show, Luna said. As she and her family, hanging their heads low, took a depressing train ride home from the stadium last week, Luna continued to try to get answers.
Finally, on Monday, she said, she received word StubHub would refund her June 19 match tickets and gift her similar tickets to the July 4 match in Philadelphia, which she said she would accept. But, later, Luna was told she would only receive replacement tickets.
“Is this a wonderful outcome? For sure, but my father and I would have been happy with the perfect weekend that we had planned for ourselves as it was,” Luna said. “While they’re doing right by us, there are so many people who aren’t getting this result.”
Fred’s family got word Tuesday that StubHub would provide them with tickets to France vs. Norway in Boston on Friday. Fred does not mind the drive as long as Levi can achieve his dream of seeing Mbappé play.
“We don’t get this type of opportunity from where we come from,” Fred said. “Being able to provide a World Cup experience for our kids just means the world to us, and having that be ripped away from us, it was just so hard to process.”
After a pair of electrifying matches in which the United States displayed arguably its most dominant performance at a World Cup, just one more match remains in Group D for the Americans, a primetime showdown with Turkey on Thursday (10 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62).
With the U.S. awaiting its round of 32 opponent on July 1, it’s anyone’s guess whom Mauricio Pochettino, the U.S. men’s head coach, will start against Turkey, which has been eliminated from advancing after losing to Paraguay in its second match.
Right now, we know that Christian Pulisic is trying to return to the lineup after missing the USMNT’s 2-0 win over Australia in Seattle last Friday. But will Pochettino trot him out or offer even more rest before the knockout round match?
Christian Pulisic (center) was active in Wednesday’s practice ahead of their final match in Group D against Turkey on Thursday.
It’s what our team of soccer writers weighs in on this week as the U.S. looks to finish strong in a match that matters very little.
I really don’t know what to think about this game, since there are no actual stakes in it.
Sure, it’s nice that the U.S. has clinched first place and will now play a World Cup game with no standing stakes for the first time since 1998. (That one was the polar opposite of this, as the Americans were eliminated from progressing after two games.)
But how much will Pochettino rotate his lineup? Even being out at the team’s camp, it’s tough to say.
It’s also unclear what Turkey will do. A team with lots of attacking talent has taken 62 shots over its two games combined so far, but failed to score in both. Will this be the day they finally find the net? And if so, what will it do for their mentality?
Something tells me that’s coming, and the U.S. had better be ready.
Prediction: United States 2, Turkey 2
Will United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino consider shuffling his lineup to give other players on the roster a chance to start in a World Cup match?
Honestly, after a deeper dive into this one, the question is not so much will the U.S. win, but who will play. This might be a good chance to give players who haven’t seen the field yet the chance to prove to Pochettino that they can be effective in key moments, particularly against a bona fide soccer nation like Turkey, even if this installment of their starting 11 has yet to inspire.
Let’s see a strong performance from Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie, two local guys who cracked the roster but are still looking for their first minutes. Matt Freese has been fantastic in goal, but let’s not forget that his backup is Matt Turner, who was the U.S.’s No. 1 for a while, even under Pochettino.
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 24, 2026
This game scratches the itch for those players who have yet to make an appearance. If that’s the mindset Pochettino employs, then motivation alone from those guys should be enough for the U.S. to take three points and finish off a perfect group stage performance heading into next week.
Win, lose, or draw against Turkey, the U.S. is moving on to the knockout round. It’s great news for an American side trying to win its second-ever knockout match in its history, but it’s terrible news for prognosticators.
There’s little way to be sure of who will play for either the U.S. or Turkey, making Thursday’s match as unpredictable as the average Week 18 NFL game.
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 24, 2026
Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams, and Folarin Balogun will all sit out on Thursday to avoid getting another yellow card against Turkey.
That said, the sheer quality we’ve seen from the USMNT this tournament (and the lack thereof from Turkey) should equate to another three points for the U.S.
To paraphrase Whose Line is it Anyway?, this is a game “where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.” With the U.S. already clinching first place in Group D and a spot in the round of 32, they can afford to let Pulisic rest his calf.
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Turkey has nothing to play for, except pride. It’s just their second appearance at the World Cup since 1954, and in a game with so many unknowns, the only sure thing is The Crescent Stars will be playing hard to avoid going home scoreless and winless.
Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir (23) makes a save during his country’s World Cup Group D match against Paraguay. Turkey, which has been eliminated from advancing, has not scored in the tournament.
Turkey certainly hasn’t lacked aggressiveness this tournament, but success hasn’t followed. Through two games, they’ve taken 62 shots, but zero have found the back of the net, the most in a World Cup since 1966, according to the Athletic.
During the second half of France’s dominant win over Iraq in Philadelphia on Monday, the refs worked hard to move the storm-delayed game along, eliminating the second-half water break and adding minimal stoppage time. That feels like the mood of this game — Turkish pride against a U.S. team already looking toward July 1.
IRVINE, Calif. — If you’re new to soccer, this is the sort of thing you should know about as you learn the sport. And even if you’re a veteran of the game, you might not have realized it had happened.
For many years, FIFA’s first standings tiebreaker at World Cups was soccer’s tradition of goal difference: goals scored minus goals conceded. But this time, it has switched to head-to-head result, the format used by the Union of European Football Associations in the Champions League and other continental tournaments.
It didn’t exactly go unnoticed when it was announced, but it wasn’t seen as a big deal. Now, though, it has become a growing controversy.
The issue isn’t so much about determining group winners, though the U.S. has benefited on that front. If goal difference was the first tiebreaker, the Americans wouldn’t have clinched first place yet.
The U.S. win over Australia combined with Paraguay’s win over Turkey last week clinched first place in the group.
They have because Paraguay beat Turkey a few hours after the U.S. beat Australia. That left the U.S. with six points, Paraguay and Australia with three each, and Turkey with none.
Since the U.S. has beaten Paraguay and Australia, it has the tiebreaker over both. So if Turkey beats the U.S Thursday night (10 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62) and there’s a winner in Paraguay-Australia (10 p.m., FS1, Universo), the U.S. will keep first with a tie on six points. With a goal difference tiebreaker, even though the Americans are sitting at a strong plus-5, a big loss plus a big win in the other game could have changed things.
The bigger issue tournament-wide is how head-to-head has eliminated teams after two games — and it’s magnified further by the best eight third-place teams qualifying.
If goal difference was the first tiebreaker, a last-place team could jump to third in the last minute and have a prayer of making the cut. Instead, five of the tournament’s 48 squads were eliminated before playing their finales: Turkey, Haiti, Jordan, Panama, and Tunisia. (Haiti’s elimination came in Philadelphia with the loss to Brazil.)
Cecilio Waterman’s Panama joined Haiti as Concacaf teams eliminated from advancing after two games.
There has been some outrage among purists about this in Europe, even though they’re more used to the format than they might admit because of the Champions League. But even the talking heads who understand the head-to-head way’s benefits have agreed with something that Americans ought to be able to see, too.
It’s more fun when more teams are alive going into the last round of games. If goal difference was the first decider, there could be a dose of chaos along with the stars, underdogs, and however many goals are scored.
Fortunately, Philadelphia’s last two group games will have drama. On Thursday, Curaçao, one of this tournament’s greatest underdog stories, could snatch one of the top eight third-place finishes if it upsets Ivory Coast (4 p.m., FS1, Universo) and Germany beats Ecuador in the Meadowlands (4 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62). On the flip side, if Ecuador wins that game, Ivory Coast will have to win or tie to keep hold of second.
Then on Saturday, Ghana and Croatia will have lots to play for (5 p.m., FS1, Universo). Ghana could steal first place if Panama upsets England in the Meadowlands (5 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62), while Croatia needs a win to finish second and avoid playing a group winner in the round of 32.
Ghana’s tie with England on Tuesday in Foxborough, Mass., means the Black Stars still have a slim chance of winning their group.
Wondering what the players think? Alas, you won’t get much out of the U.S. camp. All they care about is winning games. But at least veteran centerback Chris Richards brought some humor.
“On our end, we just want go into the next round with nine points,” he said. “I haven’t really thought too much about the rule change — I feel like the rules are always changing, so I’m kind of confused myself. But as long as we keep winning, that’s the number one thing.”
Christian Pulisic got right to the point when he arrived to meet the media before Wednesday’s practice.
“Can I guess the first question?” he said, knowing full well what it would be. Of course everyone wanted to know how he and his rehabbed calf were feeling.
