03 Sep 2025

First Touch '26

A fan of Kickback Soccer Media? Share Kickback Minutes with a soccer-loving friend, family member, or perhaps even a frenemy.

Remembering a Random World Cup Legend:

2002 Senegal star El Hadji Diouf. The streets will never forget.

Headlines:

The big news of the week comes from off-the-pitch, where the end of the European transfer window featured major prospective World Cup stars making big moves. The lead story is Swedish superstar Aleksander Isak breaking the Premier League transfer record, and setting off dominoes culminating in Newcastle United big move for DR Congo’s Yoane Wissa. Elsewhere, Italy’s star netminder Gianluigi Donnarumma moved to Manchester City, Senegal’s Nicolas Jackson moved to Bayern Munich, and American midfielder Yunus Musah completed his move to Serie A’s Atalanta.

The U.S Men’s National Team has a lot of work to do. Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino claims to still have “60 to 65” options he needs to whittle down to 26 in time for the World Cup, and still needs to find the quality that eluded them in fourth place and second place finishes in the Nations League and Gold Cup Finals, respectively. Some good news? Monaco striker Folarin Balogun has recovered from injury and been added to the squad after a lengthy absence.

A Politico feature highlights the growing complications U.S.-based Host City Committees are facing in their attempts to fund all of the costs and events required by FIFA. A major reason? FIFA has limited the amount of commercial inventory provided to the Host Cities to offset their expenses. Less than a year out from the World Cup, the fight is still on over who, exactly, is going to profit from it.

World Cup Tickets Update:

Each week First Touch ‘26 will provide an update on the best way to purchase tickets to the 2026 World Cup.

We’re exactly one week away from your first chance to purchase regular access tickets (e.g., not the five-figure hospitality packages previously offered).

On September 10th, FIFA will open the Visa presale lottery. It will run through September 19th, and if you have a Visa card of any kind…good news! You’re eligible to enter! Create a FIFA ID at fifa.com and login at any point during that window to enter the random lottery. If selected, you’ll receive an email some time no earlier than September 30th.

Not a Visa cardholder, or miss out on the lottery? Don’t shoot the messenger, but…you’re going to have to wait for the resale portal to open at a later date.

Matches to Watch This Week:

Venezuela vs. Colombia (Tuesday, September 9th, 7:30 PM ET): The bordering nations with intertwined histories face off in a battle for the last spot in CONMEBOL qualifying. While Colombia may be able to clinch qualification in advance, any dropped points against Bolivia could mean everything is on the line for the last CONMEBOL qualifying matchday.

Israel vs. Italy (Monday, September 8th, 2:45 PM ET): Is it…is it really happening again? Italy faces a potential THIRD missed World Cup in a row. Norway seems poised to run away with the group, and a loss from Italy against Israel could see the four time World Cup winners on the outside looking in yet again.

South Africa vs. Nigeria (Tuesday, September 9th, 12:00 PM ET): The Nigerian Super Eagles are on the ropes in Africa, but face second place Rwanda and then group leaders South Africa this window. South Africa, conversely, may surprisingly clinch qualification with a home victory.

U.S. vs. South Korea (September 6th, 5:00 PM ET) and U.S. vs. Japan (September 9th, 7:30): We know they’re friendlies, but there’s only a handful of matches left before the biggest tournament in the USMNT’s history and every match counts. South Korea and Japan both represent quality competition, and entertaining foils to assess Pochettino’s progress.

Many know French striker Just Fontaine for his incredible exploits at the 1958 World Cup, where he bagged 13 goals— that’s a record that still easily stands today as the most ever scored at a single World Cup.

Less known? Just actually grew up in Morocco, where he began his career starring for his local side USM Casablanca, some 70 years before Morocco became the first African nation to reach a World Cup semifinal.

Cheers, Just!

Host City Preparations:

Get ready for some angry sports radio callers, ‘cause the World Cup is going to make other sports teams adapt their schedule. This report from Seattle highlights issues for the Mariners, but baseball teams around the country playing next to World Cup venues are having to adapt.

The World Cup infrastructure investments have started, and comms teams will be active claiming victories. Here’s one from Houston, where Chron reports that $100m in investments in hotels are being driven by World Cup demand.

Boston is bracing for traffic, and we’re bracing for reports on the insane amount of traffic people are going to face next summer. Shout out to trains.

A Thing We Are Excited About:

A July 4th match in Philadelphia on the 250th anniversary of American independence!

Level Up:

Each week Kickback approves the leveling up of a player who simply has taken that crucial leap with their game.

This week, we highlight Senegal’s midfield engine and Monaco star, Lamine Camara. The two-time young African footballer of the year is the rare blend of an insatiable ball winner with a tempo-dictating central midfielder who excels with his final ball. With two assists in first three matches with Monaco this season, he’s proving he’s only getting better.

Camara and Senegal face two pivotal matches to conclude qualifying, facing the two opponents also atop their group, DR Congo and Sudan. If Senegal qualifies for the World Cup, it’ll be because Lamine Camara pulled the strings to get them there.

Allocate your points wisely, Lamine.

USMNT Player of the Week:

USMNT striker Josh Sargent is one of the hottest goalscorers on the planet, burying five goals in his first four matches of the season for Norwich City.

Many expected Sargent to parlay his red-hot form into a major move, but Sargent has opted to stay to prepare for the World Cup.

While Sargent has been an incredibly prolific scorer for Norwich City (when healthy), he’ll hope to finally transfer his club form to country and break out of a scoring draught approaching six years.

Qualified Teams (so far):

Here are the countries who have booked their spot at the final tournament, so far!

U.S.A, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Australia, New Zealand

Also 0n First Touch:

It’s Kickback Committee! It’s Soccerwise! It’s a combination Kickback Committee and Soccerwise episode, preparing you for the USMNT friendlies with our friends Matt Doyle and Jillian Sakovits!

September 3, 2025 — Newsletter #2