Category: Sports Fox

U.S. Men’s National Team Training Base (IRVINE, Calif.) — Under cloudless sky at the beginning of Tuesday’s practice session, Matt Freese and Matt Turner shuffled their feet and drove to their left and right as they took shots under the watchful eyes of the USA goalkeeper coaches, Toni Jimenez and Jack Robinson. Just three days from now, one of “The Two Matts” will have the eyes of the planet on them as the World Cup co-hosts begin what they hope will be a long and inspiring run to the business end of the biggest event in global history with the first group stage game, on Friday in Los Angeles against Paraguay. They still don’t know which one. While the expectation is that World Cup newcomer Freese will be between the posts for the Stars and Stripes to start the competition, Turner said what his teammate-turned-rival did a day earlier: that coach Mauricio Pochettino has not yet told them who’ll be his No. 1 keeper. Turner manned the nets with distinction four years ago in Qatar, keeping a clean sheet against star-studded England, one of the favorites to win it all, to help his country advance to the knockout stage. Despite that experience, the former English Premier League backstop could occupy more of a support role this time around. Not that he’s necessarily looking at it that way. “Being ready for if my number is called and just training every day, preparing for every game like I’m playing, regardless of what the coach ultimately decides here,” Turner said when I asked him how he’ll handle being the understudy if that’s his role this time around. “I think the coach will always pick the guy that’s playing the best, and you know he’s going to make the right decision for the team,” he added. “And whatever my role is going to be, I’m going to be ready to do it to the best of my ability.” It’s not much different for Freese. “You work for the opportunity, but you never know if it’s going to come,” said the Harvard graduate. “As a competitor, you always want to be on the field, always want to help the team in whatever capacity, and this doesn’t change in this moment. Whatever I’m called upon to do, I’m ready to do.” The keeper battle between them has been raging for a year, ever since Pochettino named Freese, who had just one international game under his belt at the time, as his starter for the Concacaf Gold Cup. The 27-year-old led a severely shorthanded U.S. side that was missing lineup mainstays Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Folarin Balogun, Sergiño Dest, Antonee “Jedi” Robinson and others all the way to the final against Mexico, winning a shootout over Costa Rica (and legendary former Real Madrid No. 1 Keylor Navas) along the way. Freese has started almost every game since, with Turner mostly rooted to the bench. If being demoted was hard for the veteran, 31, to take, he hasn’t shown it publicly. By all accounts, he and Freese have a healthy professional relationship. “Both those guys have done a tremendous job,” midfielder Cristian Roldan said on Tuesday. “Matt Turner has maybe taken a step back [from the starting job] but he’s been so incredibly supportive of Matt Freese and the team and putting us first, and so credit to both of them. They’re competing at the end of day, but they want what’s best for the team.” The competition has extended beyond the national team. Turner left Europe last summer to re-join the New England Revolution — a move designed to ensure that he was playing regularly and staying sharp in the lead-up to this World Cup on home soil. Freese also competes in MLS’s Eastern Conference, for New York City FC. “Playing consistent minutes [with the Revs] this year has helped me tremendously with staying ready, unlike in the past, where I was kind of scrapping for minutes at the club level,” Turner said. Even if Freese is in goal on Friday, Turner knows things can change at any moment. After all, injuries and red cards and game-changing errors happen. “Just because one [set of 11 players] starts one game doesn’t mean the next 11 is going to be the same,” Turner said. The position isn’t as strong as it once was for the national team, when Premier League mainstays like Tim Howard and Brad Guzan were vying for the gloves, or Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller before them. At one point in the mid-2000s, four starting keepers in the Premier League were American — Howard, Friedel, Keller and Marcus Hahnemann. Ahead of this World Cup, the goalkeeper position has been called one of the team’s potential weaknesses. Chris Brady, who earned his first senior appearance in the second half of last month’s tune-up against Senegal, is the obvious third-choice keeper. On Monday, Freese said he’s unfazed by whatever questions exist. “I’m not really listening to anyone outside of the two guys [Turner and Brady] with me and the coaching staff,” he said. “It’s fair to say the US has a great goalkeeping corps historically. I was a fan of that goalkeeping corps for much of my life, and still am. It’s an honor to be on this team and be part of that group to hopefully continue that great legacy.” “I think whatever the coach ultimately decides, we owe it to each other to respect that decision,” Turner said, “and support each other all the way through the World Cup.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Craig Breslow, the Red Sox chief baseball officer, is having a lot of conversations about how his front office will pilot MLB’s Aug. 3 trade deadline. But it seems like those discussions are not reflecting their reality. The Red Sox (27-37) are last in the American League East, 11 ½ games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, and 4 ½ games out of a Wild Card spot with six teams in front of them. They’re not a serious threat to win the World Series. They have several trade chips whose value may never be higher. Yet they’re still masquerading as potential playoff contenders. “It’s been true industry-wide,” Breslow said in New York over the weekend about how he would characterize trade talks. “There are a lot of teams that probably feel pretty similarly to us, which is to say that they have confidence in their rosters, they know they’re not playing as well as they’re capable of, and really nobody has put the postseason out of reach. So there are a bunch of teams that are in it right now that are thinking along the same lines as we are.” The Red Sox are fooling themselves if they believe buying instead of selling is the best move for their immediate and future success. Their offense has hit the fewest home runs (49) in Major League Baseball. Boston’s .376 slugging percentage and 90 wRC+ are both ranked 26th in the majors. ESPN reported this week that the Red Sox are aggressively looking to add a right-handed bat, and that they’re even willing to take on money. (That’s puzzling, considering they had an opportunity to spend more money on an impact bat in the offseason, but more on that later.) The larger point is that their offensive problems won’t be solved by simply acquiring a power hitter at the deadline. The Red Sox don’t walk much (7.8%, ranked 27th in MLB), they don’t slug (.131 ISO, 29th in MLB), they hit a ton of weak ground balls (44.1% GB rate, 5th in MLB), and they’ve scored the second-fewest runs in baseball (250) behind only the Padres. First baseman Willson Contreras is supplying all the power in the lineup, and the Red Sox could use an extra slugger, to be sure. But that’s not going to help them play better on the margins. The lineup is poorly constructed. One way to overcome that is to change their approach at the plate, emphasize small-ball, steal bases, and execute sacrifice flies and bunts. But looking at the rest of the mediocre field, and understanding that 10 of 15 AL teams are playing sub-.500 baseball, is a trap. The danger of a weak playoff race is that the Red Sox are convincing themselves that they’re one hot streak away. “We need to run our own race,” Breslow said