UPDATED: Pulisic, Balogun & Co.’s heroics at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium made World Cup television history. The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s opening match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup became Team USA’s most watched English-language and Spanish-language World Cup telecast ever.
The contest delivered 15.986 million viewers across Fox, Fox One and Tubi and another 8.9 million viewers on Telemundo, Peacock, and Telemundo streaming platforms, Fox Sports and Telemundo reported Saturday, citing Nielsen preliminary fast nationals.
Helped by the game being held in the U.S. with no time zone difference in play, the English-language delivery was up +106% from USMNT‘s comparable first group telecast at the 2022 World Cup, which was in Qatar. (U.S.-Wales, 7.763M on 11/21/22). The Spanish-language broadcast was up +156% vs. that game (3.5M).
USMNT’s dominant 4:1 win over Paraguay on the opening day of the tournament on American soil became the national team’s most streamed English-language match with 1.130M average minute audience. The overall English-language viewership peaked at 18.860M from 10:45 – 11 PM ET, at the end of the second half.
Team USA’s next match is against Australia on June 19.

If you work at SpaceX, or ever have, congratulations. You’re about to get very rich.
On Friday, Elon Musk’s Space and AI company debuted on the public markets in the largest initial public offering in history, with the rocket company’s valuation surpassing $2 trillion.
While mom-and-pop investors are just getting in on the action, SpaceX employees already have a piece. The company puts “heavy emphasis on equity compensation to provide employees with a financial stake in our business and an ownership mindset,” it said in its S-1 securities filing.
For employees who have held on to their shares, it’s paid off. Andrew Benson, the founder of pre-IPO trading platform Hill Markets, estimated the SpaceX IPO will mint 4,400 new millionaires; 400 of those will be centimillionaires.
“You’re going to have the single largest wealth event potentially in the history of the world,” Matthew Fleissig, the CEO of investment advisory Pathstone, told Business Insider.
That’s good news, of course, but don’t expect a new fleet of superyachts or private jets with SpaceX employees at the helm.
Once lockup periods are out of the way and employees can sell their shares, nice homes, charter flights, and luxury vacations are more common and smarter ways to spend the money, wealth advisors told Business Insider.
“The biggest mistakes we see is people spending down their money,” Fleissig, who has guided clients through major liquidity events, said. “We have seen plenty of scenarios where a client tried to build a home with 13-foot-thick cement walls for a nuclear bomb, and it might have had a waterfall for the batcave, and it ended up costing $40 million to $50 million, and it got out of control.”
Mo money, mo problems
Wealth advisors told Business Insider that sudden liquidity can come with several pitfalls. There are wealth advisement fees, taxes, and, of course, the sirens’ call of shiny toys.
“You get this unbelievable sticker shock when you get new wealth that it’s actually really expensive to be wealthy,” Fleissig said. His firm has a program for pre-liquidity clients, including “a nice amount” of SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI employees and investors.
One point they hammer home: Everything involving money is about to cost more.
Wealth managers charge clients a fee, typically 0.5% and 1% of the money they manage. Some SpaceX employees are trying to get ahead of that, with an employee group negotiating favorable terms with one Chicago wealth management firm, two sources familiar with the plans told Business Insider.
Taxes, too, are about to become more complex and expensive — and not just the total paid to Uncle Sam. Someone used to uploading a tax form to TurboTax may now spend $25,000 on an accountant to navigate a return involving various types of investments.
Then there’s the impulse to blow the new cash.
“The minute people identify you as being somebody that is a SpaceX centimillionaire, everybody’s going to be coming at you,” Michael Cole, a former wealth advisor and the cofounder of R360, a membership group for centimillionaire and billionaire families, told Business Insider.
When it comes to big-ticket items, advisors say: buyers beware.
Yachts are infamous money pits, with annual maintenance costing about 10% of their new-build price, according to industry standards.
On the low end, private planes can cost $1 million a year to maintain. Francis advises clients not to spend more than 10% of their net worth on a private aircraft and to do their homework on the seller and operating crew.
