The Brief

An influential committee of the UC Academic Senate weighed in again last month on the contentious issue of how much math high school students must take to qualify to attend a four-year California state university.

It ruled that high school students taking an introductory data science course or AP Statistics cannot substitute it for Algebra II for admission to the University of California and California State University, starting in the fall of 2025.

The Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools or BOARS reaffirmed its position by accepting the recommendations of a workgroup of math and statistics professors who examined the issue. That workgroup determined that none of these courses labeled as data science “even come close” to qualifying as a more advanced algebra course.

Robert Gould, a teaching professor and vice chair of undergraduate studies in the statistics department at UCLA and lead author of Introduction to Data Science, said that he disagrees with BOARS’ decision. The course was created under the auspices of the National Science Foundation through a math and science partnership grant.

“We are disappointed, of course,” he said. “We believe our course is rigorous and challenging and, most importantly, contains knowledge and skills that all students need for both career and academic success.”

But how, then, will UC and CSU ultimately fit popular data science courses like CourseKata, Introduction to Data Science, and YouCubed’s Explorations in Data Science into course requirements for admission? That bigger question won’t be determined until May when the math workgroup will issue its next report.

Data science advocates are worried that BOARS, which commissioned the review, may disqualify data science and possibly statistics under the category of math courses meeting the criteria for admissions. Increasing numbers of high school students are turning to introductory data courses in a world shaped by artificial intelligence and other data-driven opportunities and careers. They see them as approachable alternatives to trigonometry, pre-calculus and other rigorous courses students must take to major in science, technology engineering or math (STEM) in college.

Dozens of high school math teachers and administrators have signed a letter being circulated that will go to the UC regents. It reiterates support for data science and statistics courses and criticizes BOARS for not consulting high school teachers and data science experts for their perspectives.

“Our schools and districts have adopted such courses because they provide an innovative 21st-century experience that excites and engages students, impart tangible quantitative skills needed for a wide variety of today’s careers and academic fields, and offer new ways for students to interact with and learn mathematics,” the letter states.

Pamela Burdman, executive director of the nonprofit Just Equations, agreed in a blog post titled “The Latest in the Inexplicable War on High School Data Science Courses.” “The bottom line is that districts are increasingly offering these courses because they are relevant and engaging for many students who otherwise would be turned off by mathematics,” she wrote.

Will it help or hinder equity?

Critics of substituting introductory data sciences courses for advanced algebra include STEM professors at UC and CSU. Many say they support data science, but not courses lacking the full range of math topics in high schools that students need for STEM or any major requiring quantitative skills. Skipping foundational math in high school will set back the cause of equity for underserved students of color, not advance it, they argue, by creating the illusion that students are ready for statistics, computer science and data science majors when they aren’t. That may force them to take catch-up courses in community college.

“The only way we’re going to diversify STEM fields is to keep historically excluded young students on the algebraic thinking pathway just a little bit longer,” Elizabeth Statmore, a math teacher at Lowell High in San Francisco and former software executive, wrote to EdSource last year. “That will give them the mathematical competencies they will need to make their own decisions about whether or not they want to pursue rigorous quantitative majors and careers.”

Proponents of holding the line on Algebra II and encouraging more students to pursue STEM majors are circulating their own attention-grabbing letter titled Strong Math Foundations are Important for AI. The signers, including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, his nemesis Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, SpaceX and CEO of X, and executives from Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft and Google, “applaud” UC for maintaining the math requirements.

“While today’s advances might suggest classic mathematical topics like calculus or algebra are outdated, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, modern AI systems are rooted in mathematics, making a strong command over math necessary for careers in this field,” it reads. “Failure to maintain standards in the mathematical curriculum in public education will increase the gap between public schools — especially those of under-resourced districts — and private schools, hampering efforts to diversify STEM.”

Surprise actions by UC Office of President

For decades, UC and CSU have required that students complete three years of math with at least a “C” — usually in the sequence Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, also called Advanced Algebra – as the math component of A-G, the 15 courses needed for admission. For students taking integrated math, it is Math I, II and III. Both university systems recommend a fourth year of math, and most students take at least that; aspiring STEM majors take two or more additional courses leading to Calculus.

BOARS establishes policies on admissions, but a small office in the UC President’s Office, the High School Articulation Unit, vets tens of thousands of courses that developers and high school teachers submit for approval. Starting in 2014, the unit began authorizing AP statistics and new data science courses as “validating” or satisfying Algebra II or Integrated Math III content requirements. That meant they either built on the content standards that students had covered or would cover in the course.

Although AP Statistics doesn’t cover most Algebra II topics, the rationale for validating it and data science courses — mistakenly so, BOARS determined in retrospect — was that Algebra II includes some statistics, and most teachers never get around to teaching it. That was problematic for introductory data science courses, because the state hasn’t set standards for what should be covered in the courses. The College Board, the creator of AP Statistics, states that the course is designed for students who have completed Algebra II.

During the last few years, the staff in the review office approved the three most popular data science courses in more than 400 high schools. After analyzing the three courses, the UC workgroup professors concluded, “We find these current courses labeled as ‘data science’ are more akin to data literacy courses.”

UC academic committee meetings, including BOARS, are closed to the public. But minutes from the July 2023 meeting indicated that some faculty members were dismayed that the articulation office had validated so many data science courses without their knowledge. “At least one member repeatedly suggested that UCOP has misinterpreted/misapplied the advanced math standard for years — and absent correction, will continue to do so — and so review of all current courses potentially implicated is needed,” the minutes state.

BOARS hasn’t ruled out approving future data science courses that include more advanced algebra as a substitute for Algebra II; the articulation office has validated Financial Algebra for that purpose. BOARS invited course alternatives in a June 2020 statement, saying it saw the expanded options “as both a college preparation and equity issue.”

But data science proponents are concerned that the math workgroup will take the opposite position and recommend that the three introductory data science courses be treated as elective courses for A-G but not fourth-year math courses. Ruling that way, they argue, would discourage future non-STEM majors from taking an alternative quantitative reasoning course as seniors. Such a position would reinforce a narrow view that only courses leading to Calculus are legitimate math offerings in the senior year.

“Revocation of Area C (math) status will significantly reduce our ability to foster students’ statistical and data competency or incentivize enrollment in these programs, at a time when such quantitative abilities are increasingly necessary for functioning personally and professionally in the 21st Century,” the letter to the UC regents says.

Lai Bui, a veteran math teacher at Mills High School in the San Mateo Union High School District, said there’s no justification for treating CourseKata, an introduction to data science course, differently from AP Statistics, which BOARS has qualified as a fourth-year math course. Students in CourseKata use coding to analyze datasets, while AP Stats students use graphing calculators, which have limitations, she said.

UCLA and CSU Los Angeles created CourseKata in 2017 as a semester course for college and as a two-semester course for high schools; otherwise, they are similar, said Bui, who has taught it for four years.

“CourseKata is definitely not data literacy,” she said. “It’s a math course, like AP Statistics, only more real-world connected. I see students succeeding in math instead of thinking, ‘I am not a math person.’”

In 2023, the CSU Academic Senate expressed frustration that UC was approving courses in data science in lieu of Algebra II without consulting it and urged more joint decision-making involving A-G decisions. In January, three CSU professors were added to the 10-member UC math workgroup.

Mark Van Selst, a psychology professor at San Jose State and member of the Academic Preparation and Education Programs Committee, considered CSU’s counterpart of BOARS, said this week he fully supports the decision not to retreat from Algebra II as a base of knowledge. But he also favors qualifying non-traditional fourth-year math courses that strengthen quantitative reasoning. He said he hopes the UC math workgroup drafts standards or learning outcomes for data science to distinguish between electives and advanced math courses.

Gould said he would need to review the possible criteria before deciding whether to revise the content of Introduction to Data Science.

“A data science education is essential for all students, and all students deserve a relevant and useful math education,” he said. “Despite the committee’s decision, we think it’s important that data science and statistics courses continue to qualify as fourth-year math courses.”

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The FIFA World Cup has finally arrived once again on American soil.

On Friday night in Southern California, the world's largest sporting event returns to the U.S. for the first time in more than three decades when the U.S. men's national soccer team kicks off its first group-stage match against Paraguay.

This 2026 World Cup has been circled on the calendar of U.S. Soccer for nearly a decade — the long-awaited chance to finally rewrite a legacy of inferiority in international soccer.

The heavyweight talent and strong soccer tradition of European and South American teams have long proven elusive for the U.S. to match, despite decades of investment in the sport. The furthest the U.S. team has finished in a modern World Cup was a run to the quarterfinals in 2002; since then, the U.S. has managed just three total wins across all the World Cups.

Yet the chance to host the tournament at home has coincided with the development of perhaps the most talented generation of players that American soccer has ever produced.

