Wonderful Soccer Before the World Cup
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Support The Best Soccer Tournament in the USA
3/17-3/19 and 3/31-4/1
The Intercontinental Playoffs, the amuse-bouche for the World Cup
3/31 at 3pm ET
Well, if you’re like me, you’ve gotten your rejection emails for the Random Selection Draw, and now are just gonna wait for resellers and speculators to realize that an increase in meaningless group stage games, decreased international tourists, economic instability, and extremely high prices, will inevitably lead to less demand at these current resale prices. Besides I’d much rather go to fan fests and cool watch parties for $10 than pay those ticket prices.
Fan Festival at the beautiful (though inconvenient) Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ
They only have tickets available for a few of the early matches right now, but I highly recommend grabbing some if it’s convenient for you. USA v. Paraguay on a Friday night will be fun, Brazil v. Morocco on a Saturday should be great too.
As of yesterday, they have just cancelled this. They cite a few reasons as to why, but we can infer the true reason from this.
A local public park during peak usage for around a month became a ticketed “private” event space was difficult for local politicians to sell to their constituents. I suppose this could have been easily rectified with just free tickets for supporters and a designed way to allow people to use it not on matchdays.
The logistics to move people to a park that isn’t designed to handle that size is expensive. Getting there from New York would likely take at least an hour via public transit. Requiring a subway, PATH train, and a trip on the Hudson Bergen Light Rail tram, which is definitely not a high capacity or frequency solution. Or a ferry, which again, isn’t a high capacity option.
NJ political officials would also have to contend with the fact that they’re spending on event and the majority of tourist attendees would actually just be coming from New York, and thereby be boosting hospitality economies in the other state. I do agree with this perspective, and the correct solution would be for New York to host it on their dime. Perhaps Zohran will find a way to do something in Central Park, Prospect Park, Governor’s Island, or somewhere else in the city. Do more public events!
New governor for New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill, likely wanted to redistribute funds from her predecessor’s (Phil Murphy) “vanity” project and she gets to send money now for smaller local events throughout the region.
They thought that they could offset the expenses with ticket sales, but combined with the fact that fan fests are typically free at these types of tournaments, they clearly overestimated their sales forecast, and even if they haven’t outright said it, they must have had startling low presales and realized they weren’t going to recoup enough of the costs. All of these excuses are just avoiding the clear admission that people are not signing up for this event. While it’s probably too inconvenient for most people and too expensive to commit to, the biggest concern must be that there is simply not as much demand for everything around being at the actual match. It’s highly possible that fan fest demand is generally much more casual and last minute. International travelers are probably more focused on getting tickets to matches than figuring out these extra events. And locals probably figure they don’t need to rush for tickets at this stage. Get a sense to see if it’s popular with other fans first.
Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Billie Jean King US Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens is one of my favorite stadiums, and they’ll be hosting matches too. No tickets are available yet, but it should be cool, and if I can snag tickets for the final, that’s where I’ll be. Hopefully this won’t be cancelled. I think it’s a wonderful idea and I can’t wait to attend.
We have 4+ months before the World Cup starts, and there will be plenty of soccer to be played before then. I want to highlight two competitions that you should find some way to watch and particularly in the case of the first, to support.
The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup
This tournament is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States. Founded in 1914, it is a single-elimination knockout tournament that crowns the national club champion of American soccer. Its defining feature is its format: it is the only competition in the U.S. where amateur teams have the opportunity to play against professionals, across any of the major sports.
The 2026 edition involves 80 teams, starting on March 17th and culminating in a final on October 21st where the winner earns $600,000. There’s a complicated mess of qualification and tournament structure that I won’t bore you with, but all you need to know is:
That 32 of the teams are technically considered amateurs. They qualify through a myriad of options, but here are some of the participants. This includes teams like:
El Farolito, a team started by a local chain of Mexican restaurants in San Francisco.
Vermont Green FC, a team that somehow sells out their 2,500 capacity stadium consistently, and is heavily focused sustainability and progressive values.
There are fifteen leagues technically represented. Ranging from Major League Soccer and United Soccer Leagues, all the way to incredibly local representation like the Colorado Premier League and Houston Football Association. This sport just has such depth, it’s incredible.
