Which hotel is the USMNT staying in during their 2026 World Cup base camp in California?
Pulisic and the Stars and Stripes will train and recover in coastal California, with a luxury Laguna Niguel base planned through the group stage and potentially beyond.
The west coast of the United States will be the USMNT’s home for the next couple of weeks, and Mauricio Pochettino may well hope his team stays in that part of the country for most of the summer.
The World Cup co-hosts play two group games against Paraguay and Türkiye at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, with their middle fixture against Australia taking place at Lumen Field in Seattle.
If the USMNT qualify from Group D and advance as group winners, they would also play their round of 32 match in California, in Santa Clara. Should they keep winning, they would return to Seattle for the round of 16, and head back to Inglewood for the quarterfinals.
Only if they reach the semifinals, which some might argue is overly ambitious, would they venture inland to Arlington, Texas, before potentially finishing in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the final.
If the Stars and Stripes go through in second or third place, they would immediately be forced away from the coast.
A California-based tournament plan
Given their group-stage schedule, it was not a huge surprise to see U.S. Soccer confirm the national team will be based in California for the duration of the tournament.
Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and company will sharpen up for their World Cup games at Great Park Championship Soccer Stadium in Irvine, California, which is around a 30-minute bus ride from the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel, a seaside resort where the team will rest before and after training sessions and matches.
Coastal recovery in Laguna Niguel
The cliffside resort in Dana Point overlooks the Pacific Ocean and will give the team a quiet, self-contained environment away from the city. In addition to luxury rooms and suites, the hotel has a spa, fitness center, pools and multiple dining options on site.
The emphasis is on privacy, comfort and recovery, with no distractions other than the spectacular ocean views.
The cheapest rooms start at around $1,200 per night during peak season, with that figure dropping to approximately $800 in off-peak periods.
The USMNT are booked in until June 25, when they play their last group game against Türkiye, but will be hoping they have to extend their stay by several weeks, with the World Cup final taking place on July 19.
“Why not us?” as Pochettino would say.
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