Christian Pulisic reaches for the ball in a drill at Wednesday’s practice.
“I’m feeling good,” he said as he headed into a third straight day of full participation. “I’ve obviously joined with the team in the last few days. So I’m feeling good, positive going into [the game], and hopefully I’ll be able to play a part in it tomorrow.”
The Hershey native reconfirmed that he was kicked in his left calf in practice a few days before the U.S.-Paraguay game (he politely declined to say who did it), then again in the first half of the contest.
“Throughout the first half I felt good, and then I started to notice it a little bit, and I think adrenaline definitely carried me through,” he said. “I think I had a pretty strong contusion, strain, whatever you want to call it.”
It might have hurt more emotionally than physically that he couldn’t play against Australia. He certainly took in as much of that day as he could as a spectator.
“I never really feared the worst, but I obviously didn’t want it to keep me out any longer than it had to,” Pulisic said. “And I was really trying to get ready for the last game — I feel like I could have gone, but it just wasn’t quite there.”
U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino (right) and goalkeeper coach Toni Jiménez at Wednesday’s practice.
Players with yellow cards won’t play vs. Turkey
In his news conference Wednesday afternoon, U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino confirmed that the four players with yellow cards — Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Richards, and Antonee Robinson — won’t play vs. Turkey so that they don’t pick up another and get suspended for the round of 32.
“I think it isn’t necessary to take a risk and then to take another yellow card, and be not available for the next stage,” Pochettino said. “And I think that is a little bit a normal and easy answer: not to play with them from the beginning.”
He said of Pulisic’s status: “He’s available, and then we need to decide if it’s possible for him to play from the beginning or be on the bench and play in the second half.”
Cristian Roldan is also dealing with a minor quad injury, and has not practiced for the last few days.
“We need to assess tomorrow if he can be available,” Pochettino said. “I think he’s evolving really well. If it’s not for tomorrow, hopefully for next week.”
DANA POINT, Calif. — Fifteen months ago, Mauricio Pochettino walked out of SoFi Stadium at the low point of his tenure as the U.S. men’s soccer team’s manager.
Not only had his players lost both games at the Concacaf Nations League final four, but they had lost badly, with a squad including many of the program’s stars. He had taken the job to prepare one of the World Cup’s cohosts for the biggest stage, and everything felt about as far from ready as possible.
Two weeks ago, Pochettino was back on the same field, about an hour north of here, joined by many of the same players. This time, they charged to a 4-1 rout of Paraguay in the Americans’ World Cup opener, jolting the tournament and the nation to attention.
“I didn’t recognize it,” he said in a gathering with media at his office in the team’s swanky hotel along the Pacific Ocean. “Because it was empty” the first time.
Mauricio Pochettino’s frustration showed during the U.S. team’s loss to Panama in last year’s Concacaf Nations League semifinals.
Indeed, the stands were mostly empty when the U.S. played Panama in the semifinals, then Canada in the third-place game. They were filled only in the other halves of those doubleheaders, when Mexico won twice to take its first Nations League title after three straight U.S. triumphs.
“I was crying afterward in the dressing room, because I felt so sad for all the American people, for the players, for the staff,” Pochettino recalled. “I said, ‘OK, we play in our own place, our own country, and 70,000 Mexican people’ … I cannot accept that.”
This time, as he put it, was “a completely different vibe, different energy.” The place was full, and backing the hosts. Sure, that it was a World Cup helped, even with the ticket prices. But it was clear from the moment the crowd joined in singing the national anthem that there really were U.S. national team fans in the stands.
There’s still a long way to go this summer, with progression to the knockout rounds and first place secured before Thursday’s group stage finale against Turkey (10 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62). And the U.S. team hopes there will be a long way still to go after that.
But given this game’s lessened stakes, there’s a moment to stop and survey just how far the program has come.
A big crowd was on hand on June 12 in Inglewood, Calif., for the U.S. World Cup opener against Paraguay.
‘The person you used to be’
The most striking feature of Pochettino’s office is a balcony with a postcard view of the water, the surfers in it, and the stunning sunsets beyond them. Ranked No. 2 is a wall covered with a U.S. Soccer logo and one of the team’s slogans for the tournament: Why Not U.S.?
