For a 10-year stretch from 2009 to 2019, the U.S. men’s soccer team was a regular visitor to the Philadelphia area. But it hasn’t come to town since then, and local fans aren’t the only ones getting tired of waiting.
Six local players are competing to make the 2026 World Cup squad: Brenden and Paxten Aaronson (Medford), Mark McKenzie (Bear, Del.), Auston Trusty (Media), Zack Steffen (Downingtown), and Christian Pulisic (Hershey). Many of them have yearned for years for a homecoming and have said so publicly.
As it turns out, they were a few months away from getting their wish. Multiple sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed to The Inquirer that a plan was coming together for the U.S. to host England at Lincoln Financial Field in June, with one contingency: the Three Lions’ World Cup qualifying draw.
Some European groups have four teams and some have five, and most teams in the former have free time this summer. Alas, England got drawn in a five-team group, so the plans had to be scrapped.
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The matchup undoubtedly would have sold out the Linc. The U.S. program surely would have brought the locals home with a little extra spice from the 250-plus years of history between the countries. Even England’s players might have heard that some of it happened not far from the sports complex.
There’s also an understanding that while Philadelphia will host a 2026 World Cup quarterfinal as the last of its six tournament games, it’s unlikely to host the U.S. team. The Americans will play the group stage on the West Coast, and if they win their group or finish second, they’d barely cross the Mississippi River.
It remains to be seen if the U.S. men will come to town some other time before the World Cup. (Or the women, for that matter, who haven’t been to Subaru Park in nearly three years and to the Linc in over five.) There aren’t many national team windows left between now and then, even though the tournament is a year and a half away.
But at least Philadelphia is on the national team’s radar. If it stays there, hopefully U.S. Soccer and the Eagles will find a way to bring a different game here at some point.
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