Copa América: USMNT enjoying Southern hospitality in soccer-crazy Atlanta

Copa América

Updated Jun. 26, 2024 12:10 p.m. ET

ATLANTA — In the days leading to the host United States‘ Copa América-opening 2-0 win over Bolivia earlier this week in Arlington, Texas, there was some question about just how much of a home field advantage the U.S. team would have.

While Bolivian-Americans don’t tend to come out in droves to support La Verde the way Mexican or Colombian expatriates follow the beloved national squads of their mother countries, Bolivia also wasn’t the sort of opponent USMNT diehards just had to pay hundreds of dollars to see. Add in the fact that Jerry World in suburban Dallas hosted two U.S. matches in late March — including the Concacaf Nations League final against Mexico — and it was fair to wonder what sort of crowd would welcome Gregg Berhalter’s team to the field.

National team supporters put any doubt to rest early as almost 50,000 fans — most of them pulling for the USMNT — showed up. Showed out, too.

“Dallas was amazing,” U.S. forward Tim Weah told reporters in Atlanta on Tuesday ahead of the Americans’ next Copa group stage game, on Thursday versus Panama (6 p.m. ET on FOX). “The atmosphere was great, really good. So I think expectations are really high for Atlanta.”

There’s no question about that. Georgia’s cosmopolitan capital has earned a reputation as one of the most soccer-crazy cities in the country since Atlanta United took MLS by storm upon entering the domestic league as an expansion team in 2017. While the Five Stripes’ on-field fortunes have dipped since their championship-winning sohopmore campaign, their average attendance has stayed steady at more than 45,000 per game — tops in MLS by a considerable margin in each of their eight seasons so far.

Rather amazingly, the state of Georgia has only hosted the USMNT three times in the program’s 109-year history. The last time the men played in Atlanta was almost a decade ago. It wasn’t a happy occasion, as Jamaica stunned the Americans in the 2015 Gold Cup semifinals. The U.S. women’s national team played in Atlanta in April, when 50,644 fans packed into Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a friendly win over Japan. It was the largest crowd for any USWNT match since the 1999 Women’s World Cup final.

Tournament organizers won’t say how many tickets have been sold for Thursday’s contest at the same 71,000-seat venue, but it will surely surpass the April game. The men are ready for a raucous, partisan welcome.

“I played in MLS for a number of years and this is one of the away games you didn’t really ever want to play, especially when they first came into the league,” U.S. goalie Matt Turner said. So we know that the fan turnout at Mercedes-Benz for Atlanta United is really good. And we’re hoping to see some of that and feel that energy from the crowd on Thursday.”

Since arriving on Monday, Turner has already felt the big-event vibe around town.

“We don’t have a ton of time to explore the cities when we come to them, especially in this environment, but I can speak to times in the past where I’ve come in and again, you just feel the energy from the city about soccer and that’s a really good feeling when you’re coming in to play such a big game,” Turner said.

Both the men’s and women’s programs will be spending a lot more time in the Atlanta area in the years to come. The U.S. Soccer Federation is building a sprawling, state-of-the-art headquarters in Fayette County, about 30 miles southwest of downtown. The facility is expected to open before the 2026 World Cup kicks off two summers from now.

USMNT’s mission of transforming soccer in the U.S.

Weah, a native New Yorker who plays his club soccer for Juventus in Italy, is even considering putting roots down in the area long-term.

“Atlanta is a progressive city,” he said. “I think the training center is going to be in a perfect place for all of us.

“We’re all pretty much East Coast boys,” he added. “I see myself in the future kind of investing in Atlanta as well, either getting land out here [or] building a house so that my family can be close when I come back.”

In a tournament setting, home field advantage matters. If the Americans advance from Group C, they’ll likely face Brazil or Colombia — two countries that enjoy massive support in the U.S. The atmosphere will be electric, but loyalties will be split at best. That probably won’t be the case on Thursday in Atlanta even with plenty of Panamanian supporters in the house.

“People here really do care,” Turner said. “They care about the result. They care about how the team is performing. They know the players. And all that stuff feels really nice. You’re not getting random questions in the elevator about, ‘What college do you play for? What sport do you play’? People are aware of what’s going on.”

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered the United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him at @ByDougMcIntyre.