when asked whether the weak state of the AL could drive the Red Sox to be buyers. “We need to make sure that we get our house in order. We need to play better. We need to win more games. At that point, we can figure out where we are relative to the league. But the first thing is we need to build on the progress that we’ve seen offensively over the last month. And then make sure that we’re pitching consistently well. We need to win games for any of this to happen.” The reality is, the Red Sox actually have a handful of compelling players they could be shopping in the weeks leading up to the deadline. Closer Aroldis Chapman is, by far, Boston’s most attractive trade chip. At 38 years old, Chapman has a 0.46 ERA and 33.8% strikeout rate across 20 games (13 saves) and 19 ⅔ innings. Several teams are desperate for an elite closer with proven postseason experience, who’s also a rental on a one-year deal. Chapman could net the Red Sox a top-100 prospect or multiple upper-minors prospects. It’s a no-brainer to deal him. Veteran right-hander Sonny Gray is another logical candidate to dangle in front of contenders. He’s 7-1 with a 3.20 ERA in 11 starts and 56 ⅓ innings pitched. His fastball has looked elite this season, and he’s improved on his hard-hit rate, with 37% being his lowest since 2021. Contenders always want starters at the deadline, and Gray’s postseason experience and reliable innings make him an attractive asset. The Red Sox could get a near-MLB ready arm or mid-tier prospects for Gray. Boston should also be entertaining blockbuster deals for outfielder Jarren Duran, who has started to heat up at the plate. After hitting .170 with a .481 OPS and one home run in 26 games in April, Duran hit .261 with a .879 OPS and nine home runs in 27 games in May. Rival executives might be weary of his attitude in the clubhouse after being involved in controversial off-field altercations and emotional reactions. But he’s still a fascinating player for his speed, defense and left-handed bat, with two more years of team control. Boston would likely need an overwhelming offer to move him. Right-handed reliever Garrett Whitlock and designated hitter Masataka Yoshida could also join those three players on the trade block. With so many valuable candidates, the Red Sox should be using the deadline to shore up prospects and MLB-ready players. They can accelerate their 2027 window, rather than chasing an 84-win season that might be good enough to sneak into the playoffs, because that’s how weak the AL is. But the team doesn’t show much promise beyond an early October exit. That being said, Red Sox fans are right to doubt whether Breslow can engineer the best returns for the attractive pieces he has, and how he’ll handle those hauls. We’re approaching the one-year anniversary of Breslow’s infamous Rafael Devers trade, and it sure looks like the San Francisco Giants won the deal. Of course, the Giants gave up a lot of players and are paying Devers over $31 million per year. And even though Devers has not yet panned out the way the Giants had hoped, he posted a .949 OPS in May, he still owns a .847 career OPS, and they have plenty of time to figure it out together. The Red Sox, meanwhile, botched the Devers trade the minute they let third baseman Alex Bregman sign with the Cubs over this past offseason. Devers entered 2025 having played seven seasons at third base in Boston. But the Red Sox had just signed Bregman to play third base, and Breslow and company were not up front with Devers about switching positions. So they traded him to San Francisco. Entering 2026, Bregman wanted to stay in Boston. But the Red Sox were unwilling to sign him due to disagreements over Bregman’s requests: a long-term contract with a no-trade clause and less deferred money. Then, the Red Sox traded away most of Devers’ return package, which consisted of four players. Since they were counting on Bregman to be their long-term solution at third base when they made the decision to trade Devers, and then Bregman signed with the Cubs, they were caught with their tail between their legs entering 2026 without a third baseman. So in February, they traded away one of the best return pieces from the Devers’ haul, left-hander Kyle Harrison, to Milwaukee for Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler. Durbin, who was brought in as their primary third baseman, has an OPS+ of 55. Monasterio is also playing at replacement level, with a 0.2 WAR in 35 games. Harrison, meanwhile, has turned into an elite pitcher for the Brewers. His 2.72 ERA is ranked 12th-best among NL starters who have pitched at least 50 innings this year. So Breslow’s track record to this point should be enough for Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy to appoint a different front-office leader ahead of another important trade deadline. But according to a recent report from the Boston Globe, the Red Sox are not considering firing Breslow. In his third season, Breslow will continue to be the man in charge amid the team’s chaotic and disappointing year. The organization has regressed since qualifying for the postseason last year. On April 25, the Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and six of his coaches. They were 10-17 at the time, and are 17-20 since interim manager Chad Tracy took over. The Red Sox have roughly seven weeks to find consistency in the win column, but it shouldn’t take that long to reach a decision. Sell.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

College football has a commissioner, and his name is Local Judge. The system we’ve seen built around college football in the 21st century won’t break because of the money, but because we allowed a player to gamble on the sport without the penalty of banishment. This system won’t break because one judge in the next county over made one ruling, but because college football’s most powerful individuals will not come to an agreement that protects and betters the sport they claim to love. Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction on Monday, allowing him to play for the Red Raiders this fall, despite being declared ineligible by the NCAA for betting on college sports, including bets made on his own team while at Indiana. So, this begs the question: where do we go now if we can’t protect the integrity of competition? That is the question facing many administrators, coaches and fans after the ruling came in from Judge Ken Curry, who is from Fort Worth, Texas, and was brought to Lubbock County for this case. The temporary restraining order prevents the NCAA from being able to block Sorsby’s eligibility for what will be his final collegiate season. Sorsby acknowledged placing thousands of bets over the past four years during his time at Indiana, Cincinnati and now Texas Tech, which have totaled upwards of $90,000, a clear violation of NCAA rules. Curry also unilaterally suspended Sorsby for the first two games of Texas Tech’s 2026 season against “Ain’t Played Nobody Conference” members Abilene Christian and Oregon State. This last stipulation in Curry’s ruling brings back around a case Sorsby’s attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, cited as evidence of the NCAA’s inconsistency in enforcing its gambling bylaws: Former Indiana volleyball assistant coach Brett Agne was found to have made more than 700 bets of more than $327,000 in five months — including 27 on IU football and men’s basketball. Agne received a two-year show cause order and a 10-game suspension but, importantly, no outright ban from coaching NCAA sports. Agne no longer coaches at Indiana and was recently coaching professional volleyball for the Indy Ignite, a women’s professional indoor volleyball team that competes in Major League Volleyball (MLV). The NCAA believed Sorsby’s actions warranted permanent ineligibility from playing college football, and according to some athletic directors and coaches, there simply shouldn’t be any exception to that rule. “We’re too f—ing greedy right now,” a Big 12 assistant coach told me. “We’re out for ourselves. Yeah, it goes without saying we want their kid [Sorsby] to be OK, but what about the whole doggone sport? No one wants the rules to apply to them, and they want the screws turned to everybody else.” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks and Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen have each publicly said they will not schedule the Red Raiders in non-conference matchups. Big Ten athletic directors are expected to meet to discuss a league-wide mandate that effectively boycotts scheduling Texas Tech in their non-conference affairs. Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor is also saying the quiet part out loud. “We’ve had some serious conversation about it,” Taylor told Yahoo Sports. “There is still a lot to be discussed. We aren’t scheduled to play them this year, but it’s something we have to look at from a college football perspective. This is greater than the Big 12.” It’s greater than college football, too. American sport is built on the belief that competition is fair. It’s the reason that eight members of the 1919 Black Sox team received the harshest treatment imaginable for fixing games. It’s the reason Pete Rose’s bust will never see the inside of the Baseball Hall of Fame after betting on the sport. The integrity of the sport matters more than any institution, team or player. We must believe the game is, without question, being played to win, not to cover a spread or feast on long odds for the sake of money made. On Monday, a Texas judge unknown to most college football fans issued a ruling that could prove more consequential than any controversy the sport has faced this offseason. As a local judge, though, he got to play college football commissioner for a day. What’s worse is that another judge in another county will eventually make the next decision, because leaders still cannot agree on how to govern the sport and stop the evil that is greed from continuing to pillage our otherwise thriving village that is college football. Curry is hardly the first instance of this. In the past four months alone, judges in Tennessee, Mississippi and Oklahoma have been asked to rule on college football eligibility cases. Former Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar sued for an extra year of eligibility, arguing his junior college seasons should not count toward his NCAA clock. A chancellor in Tennessee disagreed. Had he won his case, he was likely to make seven figures in NIL and revenue-sharing at Tennessee. A Mississippi judge reached the opposite conclusion with Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss, granting the soon-to-be 24-year-old another year of eligibility. Then in April, Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke secured an injunction allowing him to play the 2026 season despite already participating in the NFL Scouting Combine. Sorsby going in front of a local judge and being granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA that allows him to play college football is the latest instance of eligibility disputes being decided in courtrooms. This offseason has shown us that college football not only lacks the kind of enforcement it wants, but the enforcement it deserves.And yes, it’s only June.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The World Cup has always been the most efficient transfer market accelerant on the planet. Thirty-two days. Billions of eyeballs. Scouts and sporting directors with open notebooks. What unfolds this summer determines how loud the phone rings during the transfer window in August across leagues such as the English Premier League, Spanish LaLiga and Italian Serie A. I recently called out four rising World Cup players who’ll be big topics of the transfer conversation, but let’s focus on some of five established players who already have the scouts circling like vultures. Current club: Bayern Munich (German Bundesliga) Olise just completed his second season in Munich and his exceptional numbers made him the German Bundesliga’s most feared winger. The unanswered question is whether he is a long-term Bayern player or a stepping stone signing waiting for a bigger stage. Real Madrid has monitored Olise’s situation closely since Florentino Pérez’s reelection as president, even prompting a stern rebuttal from Bayern counterpart Herbert Hainer. A strong World Cup for France — and Olise has the tools to be their most dangerous attacking weapon — would turn into an official lavish bid. He’s entering the tournament in amazing form, having scored a hat trick against Northern Ireland in a World Cup tune-up on June 8. He carries himself like a Galactico and Real Madrid wants to sign the best player available, regardless of whether it’s a position of need. Current club: AC Milan (Italian Serie A) Three years of transfer windows. Three years of the same storyline: the big clubs come, Milan holds firm, Leão signs an extension, nothing changes. That cycle ends this summer, one way or another, as Leão announced he’s ready for a new chapter in his career. Inconsistency has defined his Milan career. At his best, a Serie A MVP hoisting the Scudetto. In his usual manner, he sulked and shied away when the going got tough. Inexplicably, he got sent off during Portugal’s World Cup send-off match against Chile for an on-pitch scuffle. Still, there might be a bargain to be had if Leão plays in a vertical system that suits his strengths. Current club: Unattached He’s leaving Liverpool this summer after an astounding career in which he scored 257 goals for one of England’s historic club – at age 33. The farewell tour never really felt like a farewell — it felt like a final argument. The destination is still unclear, and that’s precisely why this World Cup matters. Egypt reaching the knockout rounds gives every team a live audition before Salah commits. There’s noise about a return to continental Europe, either La Liga or Serie A (his early-career performances at Roma earned him the move to Liverpool), where the slower pace of play could suit him as he enters the twilight of his career. Current club: AC Milan (Italian Serie A) His 2025-26 Serie A season with Milan could best be described as catastrophic. Zero goals, zero assists. The first Serie A striker in history with zero goal involvements in a season despite over 10 starts. The Mexico youngster’s underlying profile remains interesting for teams seeking a bargain deal — he’s proved to be a clinical striker in the Champions League with Feyenoord and has poacher-like instincts with his movement inside the box. This past season was marred by injuries and a manager in a since-sacked Massimiliano Allegri who never really believed in him. In the right setting, the 25-year-old Giménez can be a steal. This World Cup with Mexico could be his launchpad into a much better situation. Current club: Atlético Madrid (Spanish La Liga) He left Manchester City for Atlético because he wanted to be the main man rather than Erling Haaland’s understudy. Atleti manager Diego Simeone handed him that responsibility and Álvarez delivered — 20 goals across all competitions in his debut season at the Metropolitano. Solid. Not mindblowing. Barcelona and Real Madrid are already pushing hard for him, insofar that Madrid even released a statement acknowledging a failed €150 million bid on June 9. A World Cup where he leads Argentina’s line without Lionel Messi carrying everything changes the conversation around his ceiling entirely. He’s only 26 years old and the best seasons of his career should still be ahead of him.