Within the lines of type, Pochettino wrote a series of motivational phrases, some of his creation and some by others.
Growth is often painful, for it means saying goodbye to the person you used to be.
The talent has brought us here, but it is heart, effort, and unity that will make us unforgettable.
Heart turns effort into belief — and when everything hurts, heart keeps us fighting together.
Mauricio Pochettino (right) giving instructions to Auston Trusty (left) and Mark McKenzie during Tuesday’s U.S. practice at the team’s base camp in Irvine, Calif., ahead of Thursday’s match against Turkey.
“I think every single quote represents our journey from day one to today and beyond,” he said.
They’re also more proof of how Pochettino values the psychological side of the sport, a factor that’s even more important with national teams than it is with clubs.
National teams can’t buy players to boost their talent the way clubs can, especially Pochettino’s previous employers at England’s Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur and France’s Paris Saint-Germain. If a national team’s top players aren’t delivering, all the manager can do is drop them, call in other players, and hope they do enough.
That’s what happened after the Nations League failure.
Yunus Musah (left) is perhaps the highest-profile player who has fallen out of the national team rotation during Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure.
“Maybe we didn’t feel or see how difficult the process was going to be,” Pochettino said. “We were so naive when we signed our contract. … We misjudged the situation — it was worse than we really believed.”
‘We were knocked out’
He and the assistants he brought with him came in believing that the players would immediately be as all-in on working toward the World Cup as the staff.
“And then we arrived here, we received a big punch,” he said, mimicking it, “and we were knocked out for a while.”
Pochettino was, as he relayed in these remarks with an expletive, shocked.
Mauricio Pochettino (center, in cap) and top assistant Jesús Pérez (foreground) during a U.S. practice last October.
“We were so excited about that, because it was so close to the World Cup,” he said. He expected in turn that people would be “desperate to help everyone, to be involved, come to the national team. And what’s the opposite?”
He felt it as soon as he took charge in the fall of 2024. By the time the Nations League final four arrived, he said “that punch, we expected” — words as damning as any he has said in his tenure.
“I think it was more a plan to have this punch that was painful, but it was necessary for people to realize in which place we were,” Pochettino said. “For the players to realize that this way, it was impossible to arrive in a good condition to the World Cup.”
We’ll never know what would have happened if the U.S. had won the Nations League title with its stars playing well. But because it didn’t, Pochettino moved quickly to start tearing things down, bringing in a slate of new players to challenge incumbents from the summer’s Gold Cup into the autumn.
Max Arfsten (left) is one of the new players who has gained Mauricio Pochettino’s trust.
There were a lot of questions along the way, and among outsiders, uncertainty as to whether the move would pay off. But when the Americans beat Japan in September, they showed they had reached the corner to turn around. Over the ensuing months, they got there.
Now, Pochettino has a galvanized group, and some of its biggest names have led the way in the World Cup. The U.S. might not be able to win it all, but there’s no questioning the players’ commitment now.
At one point, Pochettino was asked how much he has learned about American culture in the job. He has been asked that a few times in his tenure, and unfortunately hasn’t had much to answer with — not least because he and his staff don’t live in the United States.
This time, he had more to say.
Mauricio Pochettino (center) talking to his players during a hydration break in the U.S. match against Australia last Friday in Seattle.
“People are very approachable, they make you feel comfortable, it’s very welcoming,” he said. “You go to some place like Nashville and you go to a bar, and if you are alone, you make friends so quick. And it looks like in a few minutes, you belong that in that place.”
That, he said, “was a massive surprise. … Different states and everything, but you have the same essence of the human being.”
If it’s tempting to want such a message that can resonate in a divided country — especially during a unifying event like a World Cup — it bears saying that Pochettino probably hasn’t experienced the full depths of what has caused the divisions.
But conversations with people who know him bring up a reminder: He’s one of many foreign visitors, especially from his native Argentina, who look up to the United States culturally and see the good before the bad.
“The country is massive and the people are so good,” Pochettino said. “I think we’ve learned a lot, I think we are much better people now, knowing the country and the culture of the people here.”
He made a wisecrack about America’s reputation for junk food, a subject that the world has lived out in coming to our shores this summer. (Ask the Netherlands fans who went to Buc-ee’s, a famed Southern convenience store chain.)
