NBC News says the 2026 World Cup is a little more than a month away from starting, and it is opening its countdown with Weston McKennie, the U.S. men’s national team midfielder who has spent much of his career moving through Europe’s biggest leagues. The tournament will be played on American soil for the first time in more than three decades.
McKennie, 27, made his Bundesliga debut for Schalke at 17, joined Juventus in Italy’s Serie A by 21 and later became the first American ever to play for the club. He also had a stint at Leeds in the English Premier League at 23 and has spent the last four seasons back at Juventus, where he has scored 11 Champions League goals. NBC News said it will count down 26 players to watch over the next several weeks.
The focus on McKennie lands as the U.S. men again try to reset expectations at a World Cup stage that has been uneven for them. Since finishing third in 1930, the program has never placed better than eighth, and at the 2022 World Cup it managed just three goals in four matches. That history gives the countdown more weight than a standard pre-tournament profile series: this team is not just arriving at a major event, it is trying to show that the next home World Cup can mean more than nostalgia.
There is still a gap between promise and proof. McKennie has become one of the most recognizable Americans in Europe, but the U.S. men have repeatedly struggled to turn individual pedigree into results when the World Cup begins. NBC News is treating the calendar itself as the story now, and the closer the start date gets, the more the question shifts from who to watch to whether this group can deliver when the tournament finally kicks off.
