First Touch '26
October 1, 2025 — Newsletter #6
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Remembering a Random World Cup Legend:
Enner Valencia, Ecuador, 2014, 2022, and maybe 2026??
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.
Check your email! Check your spam!! Did you receive an email from FIFA stating that you’d been awarded a time slot to purchase tickets? If so, congratulations! Make sure you click through and check out your time slot, and don’t miss it.
Are you like the rest of us losers, hitting refresh? Well buddy, time to abandon all hope. FIFA announced that losers won’t receive emails until all the winners are set, so that’s it for you in this round.
We here at First Touch are here for you, and have a few options:
- U.S. Soccer Insiders lottery. Sign up for the Insider program at ussoccer.com
- FIFA lottery round two. This starts October 27th.
- FIFA resale platform.This should launch Thursday, October 2nd.
- The MyVerizon app. Verizon has announced that they will begin giving away tickets to customers starting 9 a.m. ET Thursday, October 7th, on the MyVerizon app.
We’ll keep you posted on more ways to find tickets as they arise!
Headlines From the Pitch:
The U.S. Under-20’s dropped nine (9!) goals on New Caledonia on Monday, with captain Benjamin Cremaschi leading the way with a first-half hattrick. The opposition Monday was light, but we’ll learn a lot more on Thursday when the U.S. faces group favorites France.
Uzbekistan seem dead set on making a splash with their manager hire. They’ve moved on from World Cup winner Joachim Low to…World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro? We don’t know if it’s a good hire, but we’re totally here for this.
A massive blow was dealt to Bafana Bafana as South Africa was docked three points for fielding an ineligible player versus Lesotho, drawing them back level in Benin. The change brings renewed life to Nigeria, who now are within three points of the co-leaders.
Headlines From the Pitch:
We got 2026 mascots, folks, and boy do we love mascots here at First Touch headquarters. That’s because we actually like fun. Do you not like fun? C’mon, check it out:
We can’t avoid 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with this World Cup, and Donald Trump wouldn’t have it any other way. This week, the President has jumped in to thwart a UEFA move to disqualify Israel, and is actively intervening around his interests regarding Russia, Iran, and Brazil.
Trump’s big news this week came in his statements declaring that he would look to move World Cup matches from left-leaning and Democrat-run cities. It is unlikely the President is able to do so, but it’s also unlikely that this is the last time we hear about this.
We got a kit leak! In fact, it’s a leak of potentially U.S. Soccer’s first ever “lifestyle kit,” a kit sold to fans but not worn on the pitch. We love the idea! We’ll let you decide on whether you like the kit:
Newsletter Halftime: Let's Do Some World Cup Trivia!
Let’s talk more about World Cup mascots, and the first ever World Cup mascot…World Cup Willie!!!
Debuted at the England hosted 1966 World Cup, “World Cup Willie” was designed by children’s book illustrator Reg Hoye, and even featured his own song!
For better or worse, we don’t know if we’ll get mascot branded cigars in 2026.
A Thing We're Excited About:
Getting out of work!
Maybe you’re sneaking out to go to the bar, or perhaps your company sets up TV’s in a common area. Either way, productivity is screeching to a halt in the summer of 2026!
Go ahead and make sure you have all your projects ending by May, and move your recurring meetings to the morning. Find a few work friends and put a bunch of 1v1’s on the calendar. Start working now on not working next summer.
Level Up:
Each week Kickback approves the leveling up of a player who has taken that crucial leap with their game.
The youngest ever player to suit up for Argentina. The youngest ever player to start for Real Madrid at the Champions League. Argentina’s Franco Mastantuono is leveling up in a bit way in 2025.
The 18-year-old sealed a massive transfer from River Plate this summer, and seemed slated to spend the next year behind the superstars in front of him for club and country. Mastantuono quickly won over his manager Xabi Alonso, though, and has displaced superstars like Rodrygo and even Vinicius Junior to win minutes.
With world-class dribbling and ball control, and the creative spirit of the legendary Argentine playmakers who’ve preceded him, Mastantuono has burst on to the scene and promised a potential Messi understudy and heir to pair with the GOAT in 2026.
Allocate your points wisely, Franco.
USMNT Player of the Week:
Just know it should be Christian Pulisic again, but at this rate it’d be him every week so let’s find someone else, shall we?
Ok, ok…how about Lyon’s Tanner Tessman! The pride of Alabama and the Clemson-recruited godson of Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is showing he chose the right football. Tessman has two goals in his past three matches from his deep-lying midfield position with Lyon. All three matches were wins, and each a shutout.
The former FC Dallas homegrown belies his technical skill with his superior size, and possesses elite range-of-passing from his midfield position. Still in the development phase of the game, Tessman has shown greater tactical understanding and dual winning capability this season, assuredly putting the new Lyon star back on the USMNT radar.
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, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Morocco, Tunisia