The United States makes its 2026 World Cup debut on Friday, at the stadium formerly known as “SoFi” (the name has been redacted, per FIFA demands). Tickets remain available to watch the U.S. and Paraguay play in person at 9:00 p.m. ET, 6:00 p.m. PT.
Via Joe Lago of Sports Business Journal, FIFA has roughly 350 tickets left in its primary inventory. Another 2,500 or so are available on the secondary market.
As of Friday morning, the cheapest price for a ticket was $1,129.
The matches at SoFi will be played on lush, high-quality grass that Rams owner Stan Kroenke installed at the behest of FIFA. By February, when SoFi Stadium hosts Super Bowl LXI, the grass will be long gone and the fake stuff will have returned in all of its artificial glory.
Kroenke also had to, as mentioned above, remove the sponsored name of the venue for the duration of the World Cup, reconfigure the lower areas of the stadium, and forgo other events that would have generated significant revenue for the duration of FIFA’s SoFi takeover.
As Devin McCourty said earlier this week on PFT Live, and as the NFLPA Twitter account amplified on Thursday, it’s “disrespectful” to NFL players for NFL owners to install high-quality grass for soccer and insist on using artificial turf for football.
Said the NFLPA in another post, “If these extensive field changes are worth the cost for a month-long tournament, why aren’t they worth the cost for the NFL players who primarily compete in these stadiums?”
The bottom line is that grass fields, in the view of owners who choose turf, have too much of an impact on the bottom line. Now that it’s a collective bargaining issue, it will change only if the NFLPA makes a concession that matches the overall cost of converting all stadiums to grass.
Still, there’s value in pushing it. The NFL does a good job of locking arms during CBA talks. What better way to drive a wedge among the oligarchs than to insist on a term that, for the teams already playing on grass, will be viewed as no big deal?

Topline
The judge who presided over a teenage murder trial in Texas that sparked a racial debate in the suburbs of Dallas has defended the controversial 35-year sentence of a 19-year-old Black man he called a “nice young man” and said he’s able to sleep “well at night” following the trial.
Key Facts
how have people responded to the karmelo anthony conviction?
Andrew Anthony, Karmelo Anthony’s father, on Thursday called the situation “unfortunate” and one where “nobody wins.” He questioned if the outcome of the trial would have been the same if his son had not been tried by an “all-white jury” (reporting has suggested there were several minorities on the jury, but no Black people) and said he believes his son was “already convicted” in the court of public opinion before the trial began. Crockett, whose district includes parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex but not Frisco, told TMZ she thinks the outcome of the trial would have been different if the races were reversed: “I don’t even know if (Anthony) would have been convicted, because if a white boy would have said that they were afraid of a Black boy, something tells me that that jury that didn’t have any Black people on it, they would have believed him and his fear,” she said. Dallas-based civil rights activist Dominique Alexander said the verdict showed “Black lives do not matter in Collin County.” The Collin County Young Democrats group supported Anthony and wrote in a Facebook post that “Justice must be more than punishment.” The Collin County NAACP posted on Facebook questioning “fairness, representation, and confidence in our justice system,” and questioned why there were no Black people on the jury. Anthony’s grandmother, Toni Hayes, was filmed shouting “Racist! Bias!” out of her car window as she left the courthouse Tuesday.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Wow! Just freakin wow! DISGUSTING… This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!” Cardi B posted about the sentencing.
Contra
Jeff Metcalf, the victim’s father, said he thinks Anthony should have been sentenced to life in prison. He said he had “a little bit of sorrow” for Anthony but vowed he will advocate against parole for the rest of his life and will record a video to play at parole hearings after he dies. Right-wing provocateur Jake Lang stood outside the courthouse and shouted that Anthony should be “lynched.” Sports columnist Jason Whitlock called the violence “senseless” and said Anthony “should’ve pleaded insanity” as the only “real explanation for his behavior.” State Rep. Jared Patterson, D-Frisco, said he hopes “this moment allows the Metcalf family and our community to begin the difficult process of healing and moving forward together.” A local city councilor, Burt Thakur, said, “justice was served.”
