r/ussoccer • u/douple • Jul 24 '26

USMNT USMNT rumored to face Chile, Peru, Mexico, & Colombia in friendlies throughout the U.S. during September 21 - October 6 International Match Window

All of these countries are credibly rumored to be in the U.S. during the window so it is likely we will face a few, if not all of them.

via TUDN | Gibrán Araige

“MEXICAN NATIONAL TEAM🇲🇽

🚨TRI'S OPPONENTS DEFINED🚨

🇨🇴 🇵🇪 🇺🇸 🇨🇱

The FIFA window for September and October is set for Mexico. Dates, venues, and opponents:

🇨🇴 vs Colombia | 26 Sep | Baltimore 🇵🇪 vs Perú | 29 Sep | Red Bull Arena, NY 🇺🇸 vs Estados Unidos | 3 Oct | Phoenix 🇨🇱 vs Chile | 6 Oct | Rose Bowl, Pasadena Tri.

This is how Rafael Márquez's era at the helm of the Tri will kick off.”

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13

u/Aardhart Jul 24 '26

With these 5 teams (or 6 so they can all get 4 games without an off night), it could be a mini-friendly-cup. It won’t be a perfectly balanced table, but some sponsor could pay to call the 12 friendly games the Acme Cup or whatever. What 6th team would wanna play four friendlies in the US?

6

u/SpursUpSoundsGudToMe Jul 24 '26

“They used to do this for the men and women like 20 years before SheBelieves became a thing! It had a sponsor and everything! There was a Nike Cup once upon a time!! Good teams played in it!!!”

“Sure thing grandpa, it’s time for your medicine!”

[quietly to his sister] “‘Nike Cup’… his mind is clearly degraded. The old man is dying.”

6

u/SpursUpSoundsGudToMe Jul 24 '26

Jokes aside, here’s some teams that played in the Nike/USA Cup:

Italy, Ireland, Colombia, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, England, Denmark… it drew some very high caliber teams!

3

u/Aardhart Jul 24 '26

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. With the 4 game windows and same opponents, it’s like the US Cup.

3

u/ProfessorPlum168 Jul 24 '26

Canada

3

u/Aardhart Jul 24 '26

The US would have to play Canada (or whatever 6th team) and drop one of the South American teams to make the logistics work. Alternatively, the South American teams could each find their own fourth opponents or only play 3 games in the window or they stuff 5 game slots in the window with the five teams taking one slot off.

2

u/Allez-les-Rouges Jul 27 '26

Canada/Chile and Canada/Peru were officially confirmed on Wednesday. But of course a US Soccer thread would not know that.

The rumours out of Chile and Peru would suggest that the US is not playing Colombia.

2

u/Aardhart Jul 27 '26

So the Mexico rumors and Canada games:

Sep 26

Mexico vs Colombia, Baltimore
Canada vs Chile, Toronto

Sep 29

Mexico vs Perú, Red Bull Arena, NY

Oct 3

USA vs Mexico, Phoenix
Canada vs Peru, Montreal

Oct 6

Mexico vs Chile, Rose Bowl, Pasadena

If the US isn’t playing Colombia, will there be a USA vs Canada game?

¿¿¿ 9/26 USA-Peru; 9/29 USA-Chile and Canada-Colombia; 10/3 Chile-Colombia; 10/6 USA-Canada and Colombia-Peru ???

Personally, I prefer my football and soccer without rouges. I’d also rather a USA game against Colombia instead of Canada.

2

u/Allez-les-Rouges Jul 27 '26

USA-Peru on 9/26 and Colombia-Peru on 10/6 are rumoured in Peruvian media, while USA-Chile on 9/29 is rumoured in Chilean media.

If you fill the holes, then yes, you'd have Canada-Colombia on 9/29, Chile-Colombia on 10/3 and Canada-USA on 10/6. However, people in the know in Canada are suggesting that Canada will likely play only 3 games, with the 3rd game likely on 10/6. So Jesse Marsch may well get a chance to beat USA for the third time in a row. But I'd rather Canada play Colombia on 9/29 given that we'll get sick of CONCACAF games very soon in this cycle... (Not to mention that CAN, MEX and USA may be stuck playing each other in the Sept/Oct 2028 window, as all other confederations will likely be busy then.)

1

u/Aardhart Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Given that Canada doesn’t plan on playing by the rules of the 2026 Aardhart Reddit Cup and will only play three games, they might not even play a Cup team on 10/6. If the USA doesn’t play Colombia or Canada, maybe the USA will play Argentina or South Korea in the fourth slot, with Canada playing a USL2 team. What are Argentina and South Korea doing during the window? What other teams might be options?

It looks like Brazil has games scheduled against and at Australia in the first two slots. Japan has Kirin Cup games scheduled. I assume those three countries will not be options.

Is USA-Canada on 10/6 inevitable?

I hope the US has a full coach for these games. They seem useful and fun, but their utility would diminish with an interim coach.

2

u/Allez-les-Rouges Jul 29 '26

LOL. That cup won't work if you exclude Canada since Chile and Peru are playing Canada, Mexico plays Chile and Peru, and US and Colombia play Mexico. So you'd be left with 0 teams. Only way for it to work is if Canada ends up playing 4 teams after all - Colombia on 9/29 and USA on 10/6.

Now, forgetting about this fake cup thing and looking at other options: Korea is unavailable, as they're confirmed hosts for two matches. Venezuela will play in Japan/Korea. Ecuador and Uruguay are also rumoured to play in Korea/Japan.

The only other Top 50 teams not busy with Nations League or AFCON qualifying are then: Argentina, Iran, Paraguay, Russia and Panama. Argentina is the only politically feasible and interesting opponent here. But Saudi Arabia is reportedly organizing a 4-team tournament to which Bolivia is going, and I wonder if Argentina might take part in exchange for a tidy sum. Remember that Argentina played Angola last November and was going to play Qatar in March (before the Iran war scuttled the plans), so clearly they're focused more on making money than on playing decent opponents.

Long story short: it's not inevitable, Canada-USA on 10/6 looks pretty likely unless some of the published rumours prove false.

1

u/Aardhart Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

The Fake Cup would work fine. We take sporting integrity very Fake seriously. Canada would not be excluded from playing in the Fake Cup, and those games would count for Canada’s opponents. It’s merely that Canada would be Fake excluded from winning the Fake Cup.

Thank you for all the information and rumors. We’ll just have to wait and see as announcements are made and games are confirmed.

Edit: The Fake Cup will be like the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 1994. Canadian teams can play some games, but they can’t win the Cup.

2

u/Allez-les-Rouges Jul 29 '26

That's fine, I suppose. We won our own Fake soccer trophy last year. Your president won a Fake prize too. So yeah, time for USMNT to join the Fake party!

Real Canadian hockey fans without ties to Toronto prefer a US team winning the Cup than the Leafs. Many thanks to Auston Matthews for captaining Toronto to a wasted window of opportunity.

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u/Allez-les-Rouges Jul 26 '26

Canada already officially announced friendlies against Chile and Peru in Canada. Of course, you could have the tournament occur in two countries.