标签： North America

In a packed Chicago stadium packed with 63,000 roaring fans this past Saturday, Antonee Robinson unleashed a blistering strike that found the back of Germany’s net, offering a tantalizing preview of what the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) could accomplish when co-hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil. Though the pre-tournament friendly ended in a narrow 2-1 defeat for the Americans, Robinson’s goal showcased an explosive attacking potency that could produce unforgettable tournament moments, while the raucous crowd made clear that American fans are ready to rally behind their side.

Led by star forward Christian “Captain America” Pulisic, ranked top of their group, and managed by elite former European club coach Mauricio Pochettino, expectations are running high for this USMNT squad. For insight into the team’s prospects, BBC Sport spoke to John Harkes, a former USMNT player who featured in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and made history as the first American to compete in England’s Premier League. Harkes argued that the American side has an excellent chance to turn in a strong performance on the global stage this summer.

“I think they’re very talented,” Harkes noted. “But the critical part of any World Cup is that you have to come together as a team, and you need resilience and fight through adversity. Sometimes games don’t go your way. At the end of the day, you just need a little luck.” He pointed out that the majority of this roster currently competes in top European leagues, a depth of experience that will serve the team well—if key players can stay fit. Injuries have plagued the squad in recent warm-up matches, most notably starting defender Chris Richards, who missed the Germany friendly with an ankle injury, making full fitness the most critical prerequisite for success. Harkes also highlighted the electric atmosphere the Chicago crowd created for the friendly, saying the home support could prove transformative: “If that’s something they can embrace in a friendly scrimmage, then I’m really excited.” While Harkes stopped short of predicting an outright tournament win if the US advances past the group stage, he added that “anything is possible from there.”

A closer look at the squad’s core players reveals a balanced mix of established skill and rising form. Christian Pulisic, the 27-year-old AC Milan attacking midfielder, already holds the record as the fastest US player to hit 50 goal contributions across 86 international caps. A constant attacking threat with elite ball control, this tournament is widely viewed as a defining moment for Pulisic, who will look to cement his national team legacy—though he enters the World Cup with a recent goal drought that has put him under mild pressure. Up front, 24-year-old AS Monaco striker Folarin Balogun turned in a blistering 2025-26 club season, netting 11 goals in 14 appearances to emerge as one of Europe’s most in-form center forwards. The USMNT will look to him to add the cutting edge in the final third that the team lacked during its 2022 Qatar run. In midfield, 27-year-old Juventus star Weston McKennie brings relentless tenacity and physicality, while 27-year-old AFC Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams—who captained the US in Qatar at just 23 years old—anchors the defense, shutting down opposing attacking threats quickly. At 38, veteran defender Tim Ream, captain of this 2026 squad and a mainstay with 82 caps, brings decades of experience from nine seasons in England’s Premier League and currently plays for MLS side Charlotte FC; his calm distribution under pressure makes him a critical locker room and on-pitch leader.

Home advantage stands as one of the USMNT’s biggest assets heading into the tournament. While the United States has not historically been classified as a top soccer nation, the world’s biggest sporting event is already building momentum among American fans and media, and a strong opening to the tournament could supercharge that support. The roster itself is dynamic and versatile, with incisive wing-backs Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest adding width to attacks, and Balogun filling a consistent striker gap the team has faced for years.

Securing Pochettino as head coach in 2024 was widely considered a major coup for US Soccer. This marks the Argentine manager’s first international posting, and he is eager to rebuild his reputation as an elite coach after a mixed run of results at top European clubs including Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. Harkes defended Pochettino’s leadership, saying: “Pochettino is a good manager, even though this is the first time he’s managing a national team. I feel like his expectations and core values of what he wants has finally gotten this team on the right track.” Compared to past USMNT World Cup rosters, Harkes noted that the 2026 squad benefits from better resources and far more consistent high-level experience earned through the grind of European club competition.

The US enters the tournament ranked 16th in FIFA’s men’s world rankings, and tops a group that includes 22nd-ranked Turkey, 27th-ranked Australia, and 40th-ranked Paraguay. Harkes acknowledged the quality of the group’s opposition: “Paraguay is a great side. Australia as well, and Turkey is a strong, underrated side. They know how to fight and compete.” As co-hosts alongside Canada and Mexico, the US automatically qualified for the 2026 tournament, extending a recent run of consistent qualification: the US has missed just one World Cup since 1990, falling in 2018 to a crushing late qualifying defeat to Trinidad and Tobago. At the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the US advanced to the round of 16, matching the result it achieved the last time it hosted the tournament in 1994. The USMNT’s best ever World Cup performance remains its third-place finish at the inaugural tournament in 1930, while the US women’s national team has claimed four World Cup titles to date.

