Consider that before we even reached the month of June that the USMNT helped launch two different controversies around them that could have easily been avoided. At the very least they could have easily been mitigated.

At the moment there is constant chatter around manager Mauricio Pochettino and whether or not he is Milan-bound once the tournament is over. To be clear we are all adults and knew that he was not long for this job, but the optics of the situation are horrible. All involved have declared this time as the most important in United States Soccer’s lifetime and to have the figurehead of the operation being seen with a wandering eyes casts doubt.

This doubt came almost immediately after Pochettino upset fans around the country by leaving Diego Luna off of the team’s World Cup roster. Luna has proven his worth and justified a spot on the National Team, but even if you disagree with that you certainly believe that he at least earned the right to be told he wasn’t making it in some manner other than an email. Nevertheless, that is how he (and the others left off) reportedly found out.

Diego spoke to SB Nation a few weeks before the roster announcement and expressed his hope and desire to make the team, something that is all the more unfortunate given what has transpired. His passion for the game of soccer at large is so evident and his latest partner in Head & Shoulders really captures that with how they allow him to express himself on the field.

Head & Shoulders knows that soccer stars can’t be distracted – even in practice – since they need to make every moment count. That’s why they trust Head & Shoulders to help them make a good first impression each time they step on the field, fighting flakes to feel confident to stay focused when the lights are brightest.

It is unfortunate for Diego that he is connected to the national team and what they do (or don’t do) this summer in such an awkward manner. Given how Pochettino went about it with the email, the Milan rumors, and the pressure that USMNT is under as an organization to succeed… any time anything goes wrong in even a remote way this story is going to be brought up.

Consider that before we even reached the month of June that the USMNT helped launch two different controversies around them that could have easily been avoided. At the very least they could have easily been mitigated.

At the moment there is constant chatter around manager Mauricio Pochettino and whether or not he is Milan-bound once the tournament is over. To be clear we are all adults and knew that he was not long for this job, but the optics of the situation are horrible. All involved have declared this time as the most important in United States Soccer’s lifetime and to have the figurehead of the operation being seen with a wandering eyes casts doubt.

This doubt came almost immediately after Pochettino upset fans around the country by leaving Diego Luna off of the team’s World Cup roster. Luna has proven his worth and justified a spot on the National Team, but even if you disagree with that you certainly believe that he at least earned the right to be told he wasn’t making it in some manner other than an email. Nevertheless, that is how he (and the others left off) reportedly found out.

Diego spoke to SB Nation a few weeks before the roster announcement and expressed his hope and desire to make the team, something that is all the more unfortunate given what has transpired. His passion for the game of soccer at large is so evident and his latest partner in Head & Shoulders really captures that with how they allow him to express himself on the field.

Head & Shoulders knows that soccer stars can’t be distracted – even in practice – since they need to make every moment count. That’s why they trust Head & Shoulders to help them make a good first impression each time they step on the field, fighting flakes to feel confident to stay focused when the lights are brightest.

It is unfortunate for Diego that he is connected to the national team and what they do (or don’t do) this summer in such an awkward manner. Given how Pochettino went about it with the email, the Milan rumors, and the pressure that USMNT is under as an organization to succeed… any time anything goes wrong in even a remote way this story is going to be brought up.

It is officially World Cup time in the United States. This should be a moment of joy and excitement. To be clear it is on some level, but there are dark clouds hovering in the national team’s sky.

Consider that before we even reached the month of June that the USMNT helped launch two different controversies around them that could have easily been avoided. At the very least they could have easily been mitigated.

At the moment there is constant chatter around manager Mauricio Pochettino and whether or not he is Milan-bound once the tournament is over. To be clear we are all adults and knew that he was not long for this job, but the optics of the situation are horrible. All involved have declared this time as the most important in United States Soccer’s lifetime and to have the figurehead of the operation being seen with a wandering eyes casts doubt.

This doubt came almost immediately after Pochettino upset fans around the country by leaving Diego Luna off of the team’s World Cup roster. Luna has proven his worth and justified a spot on the National Team, but even if you disagree with that you certainly believe that he at least earned the right to be told he wasn’t making it in some manner other than an email. Nevertheless, that is how he (and the others left off) reportedly found out.

Diego spoke to SB Nation a few weeks before the roster announcement and expressed his hope and desire to make the team, something that is all the more unfortunate given what has transpired. His passion for the game of soccer at large is so evident and his latest partner in Head & Shoulders really captures that with how they allow him to express himself on the field.

Head & Shoulders knows that soccer stars can’t be distracted – even in practice – since they need to make every moment count. That’s why they trust Head & Shoulders to help them make a good first impression each time they step on the field, fighting flakes to feel confident to stay focused when the lights are brightest.

It is unfortunate for Diego that he is connected to the national team and what they do (or don’t do) this summer in such an awkward manner. Given how Pochettino went about it with the email, the Milan rumors, and the pressure that USMNT is under as an organization to succeed… any time anything goes wrong in even a remote way this story is going to be brought up.

Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.

Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.

“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”

Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.

But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”

To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends.

Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.

Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.

“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”

Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.

But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”

To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends.

The history of American soccer has spanned well over 120 years, and to date there hasn’t been many opportunities to look back at that history. With the 2026 World Cup about a month away, we now have a chance to do just that. Yesterday, SB Nation collaborated with Vox Creative and Roku to release Soccer Meets America, a 3-part docuseries that focuses on the rise of soccer in the United States.

Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.

Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.

“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”

Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.

But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”

To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends.