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Landon Donovan, the former joint all-time leading goal scorer for the US men’s national team, is making the media rounds with a simple message: don’t waste this. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is being co-hosted on American soil, and Donovan believes the USMNT has the ingredients to turn home-field advantage into something the country hasn’t seen in over three decades.
The last time the US hosted a World Cup was 1994. That tournament filled stadiums, surprised skeptics, and gave American soccer a jolt of legitimacy. Donovan wants the 2026 edition to do far more than that.
Home crowd, home rules
In various interviews and podcast appearances conducted between May and June 2026, Donovan has been vocal about the USMNT’s favorable position heading into the tournament. His core argument is straightforward: if the team starts strong in group play, feeds off the energy of a home crowd, and builds early momentum, they can “compete with anybody.”
Donovan’s point is that the USMNT needs to treat this as a once-in-a-generation window, not just another tournament cycle. Finishing first in the group, rather than scraping through as a second-place qualifier, would set up a more favorable bracket path.
The grassroots play
Donovan’s advocacy extends beyond the pitch itself. On his podcast “Unfiltered Soccer,” he has been discussing what the 2026 World Cup could mean for the future of American soccer at the grassroots level.
The 1994 World Cup directly catalyzed the creation of Major League Soccer. Before that tournament, professional outdoor soccer in the US was essentially dead. The event proved that Americans would show up, pay attention, and care deeply about the sport when given a reason to. MLS launched two years later.
The preparation is already underway. USMNT training camps began in early June 2026, with the coaching staff working to integrate players returning from their European club seasons into the national team’s system.
What this means beyond the pitch
For anyone watching this from the sports business or entertainment investment angle, the 2026 World Cup represents one of the largest sporting events ever staged. The expanded format, with 48 teams instead of the traditional 32, means more matches, more host cities, and more revenue. The co-hosting arrangement spreads games across the US, Canada, and Mexico, but the US is hosting the majority of fixtures, including the knockout rounds and the final.
Donovan understands this calculus intuitively. He lived through 2002, when the US reached the quarterfinals in South Korea and Japan, and he saw what that run did for the sport’s visibility domestically. He also experienced the heartbreak of being left off the 2014 World Cup roster, watching from the outside as an opportunity slipped away.
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