SURPRISING FACT
The families of Anthony and Metcalf have both received death threats, they said. Andrew Anthony said he’s been harassed by people who “want our family dead,” and Jeff Metcalf, the victim’s father, said he has received similar threats: “Yesterday, I had a death threat, this morning had multiple emails, texts threatening me, calling me all sorts of names,” he told CBS News.”
Why is the case being compared to Kyle Rittenhouse?
The case immediately evoked memories of the high-profile trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, a white man who shot three people—and killed two—in Wisconsin while illegally armed with an AR-15-style rifle during a Black Lives Matter protest. Rittenhouse was also 17 at the time, and claimed self defense in a case with strong racial and political overtones that also spurred large, controversial online fundraising campaigns. He was charged with multiple counts, including homicide, but was acquitted after a jury found he acted in self-defense. Supporters of Anthony have argued Rittenhouse was given the benefit of the doubt while Anthony was not for racial reasons, pointing out Rittenhouse was immediately supported by the conservative base while Anthony was widely condemned before trial. “White folks out here asking why Karmelo Anthony had a knife but had no problem with 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse having an AR 15 that he wasn’t licensed to carry,” Talbert Swan, a bishop and NAACP chapter president in Massachusetts, said. Critics say the two cases are fundamentally different, and that the legal facts are not as similar as the political narrative suggests. Rittenhouse slammed the comparison by saying, “I defended myself after I was violently attacked by white antifa thugs with criminal records—and it was clear I’d die if I didn’t defend myself. We are not the same.”
Key background
Anthony and Metcalf had never met before a Frisco school district track meet in April 2025. When it started raining, some athletes stayed on the field and others ran for cover under team tents, reports detail. Anthony’s school, Centennial High School, did not have a team tent and he instead sought shelter under the Memorial High tent, where Metcalf was a student. Witnesses told police Metcalf told Anthony to leave, to which Anthony responded, “Touch me and see what happens,” and then Metcalf grabbed Anthony to remove him from the tent. That’s when the witness said Anthony pulled out a knife, stabbed Metcalf once, then ran away. Anthony immediately told police he was the one who stabbed Melcalf, that he was “protecting himself” and asked if Metcalf was “going to be OK,” according to police reports. The case generated a massive amount of false information online—including fake autopsy reports and a fake social-media account impersonating the Frisco police chief—and an online legal-defense fundraiser raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in what critics argued was a “reward” for someone accused of murder.
TANGENT

CHICAGO (WLS) — Cleanup across the Chicago area is underway after strong thunderstorms spawned at least two confirmed tornadoes Thursday.
The National Weather Service will be sending team out to survey damage in Streator, Naperville, Bartlett and Northwest Indiana Friday. Tornadoes were confirmed in Streator and Northwest Indiana and survey teams will survey the damage to determine the intensity of the tornadoes.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
These strong storms have knocked out power for people across our area. Early Friday morning, ComEd reported more than 170,000 customers without power.
In Northwest Indiana, NIPSCO says more than 74,000 customers are without power.
SEE ALSO: Track power outages in your area with the ABC7 Chicago Power Outage Tracker
The South Shore Line service is disrupted between South Bend and Michigan City. There is service between Michigan City and the Randolph Street Station.
In Streator, some homes were completely demolished with after a tornado swept through the southern part of the town.
A state of emergency has been declared there in a town of about 12,000 people.
Some people said that they hid in bathrooms and basements as they heard parts of their home crumble.
“I’ll tell you what, it was the scariest things I’ve witnessed,” Streator resident Clint Stevens said. “I mean, being this close to me and actually watching the funnel cloud. It, It was definitely scary.”
So far the mayor said there have been no reported deaths but we are still waiting to learn about the extent of injuries people may have suffered.
One man was found in a pile of rubble at his home near Saratoga Lane and Sunbury Drive as a camera caught the moment first responders arrived to help.
The Red Cross opened a shelter at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church for people in need of assistance.
