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IRVINE, Calif. — Great Park, where the U.S. men’s national team has established its World Cup base camp, is the former site of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, which was a military training hub for pilots, aircrews and ground personnel during World War II. Since then, the more than 1,300-acre property has been transformed into a sprawling public sports and recreation complex. In 2017, the city opened Great Park Championship Soccer Stadium, where the Americans will be training every day for the next several weeks. Monday, the team was welcomed by 5,500 devoted fans who flocked to the stadium for practice. All World Cup teams are required to conduct one public event, and U.S. Soccer said it received 32,000 registration applicants but had to cap the attendance. It was a festive start to the week ahead of the Americans’ World Cup opener vs. Paraguay on Friday at Los Angeles Stadium (9 p.m. ET on FOX) located a bit more than 40 miles from this temporary home. “Once a place where Americans trained to defend our nation, this is now a place where Americans train to represent the United States of America,” Larry Agran, the mayor of Irvine, told the buzzing crowd anxious to see their favorite players. U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino also addressed supporters and gave somewhat of a motivational pregame speech. “The most important thing is you feel proud about your team,” Pochettino said while holding a microphone and pacing the field. “One thing is for sure: we are going to give everything to create good memories with you, for you to feel proud of your team.” The moment this country has been waiting for is finally here as the largest World Cup in history – a 48-team tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico – begins later this week. Half of the USA’s squad played in the World Cup four years ago in Qatar, so they are familiar with soccer’s grandest stage. But as captain Tim Ream told a room full of reporters before Monday’s training, this is new territory for everybody. “It’s not our first rodeo, but it’s the first one on home soil, so it kind of is our first rodeo in a way,” Ream explained. “It’s exciting. I’m old enough to remember bits and pieces from 1994 [World Cup]. I’ve tried to tell guys and convey the message in the media that it’s a once-in-a-career opportunity. With that comes more expectation and more pressure, but at the same time, you have to enjoy it. “And for me, it’s about opening your eyes and taking everything in because this is completely different from anything that any of us players have experienced. So take it in, enjoy it, embrace everything that it is, because it is so unique, so special, and it’s not something that we’ll ever get to do again.” Last week, while the team was at U.S. Soccer’s new National Training Center outside of Atlanta, several veterans spoke about the responsibility they feel to help first-timers savor every minute of the tournament. Star forward Christian Pulisic has said he was extremely focused during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and admits he wasn’t always the easiest person to be around during the tournament. Goalkeeper Matt Turner said he didn’t do a good job of “soaking it all in.” “Like taking a video of something that was going on [and instead] just thinking, ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ and letting the moment pass by,” said Turner, who started every match four years ago. “I wish I documented more things from Qatar.” From the outset, the team appears to be striking a balance between joy and intensity. When players arrived at their hotel in Atlanta for the pre-tournament camp — and again upon reaching their hotel in Southern California — fans were there to cheer them on. Turner made sure to have his phone out and take in the moment as it unfolded. Defender Mark McKenzie, who’s playing in his first World Cup, has been walking around with a video camera to capture the experience. It’s not the film camera he wanted to bring – he forgot it back in France, where he plays for Ligue 1 club Toulouse – but has been using another one to take a bunch of photos and videos every day. “I think all those are important moments that you’ll look back on in 10, 15, 20 years and being able to share those moments with my son,” said McKenzie, who plans to make some kind of collage after the summer is over. “I wanted to make sure that I didn’t just document it for myself, but for everybody. I wanted something memorable, something special. “Obviously, the job is to handle the work on the pitch, but outside the lines, enjoying it as well and making sure we’re capturing it.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The Brendan Sorsby saga has taken another unprecedented turn. After previously being declared ineligible by the NCAA for wagering on college sports, the star quarterback was granted a temporary injunction Monday that makes him eligible to play for Texas Tech this fall — for now. The ruling sent shock waves throughout the sport and could have major ramifications within both college football and the NFL. Sorsby, scandal aside, is regarded as one of the more talented QB prospects in the country, bringing great attention to where — and if — he will play in 2026. There’s still the chance Sorsby winds up in an NFL supplemental draft this summer, which hasn’t seen anyone selected since the Arizona Cardinals used a fifth-round pick on safety Jalen Thompson in 2019. While Sorsby’s playing status appears to be far from settled, he’ll immediately return to the NFL radar should he again lose his NCAA eligibility. In the meantime, we’ve examined his biggest strengths and weaknesses, where he ranks as a draft prospect, his pro comps and his best NFL team fits. Strengths At a solid 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, Sorsby certainly looks the part of an NFL quarterback. And he possesses both the arm and