“You need 1,500 hours of experience to be a barber,” he said. “The training you need to become an aircraft sales broker, an aircraft charter broker is zero.”
‘Slow down to speed up’
When it comes to liquidation events — SpaceX had several ahead of its IPO — Cole’s motto is “slow down to speed up.”
The first thing to do is diversify, he said, and the next is to think.
“It makes really good sense to start to liquidate a concentrated holding because your risk is all of your wealth is in one stock,” Cole said. “The markets can be fickle around different things, and right now SpaceX is the flavor of the month.”
Put that money into short-term treasuries, he said, and take six months to make a plan that takes into account risk tolerance, taxes, objectives, and time horizons.
Beyond investments, wealth can open a new way of seeing your life.
Fleissig suggests clients ask themselves how they want to spend their time, whether that be with their families, on vacation, or taking up hobbies.
Of course, life can very well involve a little luxury. There’s nothing wrong with upgrading your home or splurging on a sports car or a new watch.
“You may want to buy a plane, you may want to buy a yacht, those can all be really fun,” Cole said. “Take your time.”

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — FIFA on Friday blamed the empty seats during the World Cup match between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara on fans who watched from the concourses.
There were many visible empty spots at the 45,664-capacity Guadalajara Stadium, with sections in the middle of the stands showing many unoccupied spaces and with other empty seats scattered around the venue. The announced attendance was 44,985 — including FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
“Official attendance figures reflect the number of tickets scanned and spectators present within the stadium footprint, rather than visual assessments of seating occupancy at any given moment during the match,” FIFA said, adding that it works closely with stadium authorities and ticketing teams to ensure all published figures are based on verified operational data.
“Please note that, during last night’s match in Guadalajara, several ticketed fans could be seen standing in concourses rather than staying in their assigned seats throughout the match,” the governing body of world soccer said.
There was indeed a significant number of fans standing on the concourses and by the concession stands throughout Thursday’s match.
There were some empty seats in Toronto also
On Friday, the stadium in Toronto was close to full for Canada’s first World Cup match on home soil, but there were some empty spots, notably close to the field in the lower bowl, and in a high corner of temporary seating.
Toronto Stadium, with an official capacity of 43,036, is the smallest venue in the tournament and had to have the extra seats added to meet FIFA’s minimum standards. The announced attendance on Friday was 43,002.
It’s a busy sports weekend in Toronto, with the Blue Jays hosting the New York Yankees and the Canadian Open golf tournament about an hour away.
FIFA charged record high ticket prices for this year’s World Cup
FIFA has been charging record ticket prices at the 11 stadiums in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada. The soccer body was using dynamic pricing and has repeatedly raised the prices since tickets first went on sale last fall.
Infantino defended those prices Wednesday as fitting in the North American market, but they have been criticized for list prices that have reached five figures.
Before the tournament started on Thursday, 29 games were sold out (with wheelchair seats available for some of those) and 75 had tickets remaining.
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Associated Press writer Lexie Linderman in Toronto contributed to this report.
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At I/O 2026, Google announced the concept of “Search agents,” with information agents now rolling out in AI Mode for AI Ultra subscribers.
Search agents work in the background 24/7 and “intelligently reason across information to find exactly what you need at exactly the right moment.”
Information agents are the first type and help users “stay updated on whatever matters most.” Google will search blogs, news sites, social posts, and other web content, as well as real-time finance, shopping, and sports information “to monitor for changes related to your specific question.”
The end result is a “synthesized update, with the ability to take action.” One Google example involves listing your requirements for an apartment and having the agent notify you when there are new listings that meet your needs.
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In the example below, the prompt to AI Mode is: “keep me updated when any of my favorite athletes announce sneaker collabs or signature drops.”
On paper, the main advantage over the Gemini app’s Scheduled actions (up to once a day) or Gemini Spark’s (every 15 minutes) set intervals would be the immediacy at which Search agents can deliver updates.
