The United States’ main broadcaster for the World Cup attracted the ire of its viewers with the release of a list of the 26 players who they believe will ‘define the tournament’ – only to have it widely mocked on social media.
The lion’s share of matches hosted across the North American tournament are set to be played in the US, with the States playing host to all of the games from the quarter-final stage onwards.
With Fox Sports preparing for a home World Cup, build-up has been feverish, but the broadcaster may not have been ready for the scrutiny their punditry would be under on social media.
Listing the players on a recent World Cup-centric segment, presenters were keen to stress the importance of that a number of Team USA players would have on the event.
Four USMNT stars featured on the list, with the home nation by far the most heavily referenced in the line-up.
Stars playing for the other host nations, Mexico and Canada, were overlooked all together, while tournament favourites like England and Spain only saw two or three of their stand-outs mentioned.
USMNT captain Christian Pulisic is rated highly by his home broadcaster along with three of his team-mates – to the surprise of international football fans
Unwilling to allow the team a moment of bias, commenters on social media were unforgiving of the list’s placement of former Chelsea star Christian Pulisic – their captain – as the tournament’s sixth-most important player to watch.
The AC Milan forward, who has not found the back of the net in his last 12 appearances for his domestic side, keeps company at the top of the heap alongside stars such as Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Erling Haaland.
Fellow USMNT team-mates users on X felt were given a boost of favouritism were Weston McKennie in 26th, Folarin Balogun in 22nd, and Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards, who in 16th was rated more highly than international stars including Desire Doue, Achraf Hakimi, Bruno Fernandes, Raphinha, Bukayo Saka, and Mohamed Salah.
Fans were quick to weigh in, with one writing: ‘Look how far up they place Pulisic (crying laughing emoji).
‘The world will learn about America’s delusion in sport. Insufferable!’
Another added: ‘The Americans know nothing about football. What a comedic list.’
A third suggested: ‘Four Americans and no (Kevin) De Bruyne/(Thibaut) Courtois/(Jeremy) Doku is hilarious (crying laughing emoji) twice as many Americans as Brazilians and Argentinians hahaha what world do these people live in?’
But some users were more forgiving, with one writing: ‘It’s an American show… Of course they’re going to throw in the American players…
‘And it’s not even that crazy. It’s in America. If they fail/succeed it’ll be a huge headline. And those are the players that will determine it.’
In the broadcast explaining their reasoning, one pundit suggested that McKennie could prove ‘the X factor’ for the US due to his versatility.
Another argued that Richards, the US team’s 2025 Player of the Year was the ‘anchor of (their) defence’, warranting his inclusion in the thick of the list.
The US will certainly hope Richards can bring his star power to the tournament after the Palace defender was unavailable for their first friendly of this international break.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side were crushed 5-2 by Belgium in worrying scenes, but the former Spurs manager was doggedly committed to looking on the bright side in the aftermath.
‘This type of thing is good because we have the time to improve,’ he said. ‘It’s a good check of reality for us.’