Below is the full confirmed 2026 USMNT roster, with each player’s current club listed:
– **Goalkeepers**: Chris Brady (Chicago Fire), Matt Freese (New York City), Matt Turner (New England Revolution)
– **Defenders**: Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew), Sergiño Dest (PSV Eindhoven), Alex Freeman (Villarreal), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (Cincinnati), Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach), Auston Trusty (Celtic)
– **Midfielders**: Tyler Adams (AFC Bournemouth), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Gio Reyna (Borussia Monchengladbach), Malik Tillman (Bayer Leverkusen), Tim Weah (Marseille), Alejandro Zendejas (Club America)
– **Forwards**: Folarin Balogun (AS Monaco), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven), Haji Wright (Coventry City)

As the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada draws near, England national team midfielder Declan Rice has made headlines for an unexpected pre-tournament mishap: a painful sunburn that left him bright red in official photos, drawing playful teasing from fans online and a stern telling-off from his own mother.\n\nThe Arsenal star, who arrived in North America alongside his teammates several days early to acclimatize to the region’s extreme summer heat, opened up about the viral incident in an interview with the BBC. Looking back at the pre-tournament photoshoot that showed his beetroot-red complexion and obvious watch strap tan line, Rice laughed off the moment, saying, “I think everyone’s seen them photos… I was bright red at that photoshoot, my mum was killing me.” When asked when he finally felt adjusted to the local climate, he joked the turning point was simple: “when the sunburn went”.\n\nExtreme heat has been a top talking point ahead of this World Cup, which kicks off officially on Thursday. The climate challenge is being driven in large part by El Niño, the recurring weather pattern that has already pushed summer temperatures across North America to unexpected highs. In Arlington, Texas, where England will kick off their World Cup campaign against Croatia on June 17, local temperatures hit 36 degrees Celsius this week, with forecasts calling for even more scorching conditions as the tournament unfolds.\n\nThe unstable weather tied to El Niño has also brought erratic conditions beyond just sustained heat. England’s final pre-tournament warm-up match against Costa Rica in Dallas on Wednesday was delayed by severe thunderstorms, a disruption that meteorologists warn could become common throughout the tournament: the intense summer heat generates massive, fast-forming storm systems that can throw match schedules off track.\n\nRice admitted that the sudden shift from England’s variable mild weather to North America’s consistent extreme heat took a major physical toll at first. “Honestly, the first day was tough, just getting used to that heat – when you come from England and it’s hot, cold, all different types of weather,” he explained. “Then you come here and, regardless of whether it’s hot or cold, it’s 30C and it really does hit you in the face when you’re running.”\n\nTo help players cope with the dangerous conditions, FIFA has implemented mandatory hydration breaks at the midpoint of each half of every World Cup match. For the England squad, heat acclimatization has been a core part of their preparation for months, including specialized training sessions in temperature-controlled heated tents in Spain and practice matches in the sweltering heat of Kansas, where the team will remain based throughout the tournament.\n\nEngland manager Thomas Tuchel has been open about the challenge, saying he expects his players to “suffer” in the grueling conditions as they chase the nation’s first World Cup title since their historic 1966 win. The heat challenge is not limited to U.S. host cities, either: co-hosts Mexico and Canada have also recorded temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius in recent days, meaning teams across all groups will have to adapt to the extreme climate to perform at their best.

In a landmark deal that reshapes the ceiling of professional athlete contracts in North American sports, star Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is poised to make history as the first player in National Football League history to sign a contract with total guaranteed earnings exceeding half a billion dollars.

The 30-year-old field general, who has already cemented his legacy by steering the Chiefs to five Super Bowl berths and three championship titles, has agreed to a two-year contract extension that pushes his total guaranteed compensation to $504.75 million. The new deal extends his tenure with the Kansas City franchise through the 2033 season, locking the generational talent into the organization for the rest of his professional playing career.

Mahomes’ prior contract, a 10-year agreement signed in 2020, carried a base value of $450 million, with up to an extra $50 million available through performance-based incentives. Under the restructured extension, the average annual value of Mahomes’ contract will hit $64 million starting in 2027. That figure surpasses the previous NFL record for average annual pay, the $60 million per season deal Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott signed in 2024 that made him the league’s highest-paid player at the time.

For Mahomes, the extension cements his lifelong connection to the only NFL franchise he has ever played for. “I’m just so excited to be here for life and to be a part of Chiefs kingdom for even longer,” he said in a statement following the announcement. “We have so much more to do. Let’s go out and do it. Let’s go win some more.”

The new deal comes nearly seven months after Mahomes suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee during the 2025 regular season. That injury cut the Chiefs’ campaign short and kept the team out of the NFL playoffs for the first time since 2014, ending a historic run of sustained success that Mahomes led.

That run of dominance included Super Bowl victories in 2020, 2023, and 2024. The Chiefs came within one game of becoming the first NFL franchise to win three consecutive Super Bowl titles, falling to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2025 championship game.