“People say Americans have no healthy food. Yes, you have healthy food,” citing a trip he took to a Whole Foods supermarket. “But also you have the food that makes you feel, you know, like Chick-fil-A.”
He even said at one point that “when you are here, I think it’s difficult now to see yourself living in another place” and that “we will miss” the country.
Here was Mauricio Pochettino’s speech to the crowd at the start of the day:
That opened the door to ask if he’d like to stay in the job after his contract ends following the World Cup. There have been some discussions with U.S. Soccer, but the widespread presumption remains that he’ll go.
He avoided a direct answer, saying his focus now is on the World Cup.
“And then if we want to stay, we have months to talk, or days or weeks, because it’s four years until the next World Cup,” he said, later adding: “We told the federation we are open, but now I think it’s not to be distracted.”
But while the players could go to the locker rooms and the fans could go to the concourses, broadcasters calling the action couldn’t just go off air. Even worse, the TV and radio areas are in the upper-deck stands, part of extra media seating FIFA always builds at World Cups. So there was no cover overhead when it was only raining.
While FIFA put plastic covers on the tables, that wasn’t enough to protect all the expensive equipment and the people using it. So the team at France Info, one of the many French radio stations broadcasting the game, had to get creative.
Virginie Lorda, the crew’s technician, found a hardware store a few blocks from their hotel in Center City, and bought a tarpaulin and some ropes to tie it onto the table. Then when the rain started falling, the tarp came out.
Broadcaster Julien Froment documented it all on his social media feeds, adding to the spectacle of a night with a two-hour delay in the game. The next morning, he talked with The Inquirer about it as the crew headed back to France’s base camp in Boston.
“I have to give the credit to Virginie,” Froment said. “She had the idea to set this up, a little bit at the last minute, to protect us. … It was a mix of French and American expertise.”
Summers can get very hot in France — the country recorded its hottest day ever on Tuesday, and highs are expected to top 100 degrees multiple times this week. But the sky doesn’t explode like it does here, even if that feels normal to Americans.
“You all are used to this,” Froment said. “For us Europeans, to have to deal with a thunderstorm, it’s a bit new. This one was a grand premiere.”
It’s worth noting that when Philadelphia hosted the Club World Cup last year, the city got pretty lucky. There were big storms on nongame days, and multiple games in other cities got hit. But no action here got delayed or postponed.
France superstar Kylian Mbappé getting drenched by the storm that arrived in South Philadelphia late in the first half of Monday’s game.
So maybe we were due, and unfortunately it happened during an especially star-studded game. France’s Kylian Mbappé scored two of Les Bleus’ goals in the 3-0 win, including a viral sensation of a hit for the opener, and reigning world player of the year Ousmane Dembélé capped things off with his first World Cup tally.
To the city’s credit, the stands were almost totally full when the game resumed. No one went home even with the long delay, wanting to make the most of a rare chance to see these players in person.
Though it’s unusual for American stadiums to have media seating in the middle of the stands, it’s the norm in Europe and elsewhere. There aren’t broadcast booths the way there are at American football, baseball, and soccer stadiums.
The locations of the “media tribune,” to use the world’s game’s phrase, can vary. At Chelsea’s famed Stamford Bridge in London, you can almost touch the team benches. At Lyon’s modern Groupama Stadium in France, which hosted the 2019 women’s World Cup final, you’re up in the heavens.
But no matter the distance from the field, there’s almost always a roof over the stands in some form.
“We’re in the open air to capture the atmosphere — it’s the tradition,” Froment said. “We’re used to being outside. But the big difference between European and American stadiums is we aren’t protected here. There’s no roof, there’s nothing to protect us from the elements.”
That is especially the case at the stadiums Froment’s crew has been to so far in New England and the Meadowlands. France isn’t playing at the indoor venues in Atlanta, Houston, or Dallas; or in Seattle or Los Angeles, where the stadiums are open-air but the stands are covered.
But Froment has enjoyed the experience overall, marveling at America’s modern stadiums that are palatial compared to European soccer cathedrals with decades of history but fewer amenities.
