Country music could be a secret weapon for Team USA during the World Cup.
Football stadiums across the country – like in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia Seattle and the San Francisco Bay area – have been transformed into football stadiums for the 2026 World Cup. Teams and their fans are spread out all across the country, and up in Boston, Scottish fans are having such a good time that they’ve drained the city’s bars and liquors stores of almost all of their booze.
All that to say… everyone seems to be having a great time at this year’s World Cup, which is pretty funny considering a whole lot of miserable dorks were worried about the United States hosting the tournament. That all looks pretty ridiculous with hindsight.
Players are enjoying their time in the states. Fans are having a blast. Even Team USA head coach Mauricio Pochettino, an Argentina native, is taking a lot of pleasure in diving into everything that America has to offer. The highly respected manager who had stops at Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea previously was tasked with taking the reigns of the struggling Team USA soccer squad in 2024 and getting them ready to compete with the rest of the world in the World Cup.
He’s done exactly that.
And Pochettino recently let the world in on what could be one of his secrets of preparation: Lainey Wilson. That’s right. While the head coach was doing some training prep, he threw on the “Heart Like A Truck” singer and took a video of his set up, which he then shared to his Instagram story:
“Training prep with American vibes – Lainey Wilson.”
Who knew that “Good Horses Come Home” could be such a hype song?
Team USA fans quickly rushed to comment on the song and artist selection, saying that Mauricio Pochettino – who primarily lives across the pond – is welcome to call himself a full-on American if he wishes:
He’s full American now. He may never leave us.
— The Fall Guy (@FallGuySports) June 23, 2026
I mean he is Argie, which also has a deep rooted heritage of country(folk music)/cowboy culture.
— user name (@marky_name) June 23, 2026
Would love to have him stay as our coach
— Ducknaut 🦆 (@bucknaut) June 23, 2026
Coach Pochettino definitely seems like a great fit… especially if he’s a Lainey Wilson fan.
Not only is country cool again… one could make an argument that it’s taking over the 2026 World Cup. Everywhere you look, country music and the world’s biggest sporting event are linking together. The United States has adopted the 1971 John Denver classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as their victory anthem, and that recently went viral after their latest victory:
And how could we forget about the World Cup social media darling known simply as Freddy?
His 2026 World Cup experience has been like something out of a movie, and early on in his travels, he and his friend group discovered Ella Langley. They quickly became Ella Fellas – like many others have – and crazily enough, Freddy got to see her in concert and meet her recently:
Country music and the world cup… the perfect pairing.
