World Cup 2026 Is Underway, but America Is Watching the Knicks

Since Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in Thursday's opening match at Azteca, the World Cup has been the biggest sporting event on the planet — everywhere except, arguably, the country co-hosting it.

The NBA Problem

The New York Knicks staged what BBC Sport described as the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history Wednesday night, beating the San Antonio Spurs to take a 3-1 series lead. New Yorkers poured into the streets. Fans stood on car hoods in Manhattan. Bars in Santa Monica erupted.

None of that was for soccer.

The Knicks need one more win — likely Saturday night — to claim their first NBA championship since 1973. That happens to be the same night the U.S. men's national team opens against Paraguay (2:00 AM BST Sunday, Saturday evening ET). According to BBC Sport, a recent poll found roughly half of Americans surveyed do not care about the World Cup. At all.

Subway cars in New York are wrapped in national team colors. Lionel Messi's face is on a Times Square billboard. BBC Sport reporters walking the city found fans in Morocco and Brazil shirts. But the dominant conversation is basketball.

"I don't care about anything other than the Knicks," one New Yorker told BBC Sport. Another, Frank, said he'd been focused on basketball but planned to tune into soccer once the Knicks series wrapped up. That's the target American soccer fan in 2026: the conditional convert.

What the Believers Are Doing

The skeptic's case is real. But so is the counterpoint: some fans are genuinely invested, and the atmosphere building in Boston ahead of Scotland vs. Haiti on Saturday is a preview of what engaged World Cup crowds look like.

Around 30,000 Scotland supporters are expected in Boston for Saturday's match, according to BBC Sport. The Tartan Army — Scotland's notoriously committed traveling fan base — has been filling bars and streets, kilts included, in temperatures hitting 31°C. Boston's only Scottish pub, The Haven, brought in extra Scottish beer and had a piper playing the U.S. national anthem.

NPR's Lauren Frayer profiled what may be the tournament's most compelling fan story: Moira Brown, 93, of Glasgow, probably the oldest member of the Tartan Army. Scotland last qualified for a World Cup in 1998 — a 28-year gap. Brown, who first attended a soccer match as a young girl in the 1930s when her father took her to a club game in Motherwell, has been traveling the world following Scottish football for decades. She holds tickets to all three of Scotland's group-stage matches, two near Boston and one in Miami. "I waited almost 30 years to see another World Cup," she told NPR. "Now I'm the luckiest person in this world."

For the record: Brown travels with only a carry-on bag.

The South Africa Fallout

Thursday's 2-0 Mexico result carried more weight than scorelines usually do. South Africa's loss set off a wave of mocking social media posts from fans across the African continent, but the mockery wasn't purely sporting. According to BBC Sport, many African fans openly supported Mexico and cited xenophobic violence within South Africa directed at migrants from other African countries as their reason.

Posts ranged from sombrero and taco memes to pointed political commentary. "We're supporting Mexico so that South Africa can go back home early to protect their jobs," one X user wrote, referencing the claim — described by BBC Sport as unfounded — that foreign migrants are responsible for South Africa's high unemployment. Some South African fans pushed back, praising Bafana Bafana's fighting spirit despite the result.

South Africa is one of 10 African nations in this expanded 48-team field. The regional solidarity that typically emerges early in World Cups did not materialize here, at least not on social media.

Big Brands, Bigger Bets

If American public apathy is real, the advertising industry hasn't gotten the memo. BBC Sport's culture reporter Paul Glynn documented a wave of star-studded World Cup ad campaigns that rival Super Bowl spending in ambition. Nike's "Rip the Script" features Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Channing Tatum, Kim Kardashian, her son Saint West, Travis Scott, Central Cee, Blackpink's Lisa, and LeBron James. The latter appeared alongside Ronaldo in what Glynn described as looking "less like sports stars and more like characters from the X-Men or Justice League."

Adidas, Palace, and others have run similarly cinematic spots. Timothée Chalamet appeared in a Chelsea-fan-coded campaign. Susan Boyle showed up somewhere in the mix. The brands are not betting on current American soccer passion. They're betting on creating it.

The Souttar Family Situation

One human-interest thread worth tracking: Jack and Heather Souttar of Luthermuir, Aberdeenshire, are traveling to the U.S. to watch their sons play on opposite teams. John Souttar, who plays for Rangers, is in the Scotland squad. His younger brother Harry, who qualifies for Australia through their mother Heather's birthplace, is in the Socceroos' squad. The two brothers face each other's national teams in different group-stage matches, separated by 3,000 miles and six days, according to BBC Scotland. Their father Jack summed it up: "We want to support both kids and both countries. Then the ball's in the air for the rest of it."

If Scotland and Australia both advance past the group stage, the Souttars will face a bracket problem their parents' generation never had to solve.

What Happens Saturday

The weekend will answer some early questions about American engagement. Morocco vs. Brazil at MetLife Stadium on Saturday is one of the glamour matchups of the group stage. Scotland vs. Haiti kicks off Saturday evening ET in Boston. The U.S. men's national team faces Paraguay in a night kickoff. If Knicks fans are still celebrating a championship, some portion of the country's soccer audience simply won't tune in.

FIFA and the three host nations are counting on the tournament to build momentum through the group stage and into the knockout rounds, when American interest historically picks up. Whether that pattern holds in a year when basketball, not football, owns the American sports conversation on opening weekend remains an open question.