In Northwest Indiana, there’s a shelter open in Hobart to support people impacted by the storm.
Crews were seen working overnight to clear out some of the downed trees near third Street and Lake Park Avenue.
The shelter, for people who need it, is at the police complex gym on 704 east Fourth street in Hobart.
Just west of Hobart, in the Dyer, Saint John, Indiana area, more trees were uprooted. and in some cases, sewage pipes and electrical lines were also pulled up.
One man who says he insisted he and his wife head into the basement, because the storm was coming.
“I saw the clouds whipping around and we went downstairs and the next thing you know I heard a big thought… I came upstairs… Saw the tree on the back on the house on my patio,” resident Patrick Winter said.
Winter said a statue of the Virgin Mary, kind of hidden behind a tree there protected his house just as she has done since he was a kid on the South Side of Chicago.
In Merrillville, video shows several homes destroyed, with missing roofs and walls.
There are also many downed trees, blocking roads and driveways.
The storm damaged the roof and windows at Andrean High School. Power lines were knocked down and into the street. Operations at the school have been canceled for the foreseeable future, officials said.
An Andrean employee James was out assessing the damage Friday morning.
“I just think about the kids,” he said. “They are supposed to be here for practice and summer is starting and sports and school is starting in a couple of months.”
James said they are going to need tarps for the school as well as prayers.
“It’s a special place and we are going to rebuild and make it better,” he said.
According to town officials, multiple agencies from as far as Illinois are assisting as first responders search and assess the damage.
Crews are also working to clear roads.
Officials want to remind the community to stay clear of any fallen utility lines or damaged utility poles.
In Chicago in the West Lawn neighborhood,
This is near 62nd and Lawndale in the West Lawn neighborhood.
It appears part of the roof of the Saint Nicholas of Tolentine School near 62nd Street and Lawndale Avenue may have been torn off.
Radar clocking winds of up to 100 miles-an-hour on the city’s South Side Thursday night
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The 2026 World Cup began Thursday with eruptions of joy in Mexico City.
At long last — after days, weeks, months, years of controversy over ticket prices, funding, visas and more — the grandest soccer tournament in human history started with pageantry, emotion and a few great human stories.
In the inaugural match, Mexico beat South Africa, 2-0. In the nightcap, South Korea came back to beat Czech Republic, 2-1. On Friday, attention will shift to Mexico’s co-hosts Canada and the United States; but before we look ahead, Thursday was worth savoring because it reminded us why we love the World Cup.
Throughout the the tournament, The Athletic will bring you daily recaps on the World Cup’s biggest talking points and highlight what you shouldn’t miss in the next 24 hours. This is what happened on Matchday 1.
Mexico’s timely pick-me-up
So much of the buildup to this World Cup had revolved around the United States. President Donald Trump took center stage at December’s draw. U.S. cities bickered with FIFA, soccer’s global governing body and the tournament organisers. American sports essentially set the ticket market. Eleven NFL stadiums will host 78 of the 104 matches, including every one from the quarterfinals onward.
Mexico, though, got the opener, and it put on the show that FIFA needed: a soccer show.
Mexico, much more so than its co-hosts, is a soccer country, una nación futbolera. It has hosted two men’s World Cups before (1970 and 1986) and, on Thursday, it stopped in its tracks for the third. Streets emptied. Living rooms and the mystical Estadio Azteca filled up. Nerves tingled, then trembled.
And then, in the ninth minute, Julián Quiñones washed away all that tension with the tournament’s first goal, eliciting a nationwide roar. The Athletic’s Jacob Whitehead heard it from the streets of Guadalajara. Mexican fans across the continent, south and north of the U.S. border, leapt skyward. Inside the stadium, beer and sombreros flew.
UK readers watch here:
U.S. readers watch here:
It was the moment Mexico had been waiting for. It was the moment FIFA had been waiting for. It was the moment Quiñones dreamed of when he chose to play for Mexico, and even when he endured xenophobic criticism from some fans who felt that the Colombian-born attacker wasn’t Mexican enough.
On Thursday, he became the toast of his adopted country.
