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Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard

2026 USMNT World Cup Preview | Unfiltered Soccer

6/9/20261 hr 14 min

The USMNT & the 2026 World Cup are getting Unfiltered! On Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, our hosts are previewing the 2026 World Cup here in North America and how the U.S. Men’s National Team is shaping up as they complete their pre-tournament friendlies.  Plus, the guys are joined by US Soccer’s CEO and Secretary General, JT Batson, to talk about this summer – and what is to come after the tournament is done.  In the AT&T Mailbag, the guys are talking fan interactions and what YOU need to know before the games start this week.  New episodes of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim drop every Tuesday. Subscribe to the show on YouTube and follow on all your favorite podcast platforms. For bonus content, follow on all social media platforms @UnfilteredSoccer. Send your mailbag questions to feedback@unfilteredsoccer.com (https://www.unfilteredsoccer.com).  Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard is presented by Volkswagen. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4g8bZG3.   Thank you to our additional sponsors:  AT&T. Connecting Changes Everything. Visit https://att.com/guarantee to learn more.  Coors Light. Choose Chill. Get Coors Light delivered. Go to CoorsLight.com/USLNT  FanDuel. Secure your chance to score $100 BUCKS in bonus bets today. Download the FanDuel App to check out today's Soccer Daily Specials betting odds.  Walmart. Walmart plays on Saturdays. Who knew? Visit walmart.com/MLS  This episode of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard was edited and mastered by Jeremy Steinkamp, with engineering support from Eric Newell. Our producers are Jordan Rizzieri and Andrew Gundling. Our social media lead is Dan Armelli and our social editors are Kyle Curley and Finley Skelton.  00:00 Intro  2:12 USMNT vs. Germany recap   6:21 USMNT World Cup preview   11:50 General World Cup preview   22:01 JT Batson joins the show!   31:00 Don Garber crashes the interview   33:34 Crocker leaving U.S. Soccer   41:22 Pochettino's status   47:57 Growing soccer in America   55:52 Antonee Robinson's worldie   1:02:54 Fan Connection  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clips

MLS Success Equals National Glory
What Fans Really Want
’94 Icons Meet Today’s Stars
Soccer Everywhere, Smiles First
Big-League Succession Mindset
US Soccer’s Growth Spurt

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. JT Batson· Guest0:00

    The continued success of Major League Soccer and M.V. zone USL will lead to more money funneled into youth soccer so that more kids can play soccer in this country, whether for fun or because they wanna win World Cups. And so that is something that is so, so, so important for us to, to make sure that we're all embracing. And so if you care about the success of the men's national team this summer, then you care about the success of Major League Soccer, full stop.

  2. Landon Donovan· Host0:19

    Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America, and has proudly been a partner of U.S. Soccer for over five years.

  3. Tim Howard· Host0:30

    Welcome into Unfiltered Soccer. He's Landon, I'm Tim. This is presented by Volkswagen LD. It's getting close.

  4. Landon Donovan· Host0:38

    [laughs] Yes, sir.

  5. Tim Howard· Host0:38

    It's getting close, bro.

  6. Landon Donovan· Host0:39

    It is close.

  7. Tim Howard· Host0:40

    This is wild.

  8. Landon Donovan· Host0:40

    Hey, I'm... What's today, the 8th?

  9. Tim Howard· Host0:42

    The 8th, yeah.

  10. Landon Donovan· Host0:44

    Three days, I will be calling- How nervous are you? ... a game in Mexico City.

  11. Tim Howard· Host0:47

    How nervous are you right now?

  12. Landon Donovan· Host0:48

    Uh, not nervous. I'm- You don't get nervous? ... really excited. When I get to the stadium I will be, 'cause it's just the energy- Yeah ... and everything, and then you're like, "Oh, shoot, I'm on live TV."

  13. Tim Howard· Host0:56

    [laughs] Yeah.

  14. Landon Donovan· Host0:57

    "Like, I can't mess this up."

  15. Tim Howard· Host0:58

    Yeah, yeah.

  16. Landon Donovan· Host0:58

    You know? Like, I cannot wait, dude.

  17. Tim Howard· Host1:00

    You're doing, you're doing loads- I cannot wait ... of research notes and all that kinda stuff, huh?

  18. Landon Donovan· Host1:03

    Yeah. And you're trying to figure out, like, who's gonna play- Yeah ... and what's it gonna look... 'Cause there's new rules, and the referees are gonna be inter- You know how the refs always do- Sure ... something interesting.

  19. Tim Howard· Host1:11

    Sure.

  20. Landon Donovan· Host1:11

    And they have some of their, their, their emphasis points and all that.

  21. Tim Howard· Host1:14

    Yeah.

  22. Landon Donovan· Host1:15

    You know? So.

  23. Tim Howard· Host1:15

    Well, I'm, well, I'm excited for you.

  24. Landon Donovan· Host1:16

    Um.

  25. Tim Howard· Host1:16

    I'm excited for, uh, we have an amazing guest today. I cannot wait to dig into this. It's gonna be awesome.

  26. Landon Donovan· Host1:21

    Yeah, it's gonna be super, really interesting. People are gonna love him. All right, follow the show, guys. Social media, Unfiltered Soccer. Subscribe to the show anywhere you get your podcasts:

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