It’s a single elimination tournament, so games get feisty and Cinderella stories are abundant.
I highly recommend that you go attend matches, especially in the first and second rounds, where they’ll be played in high school and collegiate stadia. Tickets will cost around $0-$20. Concessions are limited, and depending on the venue, you can just bring in your own. When you talk about the grassroots nature of sports, these amateur / minor league teams and their supporters are just incredible. There are basically no replays, the refereeing is suspect, and the quality wanting, but the passion and effort is undeniable. These guys aren’t here for a big paycheck, they’re here for the love of the game and for the hope of a dream.
This fan led website is just the best resource for everything related to the tournament, arguably better than the official website: 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup schedule, results
So hold these dates, and check out the schedule, and maybe there will be a local match you can attend. This competition needs attendance and support to survive. If you can’t, most of the games are live on YouTube (for free), so throw them on and give it another viewer.
First Round
March 17 - March 19
For New Yorkers:
FC Motown vs. Hartford Athletic 3/18 @19:00 @Lubetkin Field (NJIT), Newark, NJ
SC Vistula Garfield vs. One Knoxville SC 3/18 @19:30 Garfield HS; Garfield, NJ
Westchester SC vs. NY Renegades FC 3/19 @19:30 @Mount Vernon Memorial Field, Mount Vernon, NY
Second Round
March 31 - April 1
Round of 32
April 14 - April 15
Round of 16
April 28 - April 29
Quarterfinals
May 19 - May 20
Semifinals
September 15 - September 16
Final
October 21
It’s basically always a weeknight, and the first rounds can certainly be cold. In my experience they’re great excuses to take public transportation to the random places around the metropolitan area. The past three matches have been such adventures, seeing teams like FC Motown, Hudson Valley Hammers, and Colorado Springs Switchbacks.
Taking Metro North to a gorgeous field overlooking the Hudson at the University of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx.
Taking multiple buses to deep Queens to St. John’s University and trying delicious oxtail mac and cheese sandwiches nearby.
Taking New Jersey Transit to a surprisingly beautiful terra cotta clad Montclair State University and bringing a 12 pack of White Claws and drinking them in the snow flurries.
The Intercontinental Playoffs
There are still 6 spots out there for teams to qualify for the World Cup and they’ll be going down 3/26-3/31.
4 from Europe and 2 from the Rest of the World.
Basically in your calendar hold March 31st at 3pm-5pm.
Europe
Only one team from each of those sets of four will make it in. It’ll be really hard for any of them to get through. March 31st are those final matches, and they should be excellent football. I highly recommend turning those on.
Path A
Italy is the heavily favored and Northern Ireland is the huge underdog. Italy only lost to Norway in qualifications (who went perfect).
Path B
This group is a tossup, with Poland the slightest of favorites, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukraine took it as well. Sweden is a high potential team, but imbalanced and was just playing really poorly for qualifications. They did just get a new coach to give this mini tournament a shot. Albania are the underdogs.
Path C
Turkey is the favorite, but Slovakia is close behind. Not looking likely for Kosovo or Romania.
Path D
Denmark is the favorite here, but Czech and Ireland aren’t too far behind. Ireland has had a legendary qualification run so far and it would be incredible if they could add to that story.
Rest of the World
Only two slots and the favorites are the ones with the higher seed, and only have to win the one game.
Path 1
Democratic Republic of Congo is favored over New Caledonia and Jamaica, however there is an ongoing legal dispute. FIFA is deciding a verdict. The long story short is Nigeria claims that DRC played 6-9 dual citizens who aren’t technically dual citizens because Congolese law doesn’t recognize it. So, if FIFA were to rule for Nigeria, they would leapfrog them, and take their spot here. I’m partial to Nigeria, because I think they would be a much more fun team at the World Cup, but it’s also a pretty “sore loser” move to try and invalidate their opponents. Kalshi seems to believe that the DRC will be removed… but it’s a pretty low volume, so take that for what you will.
Path 2
Here we have Bolivia v. Suriname with the winner playing Iraq. Bolivia is a slight favorite over Suriname, but both will have an uphill battle against Iraq.