As the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada enters its knockout round phase, the co-host United States men’s national team is set to face Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32, with a spot in the last 16 on the line. With the tournament now a few weeks in, BBC Sport’s senior team of correspondents has reflected on shifting perceptions of the U.S. leg of the event, after widespread pre-tournament questioning over whether the competition would gain traction in a country with stacked domestic sports calendars.
Before the tournament kicked off, a raft of concerns hung over the U.S. hosting leg: Would ticket prices price out most fans? Would public enthusiasm fail to materialize in a country where soccer has long ranked below other major sports? Would security fears and political distractions overshadow the build-up? What reporters on the ground witnessed, however, tells a story of slow-burn momentum that grew into widespread, cross-city enthusiasm as the tournament progressed.
Many correspondents shared a distinctly muted first impression, overshadowed by the New York Knicks’ first NBA championship win in 53 years that coincided with the tournament’s opening weeks. John Bennett, a BBC World Service reporter, recalled arriving in New York on the same day as the NBA Finals’ third game, spending his first week surrounded by Knicks fever rather than World Cup excitement. In those early days, the tournament felt like little more than a background event in a city already packed with major happenings. Ian Dennis, senior football reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live, echoed that experience, noting that his pre-tournament stay in Florida felt entirely disconnected from the World Cup, and his arrival in New York found the Knicks’ historic title run dominating local conversation. Even in Los Angeles, thousands of miles from the East Coast, the Knicks run dominated headlines, with minimal visible World Cup promotion beyond a handful of generic banners and billboards, BBC Sport journalist Gary Rose recalled.
That muted opening, however, quickly shifted as the tournament progressed, with diaspora communities, strong host city engagement, and the U.S. national team’s impressive on-pitch run turning casual awareness into widespread excitement. “Slowly but surely you could tell that the World Cup was capturing the imagination in New York,” Bennett said, recalling a packed fan event in Harlem that showcased the huge role diaspora fans would play: fans hailing originally from competing nations, or with family ties to competing teams, turned public spaces across the country into hubs of celebration. Bennett even stumbled upon a group of construction workers and local business people who had stopped outside a Greenwich Village bar to watch the closing minutes of Cape Verde’s dramatic 0-0 draw with Spain – proof that World Cup fever had taken hold.
For Dennis, the turning point came during a trip to Atlanta, where the downtown fan buzz and mingling fans from across the globe finally felt like a traditional World Cup. Liz Conway, a BBC Sport journalist, who entered the tournament cautiously optimistic, said her view has shifted completely. “World Cup fever has well and truly arrived in the United States,” she said, noting she was impressed by vibrant fan zones, friendly volunteer teams, and widespread enthusiasm even among casual fans who do not typically follow soccer. “Even some of the fans I’ve spoken to, who admitted they don’t usually watch football, have been genuinely excited to get behind the World Cup and learn more about the game. It’s been fantastic to see.”
Across other host cities, the story was the same. In Philadelphia, the city fully embraced a nine-day stretch that hosted four matches, with the Rocky statue steps becoming an iconic pre-match gathering spot for visiting fans, and the Lemon Hill fan festival drawing a record U.S.-host crowd of nearly 55,000 fans to watch the USA’s second group match on the big screen. In Seattle, post-match street parties became a regular tradition, with city officials closing downtown streets to make space for singing, dancing and casual street football. In Los Angeles, iconic local spots including Santa Monica Pier, the LA Memorial Coliseum and Union Station were transformed into fan zones, with Mexican American communities turning the city’s streets into celebration hubs after every Mexico national team win.
Correspondents also addressed one of the biggest pre-tournament concerns: empty seats from overpriced tickets. Neil Johnston, who has covered eight matches across five U.S. host cities, noted that every stadium he visited was full, with predictions of widespread empty seats failing to materialize. While some matches lacked the sustained chants and noise of traditional World Cup crowds in other host nations, the overall atmosphere compared favorably to past tournaments held in Brazil, Russia and Qatar, correspondents agreed. Even with some variation across cities – the spread-out geography of Houston made spontaneous street buzz harder to find, for example – the overall trajectory of growing enthusiasm matched predictions that Americans lean into major sporting events once they are underway, rather than leaning into long pre-tournament build-ups.
As the tournament moves into its knockout stages, the USA will look to continue their strong run against Bosnia-Herzegovina, with momentum and home support firmly behind the co-hosts.