For the first time in the national team's history, its major players all have key roles on teams in Europe's top-flight professional leagues. Midfielder Tyler Adams and defenders Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson are regular contributors to their English Premier League teams, while Weston McKennie is a favorite at Italian club Juventus, and Christian Pulisic, the one-time boy wonder of Team USA, is now, at 27, a bona fide star for AC Milan.

"This is for me the biggest opportunity to grow the game, to inspire people, to show that American players are at the level of the rest of the world," Adams said Thursday.

Paraguay is already hobbled

The team's first challenge is Friday's game against Paraguay, currently No. 40 in FIFA's international rankings. The two teams faced off in an international friendly last November, which the U.S. won 2-1 after a scuffle between players broke out during stoppage time.

"We know that they're gonna be super, super aggressive, so we're going to have to match that. We saw that the last time we played them," said U.S. forward Tim Weah.

Paraguay may have to play without its biggest talent, the 22-year-old midfielder Julio Enciso, who was stretchered off the field in the first half of his team's final warm-up match last week.

After Friday's match, the U.S. will play Australia next week, then wrap up the group stage with a June 25 game against Turkey.

The expansion of the tournament to 48 teams means it will be easier than ever to emerge from the group stage. A win in Friday's game, plus either a second win against Australia or Turkey or a draw against both teams, would likely be enough for the U.S. to advance to the knockout round — though the U.S. could earn a more advantageous path if it finishes the group stage in first place.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Four years in the making. The U.S. Men's National Team is finally ready to play its first game of the 2026 World Cup with a match on Friday against Paraguay in Los Angeles. For the 26 Americans on the squad, just making it to soccer's most prestigious tournament and the world's biggest sporting event is a culmination (or continuation) of a lifetime of soccer highs and lows.

Here's what to know about each of the players on the team.

⭐⭐⭐ = main star

⭐⭐ = starter or featured substitute

⭐ = contributor off the bench

Forwards

Name: Christian Pulisic ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: Hershey, Pa.

Club team: AC Milan (Serie A)

The hot spotlight of American soccer has followed Christian Pulisic for years now, and, to his credit, he's largely lived up to the hype. He's a key starter on one of Europe's top clubs. He's the top active goalscorer for the USMNT, with 33 goals in 86 career appearances with the senior team. And though a goal-scoring drought had haunted him in the first half of this year, he broke through with a goal against Senegal late last month and is heading into this World Cup free and aggressive as ever.

Name: Folarin Balogun ⭐⭐

Age: 24

Hometown: London, England

Club team: AS Monaco (Ligue 1)

Born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents and raised in London, Balogun was eligible for all three national teams. He made the switch to represent the U.S. in 2023, when the Americans were in dire need of a striker. Since then, Balogun has been heralded as the long-term solution up front. He scored at least two goals in each of his first three games with the national team and added his first of 2026 against Senegal. And he's headed into the World Cup in top form: At Monaco this season, he bagged 19 goals in 43 total appearances.

Name: Ricardo Pepi ⭐⭐

Age: 23

Hometown: El Paso, Texas

Club team: PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie)

One of two Mexican-American dual-national players on the USMNT, Pepi was devastated when he was left off the 2022 World Cup squad. But the El Paso native played the best soccer of his career with PSV this season, with 19 goals in 34 appearances — and in the May match against Senegal, he showed a dangerous chemistry with Pulisic in helping to set up the first two goals of the game. "He's grown a lot. He probably deserved to be on that last roster," Pulisic said in May. "His time is now. He absolutely deserves to be here."

U.S. forward Christian Pulisic (r) runs with the ball as Nico Schlotterbeck of Germany chases during the international friendly match between at Soldier Field on June 06, 2026 in Chicago, Ill.

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Name: Timothy Weah ⭐

Age: 26

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Club team: Olympique de Marseille (Ligue 1)

Soccer runs in Tim Weah's family; he is the son of George Weah, the star footballer-turned politician who won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award in 1995, then got involved in politics in his home country of Liberia after his retirement from soccer. The younger Weah was mostly raised in New York, his mother's home. Weah has had some high highs and low lows with the USMNT — from scoring a World Cup goal vs. Wales in 2022 to tanking the USMNT's chances in the '24 Copa America with a red card — and in this World Cup, he may not be a starter but is expected to play an active role, most likely off the bench on the right side.

Name: Alejandro Zendejas ⭐

Age: 28

Hometown: El Paso, Texas

Club team: Club América (Liga MX)

Zendejas is the second Mexican-American player on this squad. He was born in Ciudad Juarez and raised in El Paso. He was a regular in USMNT youth camps when he was young but moved to Mexico for a club career with Chivas de Guadalajara followed by Club America, two of Liga MX's biggest clubs. He had his choice of national teams but committed to the U.S. in 2023. His role on the World Cup team is a bit of a wild card; he's a talented attacker but likely won't start a match.

