Hey friends,

Welcome to all 23 new readers. Here’s what we’ve got for ya today…

• 🌎️ 2026 World Cup Schedule

• 😵 Duncan McGuire’s Transfer Debacle

• ➡️ 12 USMNT Transfers

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet/Meme of the Week

2026 World Cup Schedule

2026 can’t come soon enough. We, at Nutmeg Soccer, CANNOT WAIT for the entire country to be soccer-mad just like we are. Even if just for a month. So until then, we’ll continue to tease you with World Cup content.

On Sunday, the locations of the first 48-team World Cup were announced. Metlife Stadium in New Jersey was chosen ahead of Sofi (LA) and AT&T (Dallas) to host the final on July 19th.

But Metlife is TURF and it’s UGLY?!? Yes… but every pitch will be outfitted with specialized natural grass just like they did for the 1994 World Cup. Metlife recently converted to grass for a friendly match between Arsenal and Manchester United last summer. Some stadiums, like SoFi, will undergo minor construction to widen the field to adhere to FIFA‘s requirement that a pitch be at least 74.4 yards wide. As for why it chose a rather dreary-looking stadium over the sexy SoFi, AT&T, or Mercedes Benz in Atlanta? Cue Frank Sinatra, 🎵 New York, Newww Yorkkkkk 🎵 

The USMNT group play schedule is…

• June 12th in LA (see you there?)

• June 19th in Seattle

• June 25th in LA

The tournament will start on June 11th at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Of the 104 games 78 will be in the US and 13 each in Mexico and Canada.

The Quarterfinal Locations:

• SoFi Stadium (LA)

• Gillette Stadium (Boston)

• Arrowhead Stadium(Kansas City)

• Hard Rock Stadium (Miami)

The Semifinal Locations:

• AT&T Stadium (Dallas)

• Mercedes Benz Stadium (Atlanta)

Also a fun tidbit… on July 4th, 2026 there will be a Round of 16 game in Philadelphia, the birthplace of America. That day also happens to be the 250th anniversary of American Independence. Just imagine if we play England that day. Happy Birthday, America!

Duncan McGuire’s Transfer Debacle

The transfer from hell. A complete debacle that still hasn’t ended. But before we get into that let’s start with Duncan. The 2022 first-round pick out of Creighton came into the MLS as a rookie and scored 13 goals while on a guaranteed salary of $77,360. Talk about a bargain.

So, it was no surprise that European clubs came knocking. English Championship sides Blackburn and Sheffield had rumored interest since the MLS season ended. It was Blackburn that turned up the heat on their pursuit and came to terms with Orlando 48 hours before the Feb 1st deadline.

And that’s when things got weird.

McGuire left training camp in Cancun and got on the next flight to Manchester. As he sat on the flight, Blackburn’s ownership team called from India and said they’d have to pull out of the deal due to lack of finances.

With 30 hours till the transfer deadline, McGuire sat in JFK waiting for his connecting flight, unsure of his future. He decided to continue on the flight to England in hopes that the deal could be recovered in time. As Duncan landed in the UK with 24 hours to go more rumors started swirling. Sheffield was back in the mix and Ipswich Town and Plymouth Arguyle expressed interest too.

But after completing a sale of another player, Blackburn was back in. This time they agreed to pay a $700k loan fee with a purchase option of $7M. Orlando City agreed and with 100 minutes to spare, McGuire put pen to paper.

But wait… it’s not done yet. The next day an administrative error is revealed. Part of the papers required to complete the deal were uploaded and saved onto the EFL website but not submitted. How could you not press submit??

Blackburn has requested special permission from the EFL board and the board meets today so we should hear official news soon.

Man, poor Duncan McGuire. Hopefully, he will get this finalized.

12 USMNT Transfer Moves

What a wild winter transfer window! In American soccer, no transfer is official until Tom Bogert tells you it is and this window had some twists and turns.

There are three interesting trends regarding this window’s moves:

• Colorado Rapids were the only MLS team to make USMNT acquisitions (3)

• Many of these moves will give the players more opportunities and minutes. With the 2026 World Cup only two years away, some of these moves are intended to help players land a spot on the WC roster.

• Three USMNT players left the US this window, and three returned from playing overseas. Nice to have a balance here, and great to have some USMNT players in the MLS.

Goal of the Week

USMNT youngsters and brothers, Taylor and Zach Booth faced off in an Eredivisie match last weekend. Taylor had a hat trick and Zach also scored.

Tweet of the Week

HAHAH so true

Quick Hits

• CF Montreal sign Josef Martinez (Link)

• NYCFC finalizing a $8.6M deal for Serbian teenager Jovan Mijatovic (Link)

• Chicago Fire are finalizing a deal for USMNT midfielder Kellyn Acosta (Link)

• Sergio Busquets suffers injury in preseason tour match (Link)