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Losing a monumental coaching position is brutal, but former USA head coach Gregg Berhalter has a way to keep supporting the team: his son. Berhalter’s son, Sebastian Berhalter, is a midfielder for Team USA in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the former USA coach penned a heartfelt letter to his son, which was released Tuesday. Berhalter wrote in his note to Sebastian: “The World Cup is one of the rare moments when the entire world stops and watches. It’s a beautiful stage, but it’s also a privilege, one that most people will never know. Enjoy every second of it. Take in the anthem. Take in the pressure. Take in the joy of competing alongside your teammates and representing something bigger than yourself. “Moments like this change your life forever. “But no matter what happens on the field, I hope you will always remember this: I am proud of you because of who you are, not because of what you accomplish. You’ve stayed humble through all of it. You’ve stayed grounded. You’ve stayed kind. And you’ve become an incredible young man. “You earned this. I love you.” Berhalter also said that he admires how his son has “never taken anything for granted” and expressed how the two of them “get to share an experience that very few fathers and sons ever will.” Regarding the former USA coach, Berhalter, who played for Team USA, had two stints as the club’s head coach: 2018-22 and 2023-24. His contract expired following the 2022 World Cup, which saw Team USA be eliminated in the Round of 16, with the federation opting to have interim head coaches before bringing back Berhalter in June 2023. With that said, Berhalter was let go after Team USA failed to advance past pool play in 2024 Copa América; former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino was hired as Team USA’s new head coach in Sept. 2024. Berhalter has been the head coach of the Chicago Fire (MLS) since 2024. As for the younger Berhalter, the 25-year-old is in his fifth season with the Vancouver Whitecaps (2022-26) and his seventh season in MLS altogether; he spent his 2020 rookie campaign with the Columbus Crew, who won the MLS Cup Championship in said year, and his second season with Austin FC (2021). This season, Berhalter has registered six goals, four assists and knocked through one penalty kick. The Whitecaps sit atop the Western Conference at 10-2-2; the 2026 MLS season is currently paused due to the World Cup, with the season resuming on July 16. The World Cup march commences for Berhalter and Team USA on Friday night, as it faces Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium in Los Angeles, CA, which can be viewed at 9 p.m. ET on FOX and streamed on the FOX One app.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

NFL evaluators have never been perfect, especially when it comes to the most important, most over-scouted position in sports. That’s how a quarterback such as Brock Purdy was once the “Mr. Irrelevant” of the 2022 draft, only to earn a $265 million contract just three years later with the San Francisco 49ers. And it’s how Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, was only the 199th pick of the 2000 draft. Still, there’s usually a reason why quarterbacks slip into Day 3 of the draft. And it takes a special combination of overlooked skill and unexpected opportunity for them to rise from that obscurity. So, who among the six quarterbacks selected on Day 3 this year have a chance to do that? Which, if any, can be the next Purdy and turn into a franchise-changing star? We posed that question to several NFL scouts and evaluators. Here’s how they ranked the candidates. Draft slot: Seventh round, 223rd overall Résumé: The Rutgers quarterback (and Minnesota transfer) was a bit of a surprise pick, even as a seventh-rounder. He did start 42 games over his four years at two schools, but his passing numbers were middling (8,604 yards, 55 TDs, 27 interceptions and just a 56.3% completion rate). He also offered little as a runner. The 6-2, 216-pounder did steadily improve and had a solid senior year (62.2%, 3,124 yards, 20 TDs, seven interceptions). He became a better downfield passer too. That was enough to get the “Greek Rifle” on the NFL’s radar. Scouts’ takes: “The improvement was there, but you have to squint to see it. … I think this was the case of an offensive coordinator (David Blough) just falling in love and seeing something he could work with. He just doesn’t do anything good enough to be a starter in this league. At best, he’s a backup. … If you go only by his senior year, I get it. He’s smart and makes a lot of good decisions. I could see him as a game-manager who eventually you can trust for a few games if your starter goes down. Eventually. … He’s definitely a developmental prospect. But his tools are good. Nothing about him is great.” Opportunity: It’s hard to see where he’d fit in Washington, where Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota are the established top two and the scheme is built for a more mobile and athletic quarterback. Kaliakmanis certainly could push Sam Hartman for the No. 3 job, but might need a strong summer to earn a roster spot. Purdy potential: He’s a long shot to even get on the field this season. He might need a few years of development before he’s ready to play at all. Draft slot: Seventh round, 234th overall Résumé: The starter for the past three-plus years at Texas Tech, he put up some good numbers in the Red Raiders’ spread offense. He completed 62.8% of his passes overall and 66% as a senior. He also threw only 28 interceptions to go with his 8,989 yards and 71 touchdown passes. The 6-2, 221-pounder showed his toughness, too, playing through knee, shoulder and leg injuries over the years. Scouts’ takes: “He’s smart and he processes everything really quickly. Maybe too quickly. He’s not as accurate as his numbers suggest, and he may not have a strong enough arm to get it there against NFL defenses. … He’s not athletic. He can’t run at all. He’s a pocket statue. … He’s tough as anybody, but the kid can’t stay healthy. I bet a few teams crossed him off with all the medical issues he’s had. … He (almost) never played under center in college. I need to see him do that before I can tell what he’ll be. … He’s a really good kid and was a great leader in college. He knows how to get the most out of his teammates. They’re going to love having him in the (QB) room. … I could see him work as a backup. If he ever gets in, he can probably game-manage for you. It won’t be spectacular, but he won’t (mess) things up. Guys who don’t (mess) up can play a long time in the league.” Opportunity: Since the Patriots are the defending AFC champs and have Super Bowl aspirations again, it would take a lot for them to put any part of their season in the hands of a seventh-round rookie. Even if Drake Maye and Tommy DeVito got hurt, they’d sign a veteran. So there’s just no clear path to the field for Morton. Purdy potential: He is probably more of a solid backup than a future starter. He’s even a few years away from that, though. Draft slot: Fifth round, 178th overall Résumé: He was a one-year starter at North Dakota State, where he was one of the best and most efficient quarterbacks in the FCS. He completed 71.9% of his passes for 2,719 yards, 18 touchdowns and four interceptions. And he ran for 923 yards and 13 touchdowns, too. At 6-2, 232 pounds, his 4.56 speed made him an intriguing prospect, especially because of all that untapped potential. He played running back at times during his career with the Bison, too, adding to his value for NFL teams. Scouts’ takes: “I was looking at him as maybe a tight end before last year. I was surprised by how good he was at quarterback. But I don’t know how much of that was about the (low level of) competition. … That’s the key, right? Can he do it above (the FCS)? His size and arm strength are good. He was pretty accurate on that level. But his mechanics are off and he can be a mess under pressure. He waits too long on his receivers, and his first instinct is to always run. It’ll take time to coach that out of him. … He’s a gimmick guy for now. The Eagles are pretty smart. They’ll find surprising ways to use him. But he’s got a long ways to go to be a quarterback in this