Name: Haji Wright

Age: 28

Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.

Club team: Coventry City (Premier League* just promoted)

Haji Wright scored one of the only three USMNT goals in the 2022 World Cup when he came off the bench against the Netherlands in the Round of 16. This past season, he was instrumental in getting Coventry City promoted to the top tier of English football. Able to play on the wings or as a striker, Wright could be a useful substitute for the U.S., but the USMNT has more quality at the position than it did in 2022, and he may struggle to see the field behind Balogun and Pepi.

Name: Brenden Aaronson

Age: 25

Hometown: Medford, N.J.

Club team: Leeds United (Premier League)

The "Medford Messi" hero of suburban New Jersey youth soccer is having a big summer: He's on the U.S. World Cup roster and got married barely two weeks ago (dipping out of training camp for a single night before rejoining the team in time for its two tune-up friendlies). He had a career year in the 2024-25 season with Leeds before taking a modest step back this year; it's likely he'll be in a spark plug bench role at the World Cup.

Midfielders

Name: Tyler Adams ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

Club team: AFC Bournemouth (Premier League)

Alongside Pulisic and fellow midfielder Weston McKennie, Adams is a main character of this generation of the USMNT. Raised by a single mom in upstate New York, Adams had to rely on sheer determination to overcome plenty of obstacles — like his small stature and lack of goalscoring touch — on his path to professional soccer. At 23, the midfielder was named the captain of the 2022 World Cup team, and his toughness sets the tone for the whole team. "I see guys get kicked, I want to kick anyone," he said after last weekend's (less than) friendly match against Germany.

Weston McKennie is the heart and soul of the U.S. Men's National Team. He's a lock to be a starter on the World Cup squad. The only question is which position.

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Name: Weston McKennie ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: Little Elm, Texas

Club team: Juventus (Serie A)

McKennie might be the beating heart of this team. An all-American: Born on an Army base in Washington, raised in Texas, and spent some formative years at an air base in Germany where he caught the soccer bug before moving back to the U.S. He dyed a streak of hair red, white and blue for the '22 World Cup, and he's a lock to start — the only question is, where? Coach Mauricio Pochettino has played him in a variety of outfield positions over the past year and a half. He scored the opening goal in a March friendly against Belgium

Name: Malik Tillman ⭐⭐

Age: 24

Hometown: Furth, Germany

Club team: Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga)

Off the field, the soft-spoken Tillman (whose dad is American and mom is German) may be the quietest member of this team. But on the pitch, it's a different story altogether. Tillman is an attacking midfielder whose game has matured and improved so much that former U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart recently called him "one of the most amazing players I've ever seen." As he grows more comfortable, his reserved nature disappears, Stewart added: "He's a character that once he feels part of a group, he can show amazing special things. And he can actually control things as no one other that I know."

Name: Sebastian Berhalter ⭐⭐

Age: 25

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

Club team: Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS)

The compact, confident Berhalter has a big last name in U.S. Soccer: His dad, Gregg, featured prominently as a player in the U.S. quarterfinal run at the 2002 World Cup, then became USMNT coach in 2018. He never called up his son to the senior national team — the younger Berhalter's debut came in 2025, after new coach Pochettino had taken over. "I know if I got a call from my dad, I would have to earn it double as any other player," he said recently. "He would never call me in just to call me in. I had to earn it." He's known for his quality set-piece deliveries, like corner kicks, so look for him on the field in those moments.

Name: Gio Reyna ⭐⭐

Age: 23

Hometown: Bedford, N.Y.

Club team: Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga)

To say Reyna is mercurial is putting it mildly: As a 17-year-old, he broke Pulisic's record as the youngest American to play in the Bundesliga and quickly made a name for himself as a gifted attacking creator — but then he dramatically fell off in form after a series of injuries. Reyna was also a breakout figure for the USMNT in 2022, but not for his performance in the World Cup; Instead, the long story involves complaints over his lack of playing time and criticism by then-coach Gregg Berhalter, whose long relationship with Reyna's parents (former teammates and college friends) became fodder for a leaked story that prompted a swirl of drama and Berhalter's eventual firing after the World Cup. Still only 23, Reyna has tried to move past all that, but his inconsistency on the field makes it hard to know what to expect from him this summer.

Name: Cristian Roldan

Age: 31

Hometown: Pico Rivera, Calif.

