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Five World Cup Angles for the Casual Philadelphia Sports Fan
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The World Cup kicks off in a little less than two weeks and Philadelphia is serving as a host city for the first time.
We’ve got five group stage matches taking place between June 14th and June 27th at Lincoln Financial Field, which will be known as “Philadelphia Stadium” for a few weeks due to FIFA rules prohibiting corporate venue names. We’ll also host a Round of 16 game on the Fourth of July, when the United States of America celebrates its 250th birthday.
If you’re a casual and don’t have strong feelings one way or another towards the tournament, here are some things worth keeping an eye on over the next six weeks:
1) Team USA
Obviously we want to lift the trophy. We’re not going to, but we’re in a winnable group with Paraguay, Australia, and Turkey, and we’re playing on home soil, so this is as good a chance as any to make a run.
We’re led by Hershey native Christian Pulisic, who played youth soccer for PA Classics before joining the Borussia Dortmund youth ranks. There are four Philadelphia Union academy products on the roster in Mark McKenzie, Matt Freese, Brenden Aaronson, and Auston Trusty, and a decent portion of the roster came through MLS before going on to Europe. It’s going to be a good litmus test on American player development and how we now stack up with the rest of the world.
2) local products and local players
In addition to the American guys representing Team USA, the following players are worth following:
- Danley Jean-Jacques: The Philadelphia Union midfielder will start for Haiti, which plays Brazil in South Philly on Juneteenth. It’s a Friday night game and a late start. Should be a banger in the sports complex beforehand.
- Olwethu Makhanya: The Union center half was named to South Africa’s squad. He hasn’t had a great season after a breakout 2025, but it would be good to see him on the field for Bafana Bafana.
- Duke Lacroix: A New Jersey native and University of Pennsylvania alumnus, he plays left back / left wing for Haiti and likely comes off the bench.
- Frantzdy Pierrot: Another Haitian player, Pierrot played his college soccer at Northeastern and Coastal Carolina before beginning his pro career with Reading United in Berks County.
- C.J. Dos Santos: A Philadelphia native who spent some time in the Union’s youth system, the 25-year-old goalkeeper will represent Cape Verde in the tournament. He currently plays for San Diego FC.
- Jamiro Monteiro: He was a starter on the 2020 Union team that won the Supporters’ Shield and was named to Cape Verde’s team.
The Cape Verde guys are in Group H with Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia. They’ll play their games in Atlanta, Miami, and Houston.
3) coast to coast
Elsewhere, we’ve got the Ivory Coast home basing out of Wilmington and Chester, and using the Union’s practice facilities. They play two games at the Linc, one against Ecuador and one against Curacao. They’re in Group E, joined by Germany.
There aren’t any overt U.S. or Philly connections on the Cote d’Ivoire roster, but they have a handful of guys who play in Europe and if you’re a casual fan of the European game, you might recognize Manchester United’s Amad Diallo, former Arsenal striker Nicolas Pepe, or captain Franck Kessie, who played several seasons with AC Milan and Barcelona.
Iraq, meantime, has an assistant coach named Rene Meulensteen, who was once connected to the Philadelphia Union through Nick Sakiewicz and a head coach candidate before Jim Curtin landed the full-time job at the end of the 2014 season. American Jesse Marsch is coaching Canada at the tournament.
4) a moment for urbanism and mass transit
There’s been a lot of hemming and hawing about transportation to and from the various stadiums in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. New Jersey’s struggles have been well documented, with commuter prices reduced from $150 to $98 for a round trip to MetLife. Boston has to run transit out to Gillette, which is 22 miles south in Foxboro.
But Philly is in a great spot. The Broad Street Line drops fans at the doorstep of “Philadelphia Stadium.” And ticket prices haven’t increased at all. In fact, you’ll only need to pay $2.90 to get down there, with return trips totally free thanks to an Airbnb sponsorship.
This is a good proof of concept summer for proponents of Philadelphia urbanism. We haven’t had to charge exorbitant fees or dive into complicated logistics because the sports complex is accessible by mass transit and located within the city proper. And for visitors coming from Europe, this is typically how they get to games. Car culture isn’t a thing over there. You take the London Tube, for instance, pull up at the pub next to the stadium, and then take the Tube home. They don’t drive to games and tailgate, though they’ll get a taste of that assuming the suburbanites drive in and set up in the parking lots further away from the Linc.
Certainly, if this goes well in June, the pro-SEPTA crowd will have plenty of ammunition to argue for increased funding and infrastructural upgrades based around mass transit. We’re at a bellwether moment in the sports complex redevelopment anyway, with the new Stateside Live! opening tonight, and Comcast-Spectacor looking to turn the area into a mixed-use district. So what you see down there at the World Cup games next month can be a blueprint of sorts for urban mass transit, juxtaposed against the experiences that visitors will have in places like Boston, North Jersey, San Francisco, and Kansas City.
5) Lemon Hill and Philadelphia as a host city
Goes without saying, but this is a big summer for Philadelphia to present itself as a top city. Not just the World Cup, but the MLB All-Star Game and Semiquincentennial celebrations to go along with a successful PGA Championship at Aronimink.
The teams playing here, in addition to Ivory Coast, are France, Brazil, Ecuador. Haiti, Iraq, Curacao, Croatia, Ghana, and then whichever squads make the Round of 16 game. Fans are going to be here shooting vlogs, patronizing restaurants, shopping, tweeting – all of that stuff. A lot of people sharing their experience in a new place on various platforms. If they have a good experience here, and speak positively about it, maybe more people come in the future, or we get other big, international events. There are going to be a lot of eyeballs on Philly.
At the end of the day, no one likes us, we don’t care, but this is a good opportunity to present the city to the rest of the world.
And you should take advantage of the free fan festival at Lemon Hill, which will run the entirety of the tournament, all 39 days. Every single game will be broadcasted on a big screen in the outdoor space behind the Art Museum, packed with food trucks and vendors and various hands-on activations as well. Think NFL Draft 2017, if you recall what it was like walking around then and trying to kick field goals and whatnot. Even if you don’t give a shit about soccer, it’s worth visiting the big festival. All you have to do is sign up on the website.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com