league. … I just don’t know what’s there. He didn’t play enough (at QB). The (competition) level was too low. His skills are worth a flier, but it’s a flier.” Opportunity: He’s not beating out Jalen Hurts or backup Tanner McKee any time soon. Veteran Andy Dalton is there, too, and the Eagles wouldn’t dream of handing important reps to a project QB on a team with Super Bowl aspirations. He could have a chance to play in some short-yardage or goal-line situations where he could use his running ability. But his days as a pure QB might be on hold for a bit. Purdy potential: Maybe a few years down the road. But the real issue for him now might be getting enough practice time. His reps as a QB will be limited. And if he’s given a gimmick role, most of his reps might go toward that. His development as a passer might have to wait. Draft slot: Sixth round, 182nd overall Résumé: A four-year starter, first at Boise State, then at Arkansas, the 6-6, 227-pounder was one of the most productive quarterbacks in college football. The two-way threat ran for 1,379 yards and 16 touchdowns in his two seasons with the Razorbacks. He also dazzled with his speed, running a 4.36 40 at the Scouting Combine. His passing numbers were less electric, but still strong. He completed more than 60% of his passes, averaging 2,934 yards, 17 TDs and 10 interceptions over those two years. Scouts’ takes: “His size and ability to move is jaw-dropping, and so are some of the plays he made in college. But he’s almost too big for his body when he throws. His mechanics can be awkward at times. … I could see why (Browns coach Todd Monken) would want to work with him. If you can fix his mechanics and turn him into even an average passer, you’ve got something there. But that’s a pretty big ‘if.’ … He got into trouble a lot as a passer. He probably should’ve had a lot more interceptions than he had. And he had a lot. … They need to start from scratch with him as a passer. He takes too long to get the ball out. He’s not accurate. His velocity is really inconsistent. But man, can he move. They’ll keep him on the roster just for that. … He defines the word ‘freak,’ especially at quarterback. If anybody can turn him into a better passer, he’d be scary.” Opportunity: Who knows what the Browns have planned for one of the weirdest QB rooms in the league. Sheduer Sanders returns as the incumbent starter. Dillon Gabriel, who was drafted higher Sanders and started six games last year, is still there, too. And now they’re dusting off Deshaun Watson and giving him a shot to win the job. So Green has at least three hurdles to clear. But given his running ability, multiple scouts suggested he could make the roster and have a role in short-yardage and goal-line situations, at least. Purdy potential: You never know with the Browns, but Green seems to fit more as a situational weapon than anything else. Presumably the Browns will exhaust Watson, Sanders, Gabriel and maybe even another quarterback from the 2027 draft before giving Green a real shot at the job. Draft slot: Seventh round, 249th overall Résumé: As a junior at LSU, he was one of the nation’s best QBs, throwing for 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns (albeit with 12 interceptions). But there was a major drop-off during his senior season thanks to a preseason abdominal injury and the struggles of his Tigers team. The 6-2, 203-pounder played just nine games and threw for 1,927 yards with only 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. He did complete 67.4% of his passes, though, which was the best percentage of his career. At the NFL Scouting Combine, doctors reportedly found that a cyst on his spine was the cause of his abdominal injury. Scouts’ takes: “I’m still shocked he went so late, even with the (cyst). It was pretty obvious he was hurt last season. But he showed so much the year before. … What scares teams is he’s a ‘gunslinger.’ That can work, but it’s high-risk. He’s also not the most mobile guy, which makes his style even riskier. You’ll get a lot of big plays, but a lot of big mistakes. … He’s got such a good arm. He knows it, too. He thinks he can make every throw. Most of the time he’s right. … He’s worth a shot, but you’re going to need a strong stomach. He’ll reward you, but it’s going to hurt first.” Opportunity: He certainly seems to have landed in the right place. He’ll get plenty of reps this summer while Patrick Mahomes rehabs a torn ACL, especially since Justin Fields is now the Chiefs’ backup. Nussmeier will be taught by Andy Reid, one of the NFL’s best offensive coaches. It’s not crazy to think he can emerge as Mahomes’ primary backup once he’s fully healthy. The Chiefs don’t think their dynasty is over, though, so they won’t let Nussmeier step in as a starter anytime soon. Purdy potential: He’s in the perfect place to develop and iron out his flaws. He also has a chance to get a ton of valuable practice time and preseason action as a rookie. If he can stay healthy and Reid can unlock what he showed two seasons ago, his NFL future could still be bright. It’ll just be brightest someplace else. Draft slot: Fourth round, 110th overall Résumé: A three-year starter at Clemson, who started 40 games overall. The 6-2, 207-pounder had a big junior season (3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns, six interceptions, plus 463 yards and 7 rushing TDs) capped by a big game against Texas in the College Football Playoff (336 yards, three TDs, one interception). That led some to project he’d be one of the top QBs in the 2026 class. But it all fell apart during his senior year, as the Tigers struggled and his production dropped (2,943 yards, 16 TDs, 6 interceptions). Klubnik played through a severe high ankle sprain he suffered in October, and a right wrist injury later in the season. Scouts’ takes: “The tools are all there: the arm, the athletic ability, and he’s really smart. His big flaw is that he can be pressured into bad decisions. That’s a worry for someone with as much experience as he had. … He was just starting to look like himself again when he got hurt last year. He started a little slow, but it was coming along. The injury changed everything. … I never thought he was a can’t-miss prospect. He’s not as cool under pressure as (Fernando) Mendoza. But had he stayed healthy he probably could’ve been a second-rounder. Maybe late first. … On the right team he could be good. Just keep the pressure off him and he’s got the skills to make things happen. But he has to be in a better situation than he’s in right now.” Opportunity: Of all the Day 3 picks, the 22-year-old Klubnik has the clearest path to actual playing time. The Jets signed a stop-gap starter in Geno Smith, a 35-year-old journeyman who has thrown 32 interceptions over the past two seasons. With a good summer, Klubnik could beat out Bailey Zappe and Brady Cook for the No. 2 job. And it’s not inconceivable the Jets could turn to Klubnik late in the season. It would be worth it to see what they have before diving headfirst into the QB-rich 2027 draft. Purdy potential: It’s not crazy to think he’ll play at some point this season, but the overall situation with the Jets isn’t great. They do have a decent offensive line, though, and at least a few weapons. If injuries really were the issue last season, Klubnik could even play well. He’d have to show a lot, though, to convince the Jets to not draft another quarterback in the first round next year.