Weston McKennie is counting down to one sound at the 2026 World Cup: the national anthem before the United States walks out for its first match on home soil in Los Angeles on June 12. The 27-year-old midfielder said that will be the moment that feels most emotional and most full of pride when the tournament opens across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The timing is why McKennie’s comments land now. The World Cup kicks off June 11, and the U.S. follows the next day against Paraguay in Los Angeles, putting him on the edge of one of the biggest stages in the sport just as the tournament begins. He also said he is looking forward to wearing his colorful football boots, a small detail that fits a player who has become one of the more visible faces of the American team.
McKennie called this season of his life challenging and maturing, and said he is trying to get better day by day and year by year on and off the pitch while staying true to his values. He said that approach matters as much as anything he does in a match, because once he starts overthinking, he can lose focus. In his own words, his biggest opponent is probably himself.
That is the part of McKennie’s story that sits behind the celebration. He is preparing for a home World Cup, but he is also managing the pressure that comes with it. The midfielder said the first game on home soil will be an emotional, pride-filled moment, yet he knows the cleanest path to handling it is simple: keep playing, keep enjoying it, and do not let his own mind get in the way.
Family has been central to that approach. McKennie said his biggest supporter is his family in general and his mother, Tina McKennie, who traveled to all his games and once drove him from American football to soccer training and back to American football games and soccer games on the same day. He said his father, John McKennie, taught him that if he is not having fun, there is no point in doing it, but if he starts something, he does not quit until it is finished.
McKennie also tied his football life to work away from it, saying his partnership with Puma felt like a match that was meant to be and that the company supports his nonprofit, Magical Youth Mission. The foundation works with foster children in the U.S. and kids in orphanages across Italy, and he said he has a gala coming up for it that will be the next big thing besides the World Cup.
For McKennie, the tournament is also a memory machine. He said his first World Cup memory was in Germany in 2006, when he was living there because his father was in the military. He remembered walking into McDonald’s and seeing a Michael Ballack poster, and he recalled the year’s defining scenes, from Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt against Italy to Italy lifting the trophy. Nearly two decades later, he is no longer a child watching from abroad. He is the player waiting for the anthem in Los Angeles, with a home crowd, a family history and a June 12 opener that will tell the rest of the world how the United States intends to begin its World Cup.
