USMNT Sets World Cup Base Camp at Irvine's Great Park

The U.S. men's national team will live and train at the Great Park sports complex in Irvine, California, for most of June and July, putting roughly 45 miles (72 kilometers) of freeway between its World Cup home and the SoFi Stadium field where the run begins. With the World Cup opener against Paraguay set for June 12, today places the program 47 days from kickoff and a little more than a month from the May 27 camp opening that sets the entire schedule in motion.

For the road to 2026, this matters because the USMNT's group-stage margin is unusually thin under the new 48-team format, where goal difference in three-team comparisons can magnify a single poor result. A base camp that close to the opening venue and the third group game is a logistical luxury most national teams will not enjoy in this tournament, since recovery, video, and family time all compress when the bus ride is short.

U.S. Soccer named Irvine as the official Team Base Camp on March 10, ending a search that vetted nearly 50 facilities across the host country. The selection puts the team inside one of Southern California's largest sports campuses, anchored by a championship soccer stadium that holds more than 5,000 spectators and was built in 2017. Training sessions during the tournament will not be open to the public, but a welcome event in April and a planned community day will give Orange County a controlled glimpse of the operation.

The route from Irvine to SoFi

Mauricio Pochettino's pre-tournament map runs through three host or near-host cities before the players settle into their California base. The squad meets first at the National Training Center near Atlanta, then flies to Charlotte for the May 31 friendly against Senegal at Bank of America Stadium with a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff, then on to Soldier Field in Chicago for the June 6 send-off against Germany at 2:30 p.m. ET. Only after those two tune-ups does the group land in Irvine for the final stretch into the SoFi opener, with broadcast windows on the major U.S. networks for fans choosing between the road trip and the streaming option at home.

An April welcome and a months-long civic project

The Soccer Forward Foundation has partnered with the City of Irvine through April to deliver coaching development for local youth coaches, framing the base camp not as a sealed bubble but as a months-long civic project. "The facilities are simply outstanding and will provide the perfect training environment for our team," said Matt Crocker, U.S. Soccer's sporting director, in the announcement. Mayor Larry Agran called Irvine "proud to welcome the players, coaches, and supporters from around the world," while Councilmember William Go, chair of the Great Park Board, framed the selection as "a once-in-a-generation moment" for the city.

Group D and the SoFi opener

The U.S. opens Group D against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium on June 12, faces Australia at Lumen Field in Seattle on June 19, and closes the group against Türkiye back at SoFi on June 25. The May 26 final 26-player roster will be the consequential decision, with bubble cases resting on the Charlotte and Chicago tune-ups rather than on March's losses to Belgium and Portugal. Travelers planning multi-city trips can map venue logistics through the official cup26 venues hub, and rights-holder broadcast windows are listed in the cup26 how to watch guide. The fuller picture of how the U.S. roster has converged through 2026 is laid out in our USMNT pre-tournament outlook.

Sources

• U.S. Soccer: Pochettino names 27-player March camp roster
• City of Irvine: Great Park selected as USMNT base camp
• Goal: Pochettino's USMNT set base camp at Irvine's Great Park
• NBC Sports: USMNT 2026 schedule and pre-World Cup friendlies
• Fox Sports: USA's pre-World Cup schedule confirmed