Chiefs chief executive Clark Hunt framed the extension as a no-brainer for the organization, praising Mahomes both for his on-field dominance and off-field impact. “Over the past decade Patrick has become one of the most iconic, beloved sports figures of all-time,” Hunt said. “He has helped lead our franchise to five Super Bowl appearances and three championships, he has been instrumental in shaping the Chiefs brand and putting Kansas City on the world stage, and on top of it all he has been an outstanding role model in the community.”

Hunt added, “Patrick is a generational talent and an elite human being, and I’m so excited he will continue to lead our team into the future.”

In a stunning upset that has sent shockwaves through the global track and field community, 20-year-old Ja’Kobe Tharp, a junior sprinter-hurdler at Auburn University, has broken the long-standing men’s 110m hurdles world record during the preliminary heats of the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, on Wednesday.

Tharp crossed the finish line with an official time of 12.75 seconds, beating the previous world record of 12.80 seconds set by fellow American athlete Aries Merritt back in September 2012 at the Brussels Diamond League. The new mark also improves the long-standing collegiate record of 12.98 seconds, which was set by reigning Olympic champion Grant Holloway back in 2019.

This historic achievement marks the first time in half a century that an athlete has set a new senior world record at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, a testament to the rising talent and competitive depth of collegiate track and field in the United States.

Coming into the national meet, Tharp held a personal best time of 13.01 seconds. While he acknowledged he had prepared extensively and was confident he would lower his own best mark, he never anticipated cutting more than a quarter of a second off his previous top time to claim the world record.

“I knew I was ready to drop something crazy,” Tharp told reporters after his historic run. “I knew what I was capable of, but I didn’t know about that. It wasn’t on my bingo chart for this meet, not at all. I’m speechless, seriously.”

Tharp, who hails from Auburn, Alabama, will now advance to the 110m hurdles final, scheduled to take place this Friday. He is gunning for his second consecutive NCAA individual title, a feat no hurdler has achieved since Grant Holloway claimed back-to-back titles in 2019.

On a feverish Wednesday night at Manhattan’s iconic Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks etched their name into NBA history, pulling off the largest comeback in Finals history to secure a 107-106 one-point win over the San Antonio Spurs, with the game-winning basket dropping with just 1.2 seconds left on the clock.

The matchup marked Game 4 of the best-of-seven championship series, and carried extra weight for New York fans: it was the first time the franchise had hosted a Finals game in 27 years, having last reached the league’s final stage back in 1999, when they fell to the very same Spurs side they faced this week.

London-born forward OG Anunoby, who joined the Knicks roster in January 2024, delivered the iconic game-winning three-pointer that sent the sold-out crowd into hysterics. As fans flooded the stands with chants of “O-G! O-G!”, A-list spectators dotted the courtside, including pop superstar Taylor Swift – who sported a playful “Stevie Knicks” shirt that blended the team’s name with Fleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks – Academy Award-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet, iconic New York filmmaker Spike Lee, late-night host Jimmy Fallon, comedy star Ben Stiller, and pop trio Haim members Este and Alana Haim. Post-game, Swift was spotted jumping for joy while exiting the arena, even stopping for a playful twirl with a member of the Knicks City Dancers.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani captured the collective shock and joy of the city in a viral all-caps post on X, writing simply: “SPEECHLESS.” Knicks head coach Mike Brown echoed that awe in post-game comments, calling Anunoby’s clutch shot “the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball” adding, “It was just unbelievable.”

The 2025-26 season has already represented a stunning reversal of fortune for a franchise that has spent decades mired in mediocrity after its 1999 Finals appearance. Long-suffering New Yorkers have poured into city streets to celebrate every playoff win, turning the five boroughs into a sea of orange and blue. City landmarks have embraced the moment: the Empire State Building has been lit up in the team’s signature colors every game night, and even the iconic marble lions outside the New York Public Library’s Fifth Avenue branch have gotten in on the Knicks fever.

“It’s electric out there, you can feel the energy everywhere you go,” one local fan told the BBC earlier this week. Sol, a 31-year-old New York resident, added, “I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like this before because in 1999 I was 4 years old. I’m just trying to soak it all in.” No Knicks fan has watched their team lift the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy in their lifetime – the franchise’s last championship win came all the way back in 1973.

With Wednesday’s win, the Knicks now hold a commanding 3-1 series lead, needing just one more victory to claim the historic title. Their first chance to close out the series will come this coming Saturday, when the team travels to San Antonio for Game 5. While the path to the trophy now runs through the Spurs’ home court, and San Antonio remains capable of pulling off a comeback of its own – the franchise could still claim the title if it wins three straight games – the night belonged to New York, in what will go down as one of the most memorable games in NBA history.