Club team: Seattle Sounders (MLS)

Roldan is another modern American story, born in California to a Guatemalan dad and Salvadoran mother who immigrated after their home countries were gripped by violence in the 1980s. Roldan grew up with two brothers in an eastside Los Angeles suburb, kicking the ball into a goal their dad had made of PVC pipe. Now, Roldan and his brother Alex are teammates on the Seattle Sounders. Roldan is a mature, calming locker-room presence and will likely play only a small role on the field, if he plays at all.

American defender Chris Richards talks to the media during a training session ahead of the 2026 World Cup on Wednesday in Irvine, Calif.

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Defenders

Name: Chris Richards ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 26

Hometown: Birmingham, Ala.

Club team: Crystal Palace (Premier League)

As an athletic kid growing up in Alabama, Chris Richards could easily have ended up with a career in a different sport altogether — at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he shares a frame with plenty of point guards and wide receivers. But the young Richards caught the soccer bug early on and pushed through culture shock as a teenager on a professional contract in Germany to blossom into a talented defender. He's the best defender on the USMNT, but he hurt his ankle in a game with his club Crystal Palace in May and hasn't played since. The U.S. defense has looked porous without him, but on Wednesday he said he was "ready." (He may also have the best game-day fits)

Name: Antonee "Jedi" Robinson ⭐⭐⭐

Age: 28

Hometown: Liverpool, England

Club team: Fulham FC (Premier League)

Robinson grew up in England and developed as a player through the youth system at Everton. But the English national team never called him up — so when the U.S. offered him an opportunity, because his dad had grown up in the U.S. (and played soccer at Duke), Robinson seized the opportunity. Since then, the left-back has developed into one of the USMNT's most talented players. But a major injury set him back for more than a year, and he only just returned to the field for the U.S. in March. "There was no certainty on my end that I was going to be fit and available and make it, because it just seemed like there was no light at the end of the tunnel," he said earlier this year. A few weeks ago, he bleached his hair for the World Cup, then scored an absolute rocket of a goal in the friendly against Germany. Auspicious!

Name: Tim Ream ⭐⭐

Age: 38

Hometown: St. Louis, Mo.

Club team: Charlotte FC (MLS)

Ream is the oldest player on this squad, and his steady leadership has earned him the team captain armband. At 38 years old, he's no longer the fastest guy on the pitch, but those decades of experience — one of them spent in England at the Premier League club Fulham — mean he rarely finds himself out of position, and his passes are still well-placed. He wasn't chosen for the World Cup squad in 2014 and then the U.S. failed to qualify in 2018. But he played every minute of the U.S. run in 2022. "Tim is an amazing American story of perseverance," '22 USMNT coach Berhalter said last week. Expect to see Ream start at least some of these games, if not all of them.

Name: Sergiño Dest ⭐⭐

Age: 25

Hometown: Almere, Netherlands

Club team: PSV Eindhoven (Eredivisie)

Dest grew up in the Netherlands, but his father immigrated to the U.S. from Suriname, then a Dutch colony, when he was a child. Eventually, the elder Dest played college soccer in New York, served in the Vietnam War and became a U.S. citizen, retiring from the Army just a few years before having a son, Sergiño. The youngest Dest came up through the Ajax academy system in the Netherlands, and the U.S. began recruiting him a decade ago. He started all four games at the 2022 World Cup and is likely to be a starter once again.

U.S. defender Alex Freeman dribbles the ball against Senegal during an international friendly match last month in Charlotte, N.C. Freeman has quickly established himself as one of the USMNT's more versatile players.

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Name: Alex Freeman ⭐⭐

Age: 21

Hometown: Plantation, Fla.

Club team: Villarreal CF (La Liga)

The Baltimore-born son of the Green Bay Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman, Alex has quickly established himself as one of the USMNT's more versatile players. His ability to attack and defend as a wingback shone while playing for MLS side Orlando City SC, for whom he scored six goals while playing as a defender last year. That performance earned him a move to the Spanish club Villarreal and call-ups to the USMNT earlier this year. His athleticism and rapidly growing understanding of the game have allowed him to quickly earn a starting spot on the back line, most likely on the right side next to Richards.

Name: Mark McKenzie ⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: New York, N.Y.

Club team: Toulouse FC (Ligue 1)

McKenzie has been around the USMNT for years now but he's finally found his footing with Pochettino at the helm, making 15 of his 29 career appearances since Pochettino took over. There's been a battle for playing time at center back since Richards has been out with his ankle injury, and McKenzie may be Pochettino's favored backup option. Expect to see him as a substitute, especially as Pochettino manages Richards' playing time coming out of his injury.

