The United States Men’s National Team has finished up matches for 2025, and they are reportedly lining up a major slate ahead of the 2026 World Cup. According to a report by The Athletic’s Henry Bushnell
and Paul Tenorio, U.S. Soccer is finalizing friendlies against Portugal and Belgium in March and Germany in June.
There will be two international windows before the 2026 World Cup begins: March 23-31 and June 1-9. In both of those windows, the USMNT are trying to finalize friendlies against major opponents to help the team with final preparations. It had already been reported that the team was looking to face Portugal and Belgium during the March window, with both matches to take place in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Athletic reports that now that both teams are in the top 10 in the rankings, they will likely be in the seeded Pot 1 alongside the United States when the World Cup draw takes place on December 5th. That clears the way for the matches to be confirmed.
The June international window will reportedly begin with a match against an opponent to be confirmed after the World Cup draw and will take place in Charlotte. The team would then have their World Cup sendoff match in Chicago against Germany a few days later. The dates have yet to be worked out, but the idea is that the USMNT would play the matches before heading out to California to train for their opening match on June 12th.
The June matches would be played with the roster that will represent the United States at the World Cup. Save for injury concerns, USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino is not expected to bring in additional players for that window. “I think it’s difficult when you bring more than 26 [players], and then you need to tell [a player], on the last day, ‘you are out,’” Pochettino said to The Athletic. “I prefer…to bring the 26 that you believe are going to be in the squad, and if something happens, you call someone (else).”
The USMNT will not hold its annual January Camp, as the future plans for that camp have been eliminated in favor of a December Camp, which will be held beginning in December 2026. So, the March international window will be the final one before Mauricio Pochettino names his World Cup squad in May. The likely matches against Portugal and Belgium represent the final two chances players will have to directly impress Pochettino in a national team camp. The real separation will likely be through club play, where players hope to be healthy and playing at a consistently high level. Then, the tests will come before the United States welcomes the world to the biggest World Cup ever.
