2026 World Cup: Team USA reflects on playing on Juneteenth

Barbeque, card games, music and soccer?

Juneteenth cookouts could add another layer because of the FIFA Men's World Cup. And it's not because the U.S. is a co-host of the quadrennial tournament that spans North America and features 48 countries.

It's the makeup of the U.S. men's national team.

Black players have been part of USMNT's World Cup rosters since Desmond Armstrong (Washington, D.C.) and Jimmy Banks (Wisconsin) represented the country at the 1990 tournament in Italy. This year, a record 13 Black men are competing for America.

"It's amazing," USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie said of the influx of Black teammates on the roster. "Throughout the years we have had Black players on the team and maybe that has also helped the Black community being able to show kids that there's also soccer and not just American football and not just basketball."

Brooklyn-born Folarin Balogun had two goals in the Americans' 4-1 win against Paraguay to open Group D play last week.

Balogun is the first to net at least two goals for the U.S. in a World Cup match since 1930 and is the first in the modern era to be among the leaders for the tournament's Golden Boot - albeit after just one game. Argentina's Lionel Messi leads with three.

The striker will lead the USMNT into its second group-stage match, a matinee on Juneteenth against Australia at Seattle Stadium.

Soccer hasn't played a role in Juneteenth celebrations in the past for most descendants of enslaved people. The holiday's name derives from the date, June 19, in 1865 when approximately 250,000 enslaved Africans in Texas were told slavery had been abolished in the Confederate states.

The notice was two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War, part of the fault being a lack of enforcement. Black people held the first Freedom Day festivity in Texas in 1866 for the three million formally enslaved people in the Confederate states.

While the celebrations spread as descendants migrated across the U.S., rituals such as parades, pageants and good food remain. Gatherings are often in parks, which is often why basketball or football is involved for some families.

In Washington, through the work of the Sounders and Reign's charitable arm, the Rave Foundation, there are now 52 mini soccer pitches across the state, many located in popular parks.

The goal was to have the free surfaces ready by the time Seattle kicked off hosting six World Cup matches at Lumen Field on Monday. In Renton, the Legacy Square mini pitch was unveiled June 6 and is frequently used by a full spectrum of people.

McKennie thinks access and visibility to the sport could be a game changer. Especially since sports are often the path Black youth choose for upward mobility, whether it's a college scholarship or dreams of playing professionally.

(Basketball and American football) are used more as the scapegoat here in America," McKennie said. "The way out of certain situations. Seeing as many guys as we have that are African American on the team now, it's a very big number and hopefully it shows something."

Not every USMNT member, regardless of race, knows the significance of Juneteenth. Some of the Black players were raised elsewhere like Balogun, whose Nigerian parents emigrated to New York and moved to London when he was a month old.

Defenders Sergiño Dest (Netherlands) and Antonee Robinson (UK) and midfielder Malik Tillman (Germany) are similar to Balogun in being raised elsewhere, but they had one American parent.

It's common across the World Cup where federations grasp at what connection they can to land a talented player.

Balogun's debut is promising, but there was a chance it didn't happen. He could've played for Nigeria or England. There was a full-court press to convince him to play for the country where he was born.

"I had to take him out to a nice dinner, and I didn't get that treatment," McKennie teased. "I guess you can say he cashed in the chips and delivered in the game against Paraguay. It's been a great journey for him."

Other Black USMNT players such as defenders Chris Richardson (Alabama), Mark McKenzie (Delaware) and Auston Trusty (Pennsylvania) and midfielder Tyler Adams (New York) were not only born on U.S. soil but began their careers through academies linked to MLS clubs.

Dest would like to capture hearts and show anything is possible.

"This is like a new beginning for us," Dest said of the USMNT team. "We hope it's going to be the same in Seattle or even more."

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This story was originally published June 19, 2026 at 6:34 AM.