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Think back to this time a year ago. Penn State entered the 2025 season as a top-10 team and a trendy national title pick. By the second week of November, the Nittany Lions were 3-6, their head coach had been fired, and a season filled with promise had unraveled during a six-game losing streak. That’s a reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in college football. The teams generating offseason buzz don’t always deliver. Which brings us to 2026, where Penn State now leads the list of teams whose stock is rising heading into the season. FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt revealed his latest “stock up” and “stock down” teams during a recent episode of “The Joel Klatt Show.” Klatt: Matt Cambell is now the new head coach at Penn State. This program was 7-6 last season, and I think this is clearly trending up. James Franklin had one very specific issue: losing big games. Once they lost that Oregon game, the season spiraled out of control.Campbell is a perfect fit at Penn State. His 10 seasons at Iowa State should tell us one thing: this team is going to be solid. In this era, you’re going to have years when you just hit the schedule lottery, and Penn State is set to face what I would say is a soft Big Ten schedule. They brought in a ton of guys from Iowa State, including QB Rocco Becht, whose 39 career starts are the most among returning quarterbacks in college football, and they have a schedule that really has a floor of nine wins.The toughest games on the schedule are USC at home, Michigan on the road, Washington on the road, and then Minnesota at home the following week. This is a schedule they can do some damage with.They’re certainly going to win more than seven games. There’s no doubt. I think they could be a 10-2 team fighting for a College Football Playoff spot. Klatt: Alabama is going to be a good football team, but I don’t know if that’s going to be enough. The Crimson Tide are losing their most important player in Ty Simpson, who carried them to some of those wins last year. Now you don’t have him. They won 11 games, reached the College Football Playoff and played in the Rose Bowl. They’re not doing that again.Alabama doesn’t have a terribly difficult schedule, at least by SEC standards, but this isn’t going to be as good a team as it was a year ago.I like Kalen DeBoer. I think he’s a wonderful football coach. The one thing he’s struggled with throughout his career is finding a reliable running game to complement what has consistently been an elite passing attack. Last year, Alabama couldn’t run the football. It’s actually shocking to watch Alabama line up and not be able to run the football. They’ve got to fix that, and I don’t know if that’s going to happen. They lost a first-round offensive tackle in Kadyn Proctor. They lost a first-round quarterback. They lost Germie Bernard. Are they going to be great on defense? I think that remains to be seen. This is going to be a young team. They’re going to be inexperienced, particularly at quarterback. In my estimation, experience at the quarterback position is the most important ingredient for any team in the country, and it’s very difficult to have top-end success with an inexperienced quarterback. Klatt: Lane Kiffin is a great coach. He’s done this before. He took Ole Miss, brought in a ton of transfers, rebuilt the culture and had a lot of success. It’s not like he has to reinvent the wheel. This is a program that has won national championships. The expectation at LSU is to compete at the top, and they haven’t been doing that. They went 7-6 and fired their head coach. Now you look at the talent they’ve brought in — including QB Sam Leavitt — and ask yourself: Is this really a seven-win team? The answer is no. Absolutely not. I think this team is going to compete for a College Football Playoff spot. LSU has zero top-10 finishes since winning the national championship in 2019. That’s wild. This is too good of a program to be stuck in that kind of stretch, and I think that’s going to change with Kiffin and all the talent that’s been infused into the roster. Klatt: I love Trinidad Chambliss. I love Kewan Lacy. But Ole Miss went 13-2 and reached the College Football Playoff semifinals a year ago. Pete Golding has said himself that he never wanted to be a head coach. Now he’s been thrust into that position because there really wasn’t another move for Ole Miss to make. He did a great job, but the bar is simply too high. The Rebels are going to take a step back. I hope I’m wrong, but remember this: Before Lane Kiffin arrived, Ole Miss had just two 10-win seasons dating back to 1975. Then Kiffin came in and completely changed the trajectory of the program. You can’t just expect that level of success to continue immediately. For decades, this was largely a .500 program. I think they take a step back from a 13-2 season and a College Football Playoff semifinal appearance. Klatt: The Bruins were 3-9 a year ago. They fired DeShaun Foster right before that game against Penn State, but it’s the hire they made that has me excited about this program moving forward. Bob Chesney is a really good football coach. UCLA is set to bring back QB Nico Iamaleava, and they’ve added more than 40 incoming transfers. So they’ve got experience at quarterback and a significant infusion of talent across the roster. And Chesney is bringing seven coaches from James Madison with him, including his offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coach. That should sound familiar — it’s exactly what Curt Cignetti did when he left James Madison for Indiana. To me, this feels like Indiana-light. You could see a major jump for UCLA. It’s tough in the Big Ten, but they’ve got experience and talent at the quarterback position and a real coaching staff that can go out there and recruit talent. There’s a lot of energy in Westwood, and they’re recruiting at a high level. Klatt: I believe in the foundation of this program, but Illinois has won 19 games over the last two seasons. That’s real sustained success for a program that didn’t have much of it before Bret Bielema arrived. When you look at their offense, Luke Altmyer was a huge part of their success. Their offensive line was a huge part of it as well. Now they’re replacing four starters up front, they have to replace their top wide receiver in Hank Beatty, and they also lost their defensive coordinator to Notre Dame. Not every program can be great every single year. We see it with Georgia and Ohio State. Maybe we see it with programs like Miami or Oregon. Those teams have the resources to recruit and get talent out of the transfer portal, but at a program like Illinois, I don’t think they have the resources to do that. For Illinois, I think there’s going to be a dip. Then they’ll gain experience, get veterans, fill in the holes, and be very good in a couple of years. You’re going to have these dips before you can have the type of success that they had, especially after a two-year stretch with 19 wins. Klatt: It’s easy to go up from 4-8. Florida has had just one winning season in the last five years. The Gators should be better than that, but they haven’t been. Now Jon Sumrall comes in. He has a 43-12 record as a head coach and has consistently won wherever he’s been. This is a guy who knows how to coach. He’s brought in a lot of talent, and this is a program that should be able to recruit and sustain talent at a high enough level to compete as a strong SEC program. I’m buying Florida. It might not be a playoff push right away, but I’m definitely buying improvement from a 4-8 season a year ago after they fired Billy Napier as their head coach. Klatt: Last year, Vanderbilt set a program record with 10 wins. Now they have to replace the entire engine of that team in Heisman finalist Diego Pavia. I know they brought in some elite-level talent, particularly at quarterback, but it’s inexperienced talent. Pavia had a ton of starts under his belt and was a guy who knew how to play well in big moments. Do we really expect them to all of a sudden win 10 games again? That was a program record. I like Clark Lea, but very similar to Illinois, this is a program that is going to take a step back in order to move forward in the coming years. I’m selling Vanderbilt this year. Klatt: Say what you want about James Franklin and what he did in big games at Penn State, but the truth is, the guy can coach. He raised the level of Penn State, and I