Around an hour later, World Cup nerves re-set in. Angst gripped the Azteca as Mexico struggled to find a second goal, even after Yaya Sithole received a red card, reducing South Africa to 10 men. (There would be three red cards, two for South Africa and one for Mexico, by the end of the match — making this officially the dirtiest opening game at a World Cup.)
In the 67th minute, though, Raúl Jiménez extinguished all concern, and wrote another remarkable chapter in this opening-day story. You could see it etched across his cracking face. Back in 2020, Jiménez fractured his skull; his career, it seemed, might be over. Six years later, at age 35, he scored his first World Cup goal.
UK readers watch here:
U.S. readers watch here:
You could see the emotion instantly, in his fist pumps and his tears. You could see it in teammates’ embraces. You could see it all around the famous stadium, and in the songs that echoed deep into the Mexican night.
It’s what makes the World Cup a peerless event, a national unifier, an enthralling spectacle. The 2026 edition needed only one game to jog the world’s memory.
Hydration breaks become commercial breaks
Perhaps the only stain on Thursday’s curtain-raiser were FIFA’s newly-mandated “hydration breaks.”
Previously, many soccer games have paused in extreme heat; now, irrespective of weather, even indoors, all World Cup matches are pausing for three minutes midway through each half. When FIFA announced the change, it said the breaks were for “player welfare,” but many fans saw through the spin and assumed the breaks would be used by broadcasters to show commercials.
On Thursday, Fox, which holds the English-language U.S. broadcast rights, confirmed those fears.
It not only cut away to advertisements; during the second half of Mexico-South Africa, its commercials ran long and caused viewers to miss several seconds of action after play resumed.
The blunder sparked an uproar among longtime fans who, for decades, have been accustomed to soccer being a game of two uninterrupted halves. “I hate it,” former U.S. women’s national team star Carli Lloyd wrote on X.
The breaks essentially turn soccer into a game of four quarters, à la basketball or American football. They allow coaches to tweak tactics and deliver instructions to players that were once hard to communicate before and after halftime.
On Day 1, the commercials were the main talking point, but the sporting implications will be significant, too. Back in March, Portugal coach Roberto Martinez predicted: “The game is going to change.”
USMNT ‘relaxed’ ahead of glitzy opener
As one co-host opened the World Cup in style, another, the United States, prepared for its long-awaited moment.
The U.S. team, popularly known as the USMNT, will kick off Group D against Paraguay (9pm ET Friday, 2 am BST, Saturday) in Southern California. Years of anticipation, expectation and preparation will collide at SoFi Stadium, an absurdly opulent, $5.5 billion palace. All of it will pile on pressure.
If U.S. players are feeling it, though, they haven’t shown it.
Christian Pulisic, 27, the face of the program since his teenage years, said Thursday that he was actually “more relaxed” than he was four years ago, on the eve of the last World Cup.
He and his teammates, of course, know that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lift American soccer. But they’ve found strength, comfort and calmness in their togetherness. They seem and sound confident, and so does their coach, Mauricio Pochettino.
Pochettino said at his pre-match news conference that he would not deliver one last rousing speech before the opener. “They don’t need any external motivation or an inspirational speech,” he said. His reasoning was simple: it’s a World Cup. “If you are not ready,” he said, “I’m sorry.”
“They need to think tomorrow and play like they are a child,” Pochettino said of his players. “With no pressure, with no responsibility.”
Friday’s schedule
Before the USMNT steps into spotlights, Canada also plays its opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina. That match kicks off at 3 p.m. ET at BMO Field in Toronto.
Canada’s biggest star, Alphonso Davies, will not play as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury suffered last month. But the Canadians are favored, and are hopeful that they, like the USMNT, can make a run that leaves a lasting impact on soccer in their country.
Then, as 9 p.m. ET approaches, all eyes will turn to the Americans. There are no injuries to report; Chris Richards, the team’s top defender and only question mark over the past few weeks, is available, Pochettino said Thursday.
