LOS ANGELES — Iran’s World Cup team arrived in Tijuana last week bearing gold lapel pins on their jackets honoring the 168 victims, most of them schoolgirls, killed in a Feb. 28 U.S. missile strike on an elementary school in southern Iran at the outset of the war.

The World Cup kicked off last week as that war in the Middle East continues, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. men's soccer team isn't only trying to win games in this World Cup. It is trying to win hearts and minds as well.

"We want the game to grow," star midfielder Christian Pulisic said. "We want to get Americans excited to watch this game, to watch our team. That's obviously a big goal of ours. And being successful would ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Helllllo, world, especially all the teams and their fans playing and staying in Kansas City for the 2026 FIFA World Cup: Ahla bik. Bienvenidos. Bon bini. Merḥba bikum. Servus und herzlich willkommen. Welkom.

First things first: You may most reasonably assume “Kansas City Stadium” and the FIFA Fan Festival at the ...Read more

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The World Cup finally returned to the Bay Area after 32 years, bringing people from all around the globe together at Blank Stadium — don’t call it Levi’s, per FIFA rules— in unity for their love of the beautiful game and their deep, collective hatred of the star that keeps our planet alive.

Saturday’s Qatar-...Read more

NEW YORK — The only real heavyweight battle of this World Cup group stage produced an entertaining, if unsatisfying, 1-1 draw at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., on Saturday evening.

Brazil, ranked No. 6 in FIFA’s latest world rankings, rallied to earn the point against Morocco (ranked No. 7) on a moment of sheer brilliance from ...Read more

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The 60,000 or so people who braved the hot Santa Clara sun to watch Switzerland face Qatar in the Bay Area’s World Cup opener at Levi’s Stadium rarely raised their voices beyond anything resembling a mild hum.

That is, until Boualem Khoukhi flew into the box and equalized the match with a 95th-minute header that gave...Read more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Twenty-four years ago, the U.S. men’s soccer team scored three goals in the first half of a World Cup game.

They were halfway around the world, in South Korea. It was just before 6 a.m. in Philadelphia, and only the die-hards woke up early.

On Friday, a new generation did it again. This time, it was on home turf, in the...Read more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The U.S. men's soccer team chose an incredible day to have an incredible day.

Crucially, the United States aced its only chance to make a first impression, kicking off this colossal World Cup it's co-hosting with Mexico and Canada with a 4-1 victory over Paraguay.

Consider it a save for the tournament, three points for ...Read more

Both United States coasts were under heat advisories Friday on the eve of FIFA World Cup matches scheduled in California’s Bay Area, New Jersey and Massachusetts. The biggest weather threat may come Sunday in Philadelphia, where lightning and thunderstorms could disrupt play.

Heat advisories along the East and West coasts were set to expire ...Read more

It used to be that you could show up at the World Cup as a relative nobody and leave as a superstar.

In this era of hyperconnectivity, those days are over. The 20-year-old kid in national colors isn’t flying under the radar anymore — he’s been tracked by scouts and analysts for years.

But that doesn’t mean that the World Cup wunderkind...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — America’s favorite sport is not football, or soccer, but screwing over sports fans, which is why FIFA should hold its World Cup in the United States permanently.

The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and NCAA should all take a course from FIFA on how to defraud customers. What has happened so far to ticket-buying fans who plan to ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — England’s World Cup team is set to arrive in Kansas City on Saturday and hold its first training session at Swope Soccer Village in the afternoon.

But the “Three Lions” apparently will practice without some of their equipment.

Multiple reports from England said a truck carrying the team’s equipment from Florida to ...Read more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — After nearly 32 years of waiting, raucous American soccer fans left no doubt that they were ready for the World Cup’s return to the United States.

They showed up to SoFi Stadium several hours early and braved daunting traffic and ticket prices that rivaled rent payments. They gave a local American football star polite ...Read more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It was a game eight years in the making. The first World Cup match on American soil in more than a generation and the start of a tournament that has the potential to alter the direction of soccer in this country for the next generation.

And the U.S. seized on every bit of that opportunity Friday, with Christian Pulisic ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In many ways, the most ambitious World Cup in history — which kicked off Thursday in Mexico City — has inspired more angst than anticipation, more fear than fervor.

The competition, returning to North America for the first time in more than three decades, has expanded to 48 teams and 104 matches, to be played over 39 days in...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cliff Illig pushed one arm into the glass doors, swinging open the entrance of a sprawling conference room. His other arm held a packed-to-the-brim work bag atop a binder with block letters printed across the front:

"KC2026"

Some two decades ago, virtually everyone in his life — his wife, his friends, prominent Kansas ...Read more

MEXICO CITY — FIFA president Gianni Infantino described Mexico City Stadium as a venue "blessed by the gods" and a "true cathedral of soccer."

Azteca Stadium, as most people know it, is steeped in soccer history and is now the only venue to host three World Cup opening ceremonies. But the Mexican national team had never much World Cup success...Read more

This is part of what we were hearing 32 years ago this month, as the last World Cup on these shores drew near:

“If the U.S. does well, it will show that U.S. players can compete at the highest level.”

That particular quote came from an executive from a local indoor soccer team, the Anaheim Splash. Tim Orchard, who was then the director of ...Read more

The pressure is on for the U.S. men’s national team.

Ranked No. 16 in FIFA’s most recent global standings, the USMNT has much loftier goals as the World Cup returns to American soil for the first time since 1994.

USA’s lineup remains a work in progress ahead of Friday’s opener against Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium) in ...Read more

IRVINE, Calif. — There is no question that this U.S. men’s soccer team has players with talent and pedigree like never before. Even some of their predecessors, who are as prone to claiming “back in my day” as in any other sport, have said as much lately.

Now, at last, the time has arrived to prove it. For all the pomp and circumstance ...Read more