believe he’s going to raise the level of Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech had four straight seasons without being ranked at any point. That program should be better than that. Franklin retained Brent Pry, who is now the defensive coordinator. When Pry was the defensive coordinator at Penn State, that was a marriage that really worked. They had one of the better defenses in the conference — and really in the country. So he’s back in a role where I think he can excel. They have 27 incoming transfers, including 12 from Penn State. That’s going to raise the level of talent, and the ACC is not a very difficult conference. This is a team that I think, at some point this season, can be ranked and maybe even make a push toward the ACC championship game. Klatt: I like Georgia Tech, but the Yellow Jackets are coming off a couple of really strong seasons. Haynes King was the engine of that success, similar to Diego Pavia at Vanderbilt. They won nine games last year — their most since 2016 — but now they have to replace King and both coordinators. Losing that kind of continuity and experience is usually the recipe for a step back. Georgia Tech also has 11 games against Power 4 opponents this year, including non-conference games against Tennessee and Georgia. That’s not an easy schedule. This is not a team that’s going to win nine games again. I think they will take a step back this season before building back up in the future.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams established many routines in their first season together. One of Johnson’s favorites was their post-practice meeting. All season long, they’d finish their work on the field and, once Williams got out of pads and into street clothes, the Chicago Bears’ rookie coach and second-year quarterback would log anywhere from 60 and 90 minutes together in Johnson’s office. Much has been made of how Williams once called his early-season relationship with his coach “fragile.” But in those post-practice meetings, they seem to have built something solid. And when I asked Johnson about the moments with Williams that were most fun last season, the coach pointed to those one-on-one sessions, where he would lay out the nuances of opposing defenses in relation to the Bears’ game plan. “It’s just this complete clarity of how we want to attack that opponent this week,” Johnson told me in March at the NFL Annual League Meeting in Phoenix. “I think the coolest thing was seeing [Williams’] growth from early in the season.” It’s not rare for an NFL head coach to spend time with his starting quarterback every day of the season. But it is rare to see a coach have as much of an impact on his quarterback as Johnson seemed to have on Williams in 2025. After all, at this time last year, there were concerns that the previous Bears regime left the QB in a state of developmental regression. Chicago won just five games in 2024 and fired its head coach in midseason for the first time in franchise history. Williams took 68 sacks, tied for the third-most all time. It was a tough rookie year for the No. 1 overall pick, who’d been touted as a generational prospect. But these coach-QB meetings helped catalyze the Bears’ breakout success in 2025. Williams engineered six fourth-quarter comebacks to lead all NFL quarterbacks last season, earning the nicknames “Iceman” and “Cardiac Caleb” — and just recently, the cover of “Madden NFL 27.” The Bears went 11-6 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2020. As Johnson tells it, those meetings had a cascading effect on the relationship between coach and QB. Everything improved: communication, repetition, execution. “We’d meet the night before the game to go over his favorite calls, and to see how that went from early in the season to what it looked like at the end of the season, [it was] much more fluid,” Johnson told me. “We just saw the game so much more through the same lens as the year went on. I think all those quarterbacks saw that and witnessed that firsthand. So I think that was the coolest thing, just to see where it started to where it finished.” At the end of Chicago’s season, which concluded in an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round, Johnson said he wanted Williams to get away from football for a little while. But just before he let Williams go, Johnson had a message for his QB about the 2026 season. “It’s going to be more difficult. I’m going to push you more,” Johnson told Williams, per the QB. “Yessir, let’s do it,” Williams remembered telling Johnson. While the players took their time off after the season, Johnson and his staff spent their time self-scouting, a process that spanned roughly a month and a half. They dove into every phase and every element of the game. “As you watch clip in and clip out, I think it would have been easy to get a little bit upset or disappointed that it didn’t look quite the way we want,” Johnson told me. “And yet I see it as, ‘Man, we got so much room for improvement. This is great. This is gonna be good to get these guys back in, and they’re gonna be able to see this. And hey, we can be so much better as an entire team if we just make these few small changes going forward.’” Of course, I was most curious about the Bears’ findings on the QB. Johnson told me he would boil the self-scout into three takeaways and goals for Williams, whose work is well underway, with minicamp in session this week. Johnson wouldn’t disclose all three points of emphasis, but he discussed one item after Williams finished the 2025 season with a 58.1 completion percentage, second-worst in the league. “We need to get the completion percentage up,” Johnson told me. “And so we’ll look at that as we go through the cut-ups of where we can best do that. There were probably 80 or 90 throws on tape that we felt like could have been completions. “You’re always going to have some drops by the route-runners. … We need to find a way to complete some of those other ones, though. That’s really the challenge for Caleb. If we do that, then we’ll be 65%, 70% completion, which is closer to where we want to be.” That’s the challenge for Williams — or at least one of them. The QB is already facing that challenge head-on. “It starts with reps,” Williams told the media in May at OTAs when asked about reaching the coach’s goal of a 70% completion rate. “And then the next part, it comes down to comfort in the offense. And I think that toward the end of the year, it started to grow for me. … The last part is the details, whether it’s the receiver’s steps and where his landmark is to break or settle. And then from there, it’s being able to deliver a catchable ball, whether it’s velocity or ball placement.” Meanwhile, Johnson is putting plenty of challenges on his own plate. That includes making sense of all the Bears’ narrow victories and come-from-behind games. As impressive as that quality was for Chicago, it can also lead to regression. Look at the Kansas City Chiefs as a cautionary tale. They made the Super Bowl in 2024 with a run of 17 consecutive wins in one-possession games (a streak that started in 2023). But the Chiefs lost nine one-possession games in 2025 and finished 6-11. As I tried to spit out a question about whether the Bears were worried about that same fate, Johnson, smiling wide, interrupted me. “You think it was fluky? Is that what you’re getting at?” he asked me. That’s not it. Anyone who listened to the Bears explain how they beat the Green Bay Packers on a bomb to receiver DJ Moore in Week 16 knows that Chicago’s comebacks were not fluky. They were a product of hard work and careful planning. That 46-yard walk-off play exemplified how Johnson’s steady hand and sharp mind can literally change the game, which was why Williams called him “the best coach in the world” after the game. Johnson had that play ready for that moment. That’s how the Bears won. “That’s a play that Coach and I — we were sitting in his office, one of those meetings — and we discussed that play,” Williams said after the game on the FOX broadcast. But history has a way of repeating itself, and dramatic wins are often not sustainable. Johnson admitted he’s thought about that. “It goes back to a term that I learned early as a coordinator called ‘unstable success,’” he told me. As the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator before coming to Chicago, Johnson knew that success in the screen game and the red zone did not automatically carry over from year to year. It was on the coaching staff and players to create and sustain success, rather than expect the same results, even with the same ingredients. So Johnson made that an emphasis every offseason. Detroit was a top-five team in the red zone for three years in a row, from 2022 to 2024. “I view that as a challenge,” Johnson told me. “So to your point, do you want all these games to come down to the very end like that? No, hopefully our growth as a team means that we score more early and more often and our defense plays a little bit better in terms of limiting the points, and we’re not in those spots. “But at the same time, I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose that ability to score 14 points in less than two minutes. That’s something that you’re going to want to lean on at some point. And I think that’s part of who our guys are. That’s part of who Caleb is. … I view it as a challenge. And I think when you frame it that way, I think our guys will see it the same way.” That actually loops back to the discussion of completion percentage. Because if Williams becomes more efficient, Johnson said he could envision scenarios where the team might not need late comebacks to win games. But that changes the equation in more ways than one. Efficiency often means taking what’s available. And in today’s NFL, with two-high-safety defenses growing increasingly popular, efficiency requires quarterbacks to check the ball down and/or make good use of the short (and quick) passing game. How will the Bears balance that with Williams, who, considering his impressively low sack (27) and interception (7) numbers last season, was just the right amount of aggressive in 2025? “He knew when he could take chances and not. And certainly when you’re in that, ‘Hey, we’re in fourth downs from here on out’ mode, I think that kind of helps his mentality,” Johnson told me. “It’s so curious with him. He’s just always been such a great protector of the ball. For a guy that can be a little bit aggressive at times with some of these throws he makes, he rarely puts it in harm’s way. “And so I think that’s a little bit unique to him. And so maybe it’s one of those things we just need to encourage him to open it up a little bit more earlier in games, when he might be just a little bit more conservative in some of the decision-making early in games.” If you need any further proof that the Bears built something enviable last year, just look at their coaching staff moves this offseason. After just one year in Chicago, Johnson’s staff produced two offensive coordinators for other teams, with Declan Doyle taking over the Baltimore Ravens’ offense and Eric Bieniemy returning to his old gig as Kansas City’s OC. It’s clear that teams want the recipe for Chicago’s secret sauce. One thing that has been a common refrain from Johnson this offseason is that the Bears are starting over. They’re tearing everything down to ground zero, and they’re piecing together a brand-new version of the team for 2026. “The number one enemy that we would have right now is entitlement or complacency based on what we did a year ago,” Johnson told me. There’s no doubt the Bears are young and talented. There’s no doubt they showed tremendous progress in 2025. There’s no doubt their quarterback has the potential to be great. And how many times have we seen that go wrong in Chicago? But this particular team seems different, and that’s because of Ben Johnson, who is hell-bent on bridging the gap between goals and results. Just ask Caleb Williams.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

No more friendlies. No more tune-ups. Next up for the United States after games against Senegal and Germany: the 2026 FIFA World Cup. There are positives and negatives to take away from a 3-2 win over Senegal and a 2-1 loss to Germany. Two former USA World Cup players (Maurice Edu in 2010 and Walker Zimmerman in 2022) break down their three biggest lessons. Chris Richards Is Essential To This Backline Edu: While the U.S. had plenty of positive spells between its win over Senegal and loss to Germany, it did concede multiple goals in both games. The USA started with three center backs — Alex Freeman and Tim Ream started both, while Mark McKenzie started against Senegal and Miles Robinson against Germany. In both games, the U.S. conceded twice. (Side note: I wouldn’t have minded seeing either McKenzie or Robinson start alongside Richards.) When healthy, Richards slots right into the middle of that defense between Freeman on the right and Ream on the left. Chris full trained on Monday, which is a positive sign that he’ll be ready to face Paraguay on Friday (9 p.m. ET on FOX/FOX One and streaming for free on Tubi). The USA Is Ready For Real Competition Zimmerman: The U.S. got two games against different teams that allowed it to defend differently. We were more compact in how we defended against Senegal, keeping the distance from the front to the back, we were able to press higher and be higher up the pitch, maintaining about 20-25 yards between our defense and attack. Then, against quality opposition in Germany, we had to be a bit more compact; it was more like 35. It was also helpful that Germany was fluid in how they defended. Germany pressed the American defense in a variety of ways. Sometimes, the press was high on our backline in a 4-3-3 formation, while other times it was a bit deeper in a 4-4-2. Being able to build an attack against various structures and looks was a great dress rehearsal for what we’ll see throughout the tournament. After Antonee Robinson’s absolute golazo, I thought we responded great the rest of the first half. That was a really good period that had the U.S. looking like a dangerous team going forward, putting pressure on Germany and competing well until the halftime whistle. Also, I think the first goal that Germany scored will actually be helpful over the long haul for the U.S. It allows the team to go back to the drawing board on set pieces. Kai Havertz getting in that position without any contact is not good enough. Now, it’s about emphasizing just how important set pieces are going to be during the tournament. Hopefully, this team learned about organization and communication necessary to make sure every set piece is defended with the proper amount of urgency. This week will be about tweaking little things to the system while making sure guys recover and continue to build fitness ahead of the USA’s World Cup opener on Friday night against Paraguay. The USA Can Compete With The Best Teams, But … Edu: When the USA is at its best, we can cause problems against the best teams at the World Cup this summer. The U.S. created chances and looked dangerous going forward against both Senegal and Germany. Christian Pulisic delivered a man-of-the-match performance against Senegal, while Folarin Balogun scored against Senegal and was lively against Germany. The key: We have to take our chances. Once you start facing the top teams in this tournament, they will make you pay if we’re not clinical when our moments come. In addition to causing problems in attack, I loved the response and character this group showed after conceding early against Germany. That mentality and fight will be important moving forward. USMNT World Cup Schedule Check out the full World Cup schedule (all available streaming on FOX One):​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

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