The only absence of note will be that of President Trump. White House World Cup task force director Andrew Giuliani confirmed Thursday that the President will not attend. He will be the first leader of a host country to skip a men’s World Cup opener in the 21st century. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the U.S. government’s delegation, and will meet with Paraguayan president Santiago Peña.
Both the Canadian and American openers will be preceded by musical performances and ceremonies. And once they conclude, the 2026 World Cup will, finally, be in full swing.

The men’s World Cup is kicking off in North America. Hype in the U.S. doesn’t feel as manic as expected.
Maybe because the U.S. is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico. Americans don’t share well.
Maybe because the U.S. team has no chance. Never has, never will.
Maybe because ticket costs are onerous. FIFA, soccer’s governing body, is using “variable pricing” depending on demand for each game, enabling FIFA to act as its own scalper. But with a reported 180,000 tickets left unsold, resale prices are dropping. (That includes 4,400 ducats still available for Friday’s U.S. opener versus Paraguay at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles.)
Maybe because ESPN, not being a media affiliate, offers little support and instead sticks to its year-round saturation of NFL minutiae, the NBA Finals are happening and the NHL is getting more out of the Worldwide Leader than usual. (Being a broadcast partner, and all the better to ignore the World Cup.)
Maybe because, having expanded to 48 teams, it’s a badly diluted tournament that features few intriguing matchups in the group stage.
Maybe it’s all of the above.
Maybe FIFA needed to cut a side deal with Pat McAfee, the sports media king. McAfee played soccer at Plum High School. He should be on the U.S. roster.
Not much can be done about the quality of the U.S. team.
The U.S. has a male population of 166.9 million. Paraguay, the U.S. team’s first foe, checks in at 3.3 million men. Appreciably less.
But the best male athletes in Paraguay play soccer. The best American male athletes do not.
As a prominent local high school football coach told me, “Soccer will catch football when the head cheerleader would rather date the soccer captain than the football quarterback.”
Cristiano Ronaldo is 6-foot-2, 183 pounds. All power, muscle, speed and athleticism.
If the Portuguese star had grown up in America, he’d have been a strong safety.
The development of soccer players in the U.S. has been compromised and made exclusionary by elite pay-for-play programs, much like other sports. It’s profit-driven, not soccer-driven.
The U.S. team has lots of talent: 13 of the squad’s players compete in one of Europe’s top five leagues.
But it has no stars. No game-changers.
Forward Christian Pulisic continues a tradition of Americans convincing themselves that their top player is a lot better than he is.
Pulisic plays for traditional Italian power AC Milan. He’s got tools.
But when he scored for the U.S. versus Senegal in a May 31 friendly, it broke a 27-match goal-less drought: 19 for club, eight for country.
The U.S. is ranked No. 17 in the world. Its Group D opponents are No. 22 Turkey, No. 27 Australia and No. 41 Paraguay.
Given home-field advantage, the U.S. seems a decent bet to win its group.
It won’t.
Here’s betting the U.S. goes 1-1-1 and finishes second.
That very roughly projects to a knockout-round game against Iran. Played on July 3. The day before America’s 250th birthday. Winner gets the Strait of Hormuz.
If you think it caused a fuss when Trump attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals, wait till he shows up for a soccer game versus Iran. That might be when the hype kicks in.
Right now, the World Cup is a bit light in that department.
It’s nothing like when the U.S. hosted its first World Cup in 1994.
But a lot has changed since.
European soccer leagues are all over U.S. television.
The more we see that, the more inferior the home-grown product looks: both the national team and Major League Soccer.
I don’t need hype to love the beautiful game. I’m a lifer.
I’m attending my first-ever World Cup match June 19 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.: Scotland vs. Morocco. One of my favorite (now ex-)Liverpool FC players, Andy Robertson, is Scotland’s captain.
I bought a so-called “hospitality” ticket direct from FIFA.
It cost $2,850. That had better get me a lot of hospitality.
Between that, inflated hotel costs, flight and car service, I’ll be spending more than $6,000.
But I think I get to sit next to Rod Stewart, noted Scotland fan. “You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul…”