First Touch '26
June 3, 2026 — Newsletter #39
Remembering a Random World Cup Legend Every Week
Andres Iniesta!!!
Headlines:
The USMNT restored confidence with a convincing 3-2 win over Senegal. We’ll cover this victory in depth in our Friday newsletter, but one note of interest:
Manager Mauricio Pochettino used 22 players, subbing in 10 players at half. The big drama before the June 12th opener for the USMNT? The status of star centerback Chris Richards, who did not suit up.
Elsewhere, Mexico defeated Ghana 2-0 and announced a roster featuring Mexican-American, MLS-developed Obed Vargas and Brian Gutierrez. These two players represent the first two American born and raised, MLS developed Mexican-American’s to be named to a Mexico World Cup roster.
Canada also won their first friendly 2-0, against Uzbekistan, but most importantly announced a four year extension of American manager Jesse Marsch. Marsch recently declared this the best Canadian squad ever, which is generally backed up qualitatively and quantitatively.
Off the pitch, perhaps the biggest local drama is focused on SoFi Stadium, where stadium workers have authorized a striker due to insufficient pay from the stadium operators, Legends. SoFi is the host of the first and third USMNT matches.
Internationally, it appears that the Iranian team is rightly cleared to participate, but has shifted their pre-World Cup training to Mexico. Meanwhile, the DR Congo team is trying to navigate a tragic Ebola outbreak in their country and related travel restrictions that led to a friendly against Chile being cancelled in Spain.
Let's Do Some Trivia!
A lot of our focus has of course honed in on our host countries, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
The U.S. will host from the quarters on, playing the role of the primary host. How does that stack up historically in terms of an advantage?
Many will note that the hosting actually has rarely led to a title. France was the first and only host nation to win the World Cup, in 1998. Perhaps the most ignominious defeat in World Cup history was Brazil’s in 2014, 7-1 in front of an expectant home crowd in Belo Horizonte.
However, home advantage was also seemingly an assurance of overperformance until recently. Every host nation made the knockouts until 2010, with South Korea famously stunning in a semi-final run in their 2002 hosting duties. South Africa did seemingly overperform in 2010 as well, and Russia stunned Spain in their 2018 World Cup.
Qatar in 2022? The less said, the better.
Here’s hoping for more South Korea, less South Africa in 2026!
A Thing We're Excited About:
You’ve heard it for decades. Perhaps since the 1970’s. “Soccer is going to be big!”
Amazingly, you probably still hear it today. While report after report notes that soccer is the third biggest sport in the U.S. in fandom, or the second biggest sport amongst fans under-24, the refrain still remains that it’s what may become, rather than what’s now.
This should be it. You’ve probably experienced it the past few days…every app you open is soccer themed, every storefront is covered in soccer gear. Your local bar? It’s a soccer bar now. Your favorite non-soccer podcast? It’s a soccer podcast now. Mediocre football players who don’t know anything about anything? Well, they know nothing about soccer either but that’s what they’ve been paid to talk about for the next few months.
After the final whistle, let us not ever refer to soccer as the sport of the future. It’s here, it has tens of millions of fans, and that means that yes we do deserve for the bar TV to remain on soccer rather than being changed to a senior PGA golf event, thank you.
Our Final Four Predictions:
First of all, It’s Not Coming Home. Sorry lads. Otherwise, here it is:
- France
- Spain
- Norway
- Argentina
Episode 12 of First Touch Weekly is Out Now!
First Touch has announced its 2026 slate of soccer coverage, featuring a daily studio show every morning, live from New York!
Hosted by Susannah Fuller, Matt Doyle, and David Gass alongside a rotating cast of journalists and experts, the show delivers the sharpest coverage of matches and previews of the upcoming day. In the meantime, enjoy our weekly releases of our magazine-style show First Touch Weekly, and the most concise review of the week in soccer news, First Touch Dispatch!
Listen here (Apple) or here (Spotify) or wherever you find your podcasts!
Every World Cup Nation, Previewed!
Over at our website kickbacksoccer.com, we’ve launched a first-of-its-kind team by team preview of every participating World Cup nation!
You can find both written overviews, and special video and podcast primers for every country, all right at your fingertips.
Check it out here and tell your friends!