IRVINE, Calif. – This FIFA World Cup is different. Not only is it the second in tournament history to be played on home soil here in the United States, but it’s also expanded quite a bit. It’s the first World Cup with a field of 48 teams—up from 24 the last time the tournament was played on home soil in 1994—and the first to feature three host nations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The increased scale of the tournament has meant more—more time between matches, more airline miles, and more time away from home. That said, the record-breaking tournament has also meant more time together as a team.
“It’s an amazing feeling. It’s a great group of guys,” forward Brenden Aaronson said. “The togetherness is really close. Everybody jokes around, everybody has fun with each other. Sometimes we’re a little too goofy, but we have that ability to flip the switch and become serious like we did against Paraguay. Now, we have two other games coming up where we have to be at our best, and hopefully more later on.”
Coming off its opening victory against Paraguay last week, the USMNT has enjoyed several advantages that come with playing a World Cup on home soil. Woven into a week of training, recovery and preparation for Friday’s matchup against Australia has been a rare day off, a friends and family day at training and plenty of opportunities to take in a few of the 69 FIFA World Cup group stage matches not involving the Stars and Stripes.
“Spending this time with these guys is amazing,” Aaronson added. “Being able to watch all these games together, and then in our downtime I’m always playing video games with the guys, whether it’s Clash Royale on our phones, PGA, FIFA or other games. We always like to have fun with each other. I think that’s the [best] part of this group.”
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Another innovation in this year’s World Cup structure is the increased number of days between matches. There’s roughly one week between each of the USMNT’s three group stage matches, quite the contrast fromQatar four years ago.
“It’s different,” defender Antonee Robinson—who’s played every minute of the USMNT’s past five World Cup matches—explained. “Last time it was pretty much play, recover, play. This time we obviously have a long time to recover and work on things for the opposition. I see benefits to both, to be honest. I’ve enjoyed the fact that we’ve had time to de-stress from the game and have more time in between. People who pick up little knocks have time to get ready for the next team, so I do think there are benefits to it.”
“To be honest, I love it,” Aaronson said with a chuckle. “A lot of us are coming off long seasons where we’ve played a lot of games and a lot of minutes. This downtime gives your body time to get ready for the next one. You can do all the little things that you need. It feels like you have a week in between games like you do in league play. You’re able to actually game-plan and prepare properly. I think that’s going to help us throughout this tournament.”
The USMNT is still riding high after that remarkable 4-1 victory against Paraguay last week, utilizing the time between matches to appropriately prepare for Australia. For many of the players, the momentum and energy cultivated at Los Angeles Stadium will surely be carried north to Seattle Stadium later this week.
“It was a really fun game to be a part of,” Robinson said. “In terms of the National Team, it was probably my favorite game to be a part of. We showed that we could [meet] the moment, and the fact that it was the opening game on home soil, the fans, our families being there, the atmosphere was great. To top that off with a great performance and everyone clicking, being on the same page and playing well made us really enjoy the game and enjoy working hard for each other.”
Echoing a similar sentiment, Aaronson—who will look to make his fifth career World Cup appearance this Friday—was able to absorb the weight of the moment in Los Angeles: “The atmosphere was up there for me as one of the best U.S. crowds that I’ve seen in a long, long time. It was amazing. It was top notch.”
After wrapping up training at the Orange County Great Park on an overcast Wednesday morning, the USMNT will head to Seattle with the aim of remaining atop the Group D standings. The matchup against Australia is set for Seattle Stadium—home of the National Football League (NFL)’s Seattle Seahawks, Major League Soccer (MLS)’s Seattle Sounders FC and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)’s Seattle Reign FC—one of the loudest outdoor stadiums in the world and one in which the USMNT will look to add to its unblemished 6-0-0 record.
“We’re going to Seattle knowing we’re going to have the same turnout, so we’re really excited about that,” Aaronson said. “Last game it definitely pushed us on to have such a great game.”