athleticism to star at the highest level, as well. In today’s era of simplified offenses, statistics can certainly be misleading. Sorsby’s numbers speak for themselves, however. He completed 61.4% of his passes for 7,208 yards and 60 touchdowns against 18 interceptions over 35 combined games at Cincinnati (2024-25) and Indiana (2022-23) while rushing for another 1,295 yards and 22 touchdowns. He has plenty of arm strength to make every throw in the playbook and is a gifted, creative passer who can throw from various arm slots. He has excellent touch on intermediate throws, consistently “dropping it in the bucket” on fades and verticals. Sorsby can ramp up the RPMs and fire deep crossers and deep outs with precision, as well. Frankly, the arm talent is undeniable. As his rushing totals suggest, Sorsby is also a real threat as a runner. Cincinnati and Indiana both wisely called plenty of QB runs for him, but he isn’t reliant on them to keep the defense honest. He shows patience in the pocket and looks to exhaust his downfield passing opportunities before dropping his eyes to scramble — but when he does so, Sorsby can scoot. He accelerates smoothly and has good lateral agility to elude, as well as the body armor to absorb the occasional tackle. He is a competitive runner with good vision and understanding of where he is on the field, scrambling for first downs 109 times over the past three years. Sorsby plays with a swagger that will appeal to NFL teams. He showed steady development over his three seasons as a starter and looked like a future first-round pick at Cincinnati last year. Perhaps most importantly, he showed maturity and humility in publicly admitting his gambling addiction and recently completed a 35-day inpatient rehabilitation stint at Algamus, a respected gambling treatment facility in Goodyear, Ari. Weaknesses The concerns with Sorsby are just as obvious as his talent, though most of them are off the field. The quarterback position demands leadership, accountability and selflessness. Some NFL teams may have a hard time believing Sorsby possesses enough of these to justify a draft pick. He is an admitted gambling addict who bet thousands of times, including on Indiana while he played for the Hoosiers. He used family and friends’ names as a proxies to bet, clearly attempting to evade NCAA rules. Scouts looking to vet Sorsby may find few advocates. Though Curt Cignetti and many of his coaches were not yet at Indiana when Sorsby played there, others who were there may be hesitant to sully the reputation of the defending national champion Hoosiers. The program, itself, sounded like one seeking to distance itself from Sorsby with a short, terse statement to The Daily Hoosier following the discovery of his gambling. And given that the University of Cincinnati filed a million-dollar lawsuit against him for violating the 18-month NIL contract he signed following his Indiana transfer, Sorsby may not have many Bearcats supporters, either. His former teammates at Cincinnati might feel similarly given that Sorsby opted out of the 2026 Liberty Bowl versus Navy, a Jan. 2nd game the Bearcats lost 35-13 while generating just 12 total first downs on offense. Frankly, interested NFL teams will ultimately spend more time evaluating Sorsby’s character than his weaknesses on tape. But like with any young quarterback, he certainly has flaws. Sorsby shows good accuracy to all levels of the field, but some of his deep balls do flutter a bit, providing defenders a chance to recover. A couple of his interceptions this past season came on deep balls that hung in the air, notably including one in the final seconds of Cincinnati’s season-opener at Nebraska, where Sorsby was intercepted at the goal line to seal a 20-17 loss. While I like his ability to drop his arm angle and throw around defenders as well as over them, Sorsby often needlessly resorts to more of a sling-shot, sidearm release that effectively makes him a much shorter passer and more likely to have passes batted down at the line of scrimmage in the NFL. Like most quarterbacks at this stage of their careers, Sorsby can get a touch panicky when the rush is getting home and his accuracy diminishes when his feet aren’t set. As a runner, he often carries the ball with just one hand and, despite what his statistics suggest, he has struggled a bit with fumbles. While losing “just” five fumbles over his college career, Sorsby actually put the ball on the ground 12 times on 294 career attempts, per PFF. Draft range There was not a player in the 2026 draft class with a higher ceiling and lower floor than Sorsby, so projecting where he would have been selected is a more complicated hypothetical than it might appear. Let me explain. Sorsby is a more physically gifted and significantly more experienced quarterback than Alabama product Ty Simpson. If the former didn’t come with the off-field complexities noted above, I believe he could have been drafted before Simpson, who surprisingly went No. 13 overall to the Los Angeles Rams. This isn’t to suggest that the Rams specifically would rank Sorsby over Simpson. As noted prior to the draft, I thought Simpson — an accurate and quick-thinking pocket passer — was a particularly clean fit for Los Angeles. For the record, I do not believe that Sorsby would have challenged Fernando Mendoza as the Las Vegas Raiders’ No. 1 overall selection had he declared. Sorsby’s traits and ascending game would have attracted plenty of other suitors after Mendoza, however, including perhaps the New York Jets at No. 2 overall and the Cardinals at No. 3. But, of course, Sorsby does have character concerns, and NFL clubs may have known — or at least suspected — of them prior to the draft. (Reports of him being under NCAA investigation for sports gambling surfaced just days after the draft.) So, it’s also quite possible that he would have tumbled. Ultimately, though, the upside of a cheap contract for a starting caliber quarterback would just be too