USMNT will play Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, Belgium, and Germany before the World Cup

NEW YORK — The U.S. men’s soccer team has played some strong opponents in its preparation for the World Cup so far. But for its last four games before the tournament, the team will face some of the biggest teams of all.

After weeks of speculation, official word came Tuesday that the U.S. will play Belgium and Portugal in March in Atlanta, then Germany in Chicago in June for its World Cup send-off game.

There also will be a game at the end of May in Charlotte, N.C., against a team to be announced. It might be revealed after the World Cup draw on Friday, since the U.S. won’t want to play against a team it will face again a few weeks later. The U.S. can’t be drawn against Belgium, Portugal, or Germany, as they’re in the same pot in the draw.

“I think before starting the World Cup, it starts to [feel] like a World Cup, and I think it’s important for the team,” U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino said at a gathering of the governing body’s sponsors and donors. “What we need is to challenge teams that are in the top list, and I think that is going to be an important experience for us. Great experience, and then after [that] to attack the World Cup in a very good condition.”

All four games will be at the respective cities’ NFL stadiums, with Atlanta getting two since the area is the new home of U.S. Soccer’s headquarters. The governing body will open a $200-plus-million, 200-acre training center in the southern suburb of Fayetteville, Ga., this spring, in time for the men’s team to hold its pre-World Cup camp there.

“That is a massive thing that is going to inspire, is going to give an unbelievable power to soccer here in the USA,” Pochettino said, knowing that some of the funders of the facility were in attendance Tuesday. “Maybe today, people don’t realize it because we are focused on the World Cup, [so] it’s about [how] to win the games. But that is the real impact that is going to be a massive change for soccer here in the USA.”

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Portugal’s visit won’t just bring all-time superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who hasn’t played a game on American soil since 2014. The No. 6 team in FIFA’s global rankings has a fleet of the sport’s best players: Bruno Fernandes of England’s Manchester United, Rafael Leão of Italy’s AC Milan, and João Neves and Vitinha of reigning European champion Paris Saint-Germain.

Belgium is led by midfield playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, a longtime player for England’s Manchester City and now with Italy’s Napoli, and winger Leandro Trossard of England’s Arsenal. The Red Devils are ranked No. 8, and, like Portugal won their group in European World Cup qualifying. Had they finished second, they’d have gone into the playoffs for the last World Cup spots that also are set for March.

Both nations stir memories for U.S. fans. The American men earned one of their most famous World Cup wins against Portugal in 2002, then nearly pulled off another upset win in 2014 before Ronaldo assisted a last-minute equalizer.

When the teams last met in a friendly in 2017, the Americans earned a 1-1 tie in Portugal in the first senior national team appearance for Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, and Cameron Carter-Vickers. (McKennie scored the goal, assisted by then-Union striker C.J. Sapong, and Ronaldo was absent.)

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Nine days later, the U.S. took Belgium to extra time with goalkeeper Tim Howard’s 16 saves, then fell, 2-1. Howard’s heroics set a World Cup record for saves in a game that still stands. The teams have not met since.

Germany is a frequent and longtime U.S. opponent. This will be their 13th meeting, with the most recent a 3-1 Mannschaft win in Connecticut in October 2023. The first, in 1993, was a 4-3 U.S. loss that nonetheless announced the program on its way to hosting the 1994 World Cup. (Coincidentally, that game also was at Soldier Field.)

The current German squad, ranked No. 9, is led by playmakers Florian Wirtz of England’s Liverpool and Jamal Musiala of Germany’s Bayern Munich. There also are some big-time rising stars aiming to make the World Cup squad, including striker Nick Woltemade of England’s Newcastle United and 17-year-old Lennart Karl of Bayern.

The U.S. ends 2025 ranked No. 14, its highest standing since just before the Copa América flameout a year ago. Pochettino’s squad went 4-1-1 in its six games this autumn, with wins over Japan, Australia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

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“It’s true that when we arrived here one year ago, it was a rushed time,” Pochettino said. “We need to go there, we need to perform, we need to get results, we need to push quickly the process, we need to go at a really fast speed. And I said, ‘No, calma [Spanish for calm down] … You cannot sometimes go faster [than] what the process demands.’ I think we are in a very good moment now, right on time.”

The manager’s remarks came in a wide-ranging conversation on stage with his top assistant Jesús Pérez and Fox Sports reporter Jenny Taft. Some of the topics were ones Pochettino has covered often, but one he hasn’t so much is why he took the U.S. job in the first place.

“I think one of the motivations was to go out of our comfort zone after more than 15 years coaching clubs,” he said. “We felt very special when the first call [came] from Matt [Crocker, U.S. Soccer’s sporting director]. I called Jesús and said, ‘Why not?’”

That didn’t mean he thought it would be easy.

“Was it going to be a massive challenge? Of course,” Pochettino said. “We didn’t know what we were going to find there. It was a country that we only traveled to, to come here for preseason with Tottenham or Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain.”

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Those were the three big European clubs he managed before taking the U.S. job.

“I said, ‘Oh, that is going to be a big test for us as a coaching staff,’” he said. “It was also a moment to reveal and to challenge ourselves … I think it was the right moment for us in our lifetimes, in a personal way but also in a professional way. Both sides were perfect timing.”

Pérez, who has been at Pochettino’s side throughout the manager’s career, went into more detail on that.

“To manage the last two clubs we were working with, and the personalities there, it took a lot of energy from him [Pochettino], especially — and you pay for that,” Pérez said. “It was a challenge for us to come where people know the name, but we had to prove that we can coach here and we can perform.”

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He also spoke about the differences between club management, where coaches can spend every day with players, and national teams, where time together is limited.

“What we miss is training sessions,” Pérez said. “It’s where you can feel the player, you can improve the player, you can challenge the player. … It took us to a point that we have to change our way of work in order to have less training sessions, more precise, more clear, sometimes more simple. But with just basics, you can make people perform.”