Name: Miles Robinson ⭐

Age: 29

Hometown: Arlington, Mass.

Club team: FC Cincinnati (MLS)

Robinson is savoring this World Cup. He'd scored the game-winning goal in extra time against Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2021. He was a lock to make the 2022 squad as a top defender prospect, but he ruptured his Achilles tendon and had to watch the tournament on television at home. Robinson was drafted #2 into the MLS by Atlanta United in 2017. He starred collegiately at Syracuse and found a passion for soccer watching his older sister play the game. Robinson, who has 40 appearances with the senior national team, is sure to make an impact in this World Cup, even if he comes off the bench.

Name: Auston Trusty

Age: 27

Hometown: Media, Penn.

Club team: Celtic FC (Scottish Premiership)

Trusty has gotten this far betting on himself, he says — his tryout for the Philadelphia Union Academy, his choice to forgo college for a professional career, his decision to make the jump to Europe after earning an extension with the Colorado Rapids. That's all paid off for Trusty. He attributes that belief in himself to being the youngest of six kids, the rest of whom all eventually played collegiate soccer. "If I wanted to have a relationship with them, if I wanted to help myself in the games I played with them, I had to be confident," he said. Trusty has shown some promise in his limited minutes in 2026, but it's unclear how big a role he'll play this summer.

Name: Joe Scally

Age: 23

Hometown: Lake Grove, N.Y.

Club team: Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga)

Despite only being 23, Scally's a veteran of the USMNT setup. He made his debut for the national team in 2022 and went to that year's World Cup in Qatar. He's an attack-minded fullback who's been a mainstay for Gladbach since moving there in 2021, and he'll look to be an outlet for build-up play. Scally never appeared in a game in the '22 Cup, and this year could be the same.

Name: Max Arfsten

Age: 25

Hometown: Fresno, Calif.

Club team: Columbus Crew (MLS)

The 6-foot-1 winger made his USMNT debut in January 2025, playing in 16 of 18 matches that year. He was drafted by the Columbus Crew in 2023 after playing collegiately at UC Davis and Cal State Fullerton. At UC Davis, he attended as a walk-on, earning a scholarship and being named to the Big West All-Freshman team. The Fresno native returns home to train, saying, "his Fresno upbringing fuels his motor and competitiveness on the pitch." Equally comfortable playing with his right and left foot, he's been featured in many USMNT matches in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup and is expected to see playing time.

Matthew Freese knows he has big shoes to fill. The USMNT has had a number of strong goalkeepers in the past. Freese will be the likely starter in goal for the U.S.

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Goaltenders

Name: Matt Freese ⭐⭐

Age: 27

Hometown: Wayne, Pa.

Club team: New York City FC (MLS)

There are big shoes for any USMNT goaltender to fill. The position has long been a strength for the U.S., from Kasey Keller to Brad Friedel to Tim Howard. Now, it's a question mark — a choice that's come down to two guys, Matt Freese and Matt Turner, both MLS starters who haven't been able to find a regular job in Europe. Last year, Freese, who played college ball at Harvard before finding a spot with the Philadelphia Union, surpassed Turner as the most frequent starter in goal for the national team. In last year's Gold Cup, he recorded two clean sheets and three penalty saves over six games. But that doesn't mean his spot is a lock.

Name: Matt Turner ⭐

Age: 31

Hometown: Park Ridge, N.J.

Club team: New England Revolution (MLS)

Turner's story is another scrappy prove-yourself saga. He came to goaltending relatively late in life, donning the gloves for the first time as a teenager to stay in shape for other sports. No colleges offered him a scholarship at first, so he walked on at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where he eventually earned conference honors. But even that couldn't find him a foothold in the pros, and it took some serious luck to eventually find regular playing time with the New England Revolution. His skills continued to grow, and eventually he earned a call-up to the USMNT and became the regular starter in 2021 through the 2022 World Cup, where he recorded a pair of clean sheets. "There's a healthy mutual respect between us," Turner said in May about Freese. "We both want to play, we both have played, we both will respect whatever the final decision is from the coaches. And then from there, our roles will change to be supportive of each other."

Name: Chris Brady

Age: 22

Hometown: Naperville, Ill.

Club team: Chicago Fire FC (MLS)

Brady, the Chicagoland native who plays now for his hometown club, has arguably been the best MLS goalkeeper over the past couple years, but he's still a firm No. 3 behind Freese and Turner when it comes to the national team. Brady earned his first senior team call-up last year, then made his debut in May in the second half against Senegal. "Whenever you get included in a camp or any type of squad, you got to be ready to play," he said. "If you're not playing, your goal then is to push the other guys who are."
Copyright 2026 NPR

David Hockney believed painting could change the world; in the midst of all our miseries, he said, art lets us see the world as beautiful, thrilling, mysterious. Hockney, one of the best-known contemporary artists, has died at home, age 88, his publicist said Friday.

The artist, who died on Thursday, was one month short of his 89th birthday, publicist Erica Bolton said in a statement. He is survived by his long-time partner and companion Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima.

"David Hockney's enduring legacy reflects his underlying enthusiasm for life, his outstanding sense of humor, his immense generosity, and his investigative curiosity encapsulated by his signature phrase," she said. "Love life."

British, he spent decades working in Los Angeles, making images that captured the wealth and sunshine of Southern California. Hockney created art on canvas, paper, photographic film, videos, iPhones and iPads. His bright, cheerful paintings sold for millions.

"I enjoy looking ..." he explained to me when he was 79. "I can look at a little puddle on a road in Yorkshire and just of the rain falling on it and think it's marvelous. I see the world as very beautiful."

Hockney poses in front of his painting 'The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011' at the Royal Academy of Arts on Jan. 16, 2012 in London.

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Oli Scarff

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With electric colors — blues, greens, yellows, fuchsia — he made merry beauties all his life. Pictures of tree-lined roads, flowers, snow-covered trees, the Grand Canyon. The world became new in his hands. Hockney also made portraits of friends and helpers.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator Stephanie Barron remembers posing for him. She figured she'd go to work after a sitting. "What I found instead is that I was so exhausted from the intensity of the scrutiny, I went home and took a nap," she said. (You can hear from many more of Hockney's models in this story from 2018.)

Happily and luckily, I interviewed Hockney over the years. Our first encounter was in Paris in 2010 — an exhibit of little pictures he was making on his recently-discovered iPhone. He was charming, lively, open and engaged — and crazy for technology. An app called Brushes gave him a virtual paint box. Dipping his fingers into various colors, he touched the small iPhone screen and drew with his thumb. Then he got an iPad.

"The moment I got to the iPad, I found myself using every finger," he said.

He was engrossed, his friend Charlie Scheips, said. "He said he sometimes gets so obsessed that when he's going at it, he rubs his finger on his clothes to like, clean the finger as if he was using real paint." (You can see artworks Hockney created on the iPhone and iPad here.)

Raised by supportive parents in a simple English town, Hockney struggled with his sexuality. In the early '60s he came out. Films show him then with dyed blond hair and flamboyant outfits — a pink plaid suit, wide black and white striped tie, a red sock on one foot, green on the other. His lovers were young and beautiful. In the LA paintings they loll around at swimming pools, displaying divine derrieres. Pools were an obsession.

Hockney's 1966 'The Splash' is unveiled at Sotheby's on Feb. 7, 2020 in London. He followed it with 'A Bigger Splash' 1967.

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Tristan Fewings

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"Water offers an interesting graphic problem, it seems to me," he explained. "Say, a swimming pool, the water is transparent. How do you paint transparency? It has reflections and things."

A Bigger Splash, his best-known painting from 1967, shows a California swimming pool, tan diving board angling in from the bottom right, and rising from the aquamarine water, a lively, white splash. Someone just dove in.

"I spent longer on the splash than on any other thing in the painting," Hockney says. "I spent about a week painting it because it's painted with small brushes. I mean, I didn't want to just take a brush and splash it like that. I wanted to paint it slowly. And I thought then it contradicts the splash really."

An actual splash lasts a few seconds. Painting it took a week.

As his 80th birthday approached in 2017 museums were flooded with Hockneys. He was getting ready to go to London for one opening. I saw him then, for the last time, at his L.A. studio, surrounded by some comfy chairs, five easels, and clouds of cigarette smoke. The floor had dark brown smears from the smokes he chain-puffed, then stubbed out with his foot. Knowing he'd be fussed over in London, he said he didn't like parties anymore. "Too deaf for them," he said. They made him sad.

"I just have to leave and go home, have a sit in a quiet bedroom," he said. "And that's what I do. And then I read. ... That's my life now. I mean, that's what it's going to be."

But his eyes twinkled when he said that. And friends sitting near smiled indulgently.

He went on painting after I left, and made art the next day, the day after that, the day after that.