Information agents are now available for Google AI Ultra subscribers ($99.99 or $199.99 per month). In AI Mode, include “keep me updated on” or “alert me when” in your prompt to trigger. It’s available for all AI Mode languages and markets.
Search agents will be coming to Google AI Pro this summer.

Canada opened 2026 FIFA World Cup play on home soil at BMO Field on Friday, clashing with late European qualifiers and Group B foe Bosnia & Herzegovina toward a 1–1 result.
The Toronto match brought incredible fanfare, seeing performances from the likes of celebrities Michael Bublé, Alanis Morissette and Alessia Cara, among others, even prior to kick off. Over 43,000 passionate fans—including Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds—packed the stadium. The vast majority formed a sea of bright red in support of the home team.
Despite desperately vying for that first-ever victory at soccer’s most prestigious tournament, Canada had to settle for the draw and will seek a better showing against remaining Group B opponents Qatar and Switzerland for the hope of a historic knockout stage run this summer.
Here are Sports Illustrated’s three takeaways from the match.
Set Piece Struggles
On the defensive side of the ball, Canada needs to improve its positioning, marking and overall anticipation on set pieces. The team looked reactive as opposed to proactive in many of those moments.
The most obvious example of the host’s shortcomings was Bosnia & Herzegovina’s goal in the 21st minute off of a corner kick, to open the scoring. Amar Memic delivered a near-post in-swinger, which Canada seemed utterly unprepared for. Sead Kolasinac easily beat Tani Oluwaseyi to the floating ball, as Canada’s striker sorely mistimed its descent. Kolasinac then flicked the ball behind him to teammate Jovo Lukic, who Richie Laryea was weakly and distractedly marking from behind. Lukic easily overpowered Canada’s left back for a header goal.
Although Bosnia & Herzegovina’s roster includes many of the most physically-imposing players at the World Cup, countries with much more skill will also have no problem capitalizing on a flat-footed Canada in these set pieces moments. The Canucks need to go back to the drawing board to come up with a viable solution.
Canada Couldn’t Finish
Whether it speaks to the nerves of the Canadians, who were participating for just the third time ever in soccer’s grandest showcase, or a broader problem, the squad simply could not finish on Friday.
The sequence of frustrations was ignited by striker Jonathan David’s blatant miss in the 17th minute, taking a shot—or rather, a rolling pass—from just outside the six-yard box straight to goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj in the center of the frame. The missed opportunity sent manager Jesse Marsch into a blind rage on the sidelines. That was David’s only shot on target all game.
Oluwaseyi, likewise, struggled to finish his chances, with just one shot on target and an expected goals (xG) of 0.15, raising the broader question: why didn’t Cyle Larin and Promise David come onto the pitch sooner? Promise David substituted on for David in the 61st minute, while Larin came on 15 minutes later.
Ismaël Koné did his part in the midfield, creating several key opportunities by attacking the empty half-spaces between Bosnia & Herzegovina’s midfielders and defenders, but it was to no avail. Either his through balls were picked off or the strikers struggled to get a quality shot out of the opportunities.
Canada finally broke through in the 79th minute, though, with a brilliant shot from Larin, just three minutes after the 31-year-old Southampton striker substituted onto the pitch, evidently determined to do something about the mounting frustration. It was once again Koné that instigated the attack, finding Promise David just inside the box, who’s sweeping flick set Larin up for a first-time, powerful finish into the right-hand side of the net.
The Wait Continues…
Canada mounted an impressive attempt at victory in the remaining minutes following Larin’s equalizer, forcing Bosnia & Herzegovina on its back-heels while Canada become even more aggressive in its press; however, it was to no avail. The hosts walked away with a draw, still waiting for that first victory at the World Cup, having lost all six of its previous matches across the 1986 and 2022 editions of the tournament.
The Canucks will need at least one victory against Qatar or Switzerland to advance out of the group stage. The team now turns its attentions to Qatar, who it faces next Thursday at BC Place in Vancouver.
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