Les supporters donnent de la voix pour le retour des Bleus et des Irakiens ! Sous une pluie battante ! 20min d'échauffement puis début de la deuxième mi-temps à 01h50, si tout va bien 🤣 #FRAIRA@franceinfopic.twitter.com/0UztF6cH2J
“Here, you get the feeling that everything is almost at extremes,” he said. “The stadiums are huge, built specifically for the fans. I’m kind of shocked by how many snack bars and concession stands there are. … It really represents a different kind of consumerism — a different sports culture — compared to what we’re used to in Europe.”
They’re also a lot bigger than most stadiums in France. The biggest, the Stade de France in suburban Paris, seats 80,000; the second, Marseille’s Vélodrome, seats just over 67,000; and the venues in Lyon and Lille are the only others nationwide over 50,000.
Asked his opinion of Lincoln Financial Field, Froment called it “the best stadium I’ve been to at this World Cup,” helped by location, architecture, and the vibe of the broader Sports Complex.
“It’s a little different,” he said. “At MetLife Stadium [in North Jersey], it doesn’t have personality. It feels like it could be any stadium in the world. In Philadelphia, you feel like there’s a story there.”
(We couldn’t help responding that he’s far from alone in those opinions.)
A view of the stands at the start of the Ivory Coast-Ecuador game, which like all of Philadelphia’s World Cup games so far drew a full house.
He had some time to explore as well. There were a few trips to Reading Terminal Market, and walks to the Liberty Bell and the Rocky Steps — documenting France fans’ night-before pep rally at the latter.
It’s playing the hits, sure. But it’s also a reminder of how warm a welcome Philadelphia has put on for its international guests this summer, and that Center City being easy to walk around is another of its great assets.
IRVINE, Calif. — Trying to guess what’s on U.S. men’s soccer team manager Mauricio Pochettino’s mind when it comes to starting lineups is usually a fruitless endeavor. He likes to keep his cards close to the chest, and doesn’t reveal them until he has to on game day.
But all of his players, not just outsiders, know the four players sitting on a yellow card suspension threat heading into Thursday’s group stage finale against Turkey (10 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62): Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun, Chris Richards, and Antonee Robinson. And they know the risk of playing Christian Pulisic as he finishes recovering from a calf injury.
That opens the door for backups who haven’t featured much yet to get a shot. Two of them have talked with the media so far this week, left wingback Max Arfsten and attacking midfielder Alejandro Zendejas. They both said they’re ready to jump in if called.
“Training hard, been waiting for the opportunity, but I’m sure it’ll come,” Zendejas said. “That’s obviously a coach’s decision, and something I’ve got to respect, but I’ve always said it all depends how I’m on the field. I’m working hard, having fun, really enjoying this dream that I’m living right now, so I couldn’t ask for more.”
Alejandro Zendejas (right) shares a laugh with Haji Wright after hitting the deck during a drill.
Arfsten said before Tuesday’s practice that as of then, the players “haven’t heard anything about” who will start Thursday.
“That’s obviously the coach’s decision and whatever he decides, obviously we’re going to be on the same page with that,” he added.
As Arfsten continued at the mic, he left no doubt that all 26 players are well-trained at handling pesky inquiries from the media.
“It’s a tough question — good thing I’m not a coach,” he said at one point. “But honestly, I think the most important thing is, no matter who’s playing, to go out and try and get three points. Just because I think the momentum of the two wins is what’s keeping the energy high right now, and three would be even more.”
Max Arfsten jogging during Tuesday’s practice.
He at least signaled that the tone of training sessions hasn’t changed with first place in the group sealed.
“Obviously everyone’s happy that we’ve already advanced, but at the same time, regardless of if we’ve advanced or not, training is still very competitive, it’s very intense,” Arfsten said. “And I think that’s the culture that the coach has created: no matter what, that everyone’s still trying to prove something.”
One starter likely to keep his place is goalkeeper Matt Freese. The Wayne native showed in the first two games why he earned Pochettino’s trust as the No. 1 in net.
He is also perhaps the team’s most steadfast player when it comes to a one-day-at-a-time mentality. So when he was asked about potential lineup rotations in front of him, he barely flinched.
“It’s a coach’s decision, obviously, and we’ve got 26 guys here who all want to play, and who all are ready to play, and are working hard every day in training,” Freese said. “And we as a group have full confidence in all 26 of us. So really, we’re focused on continuing to prepare and work hard in training, and be ready for whatever.”