tempting for some clubs. I’m guessing someone would have thrown a Day 2 dart, at minimum. As for the 2027 draft, which Sorsby is presently tracking to be included in, the competition is considerably stiffer. In my way-too-early 2027 mock, I had five QBs coming off the board in the first round, and all by the No. 14 overall pick: Arch Manning (No. 1, Dolphins), Dante Moore (No. 2, Cardinals), Sam Leavitt (No. 4, Browns), Julian Sayin (No. 12, Jets) and LaNorris Sellers (No. 14, Steelers). Also of note, FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt ranked quarterbacks C.J. Carr and Trinidad Chambliss among his initial top-10 prospects in the 2027 class. There’s still obviously much to sort out with Sorsby, but as of today, I’d slot him behind most of this group and peg him as a second-round pick for 2027. Best NFL team fits My best NFL comp for Sorsby right now is a cross between Baker Mayfield and Jaxson Dart. It makes him suitable for several teams around the league. Chief among them: the Cardinals, Jets, Colts, Dolphins, Texans, Buccaneers, Ravens, Cowboys, Vikings and Steelers.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

U.S. Men’s National Team Training Base (IRVINE, Calif.) — It’s been perhaps the biggest problem for the United States men’s soccer team since the Stars and Stripes returned to the World Cup in 1990 following a 40-year absence: Scoring. The U.S. managed three goals in four games at Qatar 2022. In the 27 World Cup matches before that, they netted just 25. Compounding this problem is the fact that many of those tallies didn’t come from the American strikers, but from wingers or midfielders or even defenders. In fact, only four dedicated frontrunners — not hybrid attackers like the country’s all-time top scorers, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan — have converted for the USA at the World Cup in the modern era: Eric Wynalda, Brian McBride, Clint Mathis and Haji Wright. That’s it. There is reason to believe that this World Cup will be different. All three strikers on Mauricio Pochettino’s roster for this summer’s tourney are coming off prolific seasons in Europe. Folarin Balogun led the way with 19 goals for French Ligue 1 side AS Monaco, including five in the UEFA Champions League. Ricardo Pepi also had 19, averaging a goal every 89 minutes for Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. And Wright, the lone holdover up top from four years ago, managed 18, helping Coventry City clinch promotion to the English Premier League. The U.S. will still need goals from other places, to be sure. Christian Pulisic is still the USA’s danger man. Weston McKennie is adept at arriving in the box at the perfect moment. And as we saw in the recent World Cup warm-ups against Senegal and Germany, fullbacks Antonee “Jedi” Robinson and Sergiño Dest can also contribute offensively. Still, when it comes to out-and-out strikers, coach Mauricio Pochettino is in an enviable position compared to his predecessors, who had a lot less to work with at the tip of the spear. The 24-year-old Balogun is projected to start when the U.S. kicks off its World Cup campaign on Friday against Paraguay in Los Angeles (kickoff at 9 p.m. ET on FOX and FOX One). “Being able to be able to hold the ball up and bring other players in, and then his movement in behind and getting himself into low-scoring positions is something that we’ve been crying out for a long time,” U.S. captain Tim Ream said of Balogun before Pochettino ran his squad through their paces Monday at the U.S. training base in Great Park. “He’s probably the most annoying striker for me to have to deal with in training, because he is so quick with his movements and physically strong.” Pepi, 23, and Wright, 27, offer other qualities. Pochettino recently called the former a “killer” in the box, while the latter can also drift out wide, pulling opponents with him. “The other guys are different profiles, different types of players,” Ream said of Pepi and Wright. “You saw Pepi in the Senegal game bringing Christian into the play…they all bring different challenges as defenders.” Goalkeepers, too. “All three of them are pretty good at scoring goals, I would say,” joked Matt Freese, Pochettino’s presumed No. 1 goalkeeper. “I see that every single day.” And all can be used in different situations. While Balogun will almost surely start on Friday, Pepi and Wright will feature heavily throughout the competition depending on match-ups, injuries or suspensions. Wright scored both U.S. goals in an exhibition win in October over Australia — who’ll be the Americans’ second group stage opponent this summer — while Pepi is well accustomed to a super-sub role. “My stats show that I’m an efficient player; whenever I’m on the pitch, I want to help and score goals,” Pepi said Monday in Spanish. That’s easier said than done, especially at the World Cup, where chances are notoriously difficult to come by. The U.S. must also shore things up defensively to succeed this summer, though Pochettino said on Monday that top center back Chris Richards (ankle injury) had returned to full contract and was working out normally with his teammates. Jedi also participated fully on Monday after limping out of Saturday’s match versus the Germans, though midfielder Tyler Adams was limited to a gym session for what a team spokesperson called “load management” reasons. Nonetheless, Balogun, Pepi and Wright have all proven they can take advantage of opportunities if and when they arrive. They all have developed chemistry with Pulisic and the other players behind them, and with each other. “We have a group of very talented forwards,” said Pepi, one of the final cuts in 2022. “We want the best for the national team, and we’re very excited and happy to be playing here in front of our fans. We prepare day by day; we train and spend a lot of time together off the pitch. And that really helps us when matchday arrives.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports