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First Touch '26 goes LIVE + Girlies' Guide to the USMNT

The boys, fun facts, their place on the Hot XI, the brotherhood that is the USMNT & the deep lore

First Touch '26 goes LIVE + Girlies' Guide to the USMNT
Graphic Design Is Their Passion

I've been pushing it all month, and today's the day: First Touch '26, our daily World Cup show, goes live at 9:30 am ET – just about 20 minutes after you're receiving this email:

GOOD MORNING IT'S WORLD CUP OPENING DAY! We're going LIVE in 30 minutes with our first live show of the tournament, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube and tune in! 📺: www.youtube.com/@firsttouchksm

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— First Touch (@firsttouch.bsky.social) June 11, 2026 at 9:00 AM

Hope you're as excited about this as we are.

Occasionally something pops up on the radar that's too good not to share. Such was the case on Wednesday morning in the Soccerwise Discord, which you can join here. This is the message sent by loyal listener & reader Claire:

For all of the casuals in your life who are more interested in storylines, a few friends have been cooking something up I am sharing around:
The girlies have been working tirelessly and would like to present you and everyone reading this message with the "Girlies Guide to the USMNT"
soccer for the girlies: USMNT edition
What you need to know about the USMNT soccer for the girlies by the girlies
Google Docs

A few favorites of mine:

  • The way the font just shrinks and shrinks and shrinks...
  • Absolutely brutal back-to-back bullet points here for CP10.
  • I hadn't clocked this, but... yes.
  • Fully 12 slides on GioGate, most of them very funny. The last line on the BJ slide really, really nails it.

And finally, I love the fact that they included the Source & Raw Data for the USMNT Hot XI.

Thanks to Claire, Jackie and the rest for putting this together, and for letting me share it with you all. I really encourage you all to flip through the whole thing – it's a great way to de-stress (unless you're Chris Brady's barber) in the final hours before the tournament kicks off for the US.

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