David Hockney: Always looking, and giving us the world as he wanted us to see it. Through joyous, vibrant pictures. That 80th birthday year, in Paris, there was a huge retrospective. The last piece in the show was graffitied on a white museum wall. In blue, on the white, Hockney had painted: Love Life D.H.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Hockney poses at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, on June 16, 2017.

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Martin Bureau

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The 1986 World Cup couldn’t have come at a better time.

I was a junior at Mission Bay High School in San Diego, and the uncertainty of life after high school was hitting me with a weight most teens didn’t have to bear. I was undocumented, so college admission was unclear at best, while job prospects were dim without a social security number or legal authorization to work.

My mother was undocumented too. We didn’t talk about Plan B — staying in the shadows.

How did I stay motivated and hold on to hope for college, and what would become a decades-long journalism career, without knowing that soon the federal Amnesty bill would regularize me and many others?

I have one of the undisputed stars of Mexican and European soccer to thank: Hugo “Hugoool” Sanchez.

A sports hero who looked like me

Mexican forward Hugo Sanchez waits for a corner kick during the World Cup quarterfinal match between West Germany and Mexico on June 21, 1986 in Monterrey. West Germany advanced to the semifinals with a 4-1 victory on penalty kicks at the end of the extra time period.

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Hugo Sanchez was about a decade older than me and had worked his way up in Mexican soccer. By the mid 1980s his proven goal-scoring skills as a forward had landed him at the famed Real Madrid soccer club in Spain.

Let me back up a bit. I didn’t even like soccer as a kid. My heroes in elementary school slugged on the diamond and threw touchdowns. But then came Sanchez, from Mexico City, where I was born. The weekend sports shows I watched on Mexican TV from Tijuana played his goals over and over.

Mariachi musicians emerge onto the pitch ahead of kick-off at a match in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, held at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico.

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Bongarts

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But the highlight reels were missing something darker. Sanchez was not welcomed with open arms by the Spanish. Instead, he faced prejudice as a lone Mexican in a culture that labeled him an “other.”

At that time, California’s simmering tensions over immigration made me and other immigrants feel something similar.

LAist reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez when he was 17 years old, in 1986 in San Diego

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Courtesy Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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Sanchez’s perseverance and accomplishments were inspiring to me. I put him ahead of my other sports heroes: slugger Tony Gwynn with the Padres and Chargers’ quarterback Dan Fouts. I felt much closer to Sanchez.

Hugoool and the 1986 World Cup

What does that have to do with the World Cup? Everything.

Organized sports were out of reach for me as a kid. My parents were busy working multiple jobs, and they needed me to babysit my younger siblings when school was out. They would have laughed at me if I asked them to drive me to anything other than school.

But seeing Sanchez's prowess on the soccer pitch and anticipating all the goals he'd score for the Mexican national team in the 1986 World Cup, in his home country, motivated me to start playing soccer at weekend pick-up games. I discovered I loved playing.

The 1986 boys soccer team at Mission Bay High School in San Diego. LAist reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez wears #20 at left.

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MBHS yearbook

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By then I was older, and no longer needed a ride to games, so I tried out for the Mission Bay High School varsity team. I was in good shape, but far behind in soccer-smarts compared to those who’d played as kids in San Diego’s youth soccer leagues. Despite that, I made it. I felt overjoyed; my determination and work paid off. I had some great practice games, one with a chipped goal over the keeper’s outstretched arms, but the truth is that I was on the bench most of the season.

The mascot for the Mission Bay High School Bucanneers.

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MBHS newsletter

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The disappointment that I didn't play much during the season didn't lead me to give up on soccer. I had made it on the team, showed up to play, and put in a lot of effort, and that was rewarding in and of itself.

And by achieving this goal, by following Sanchez’s example of perseverance, I had something even more important — a sense of fulfillment.

My life changed rapidly after that. The 1986 World Cup was in June. In November, after passing through Congress, President Ronald Reagan signed the federal amnesty into law.

The varsity letter and the soccer cleats Adolfo Guzman-Lopez used while playing soccer for Mission Bay High School in 1986.

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Soon after, my mother and I received our green cards. That allowed me to file for a Social Security number, which meant I could apply to college. I was accepted to U.C. San Diego, where I got bit by the journalism bug while working for Voz Fronteriza, one of the student newspapers. That led to where I am today, decades later, an LAist correspondent.

I’ll be watching this World Cup thinking of my 1986 self, the crossroads I faced, and how “the beautiful game” was there to uplift me when I needed it.