IRVINE, Calif. \u2014<\/strong> Great Park, where the U.S. men\u2019s national team has established its World Cup base camp, is the former site of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, which was a military training hub for pilots, aircrews and ground personnel during World War II.<\/p>\n Since then, the more than 1,300-acre property has been transformed into a sprawling public sports and recreation complex. In 2017, the city opened Great Park Championship Soccer Stadium, where the Americans will be training every day for the next several weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Monday, the team was welcomed by 5,500 devoted fans who flocked to the stadium for practice. All World Cup teams are required to conduct one public event, and U.S. Soccer said it received 32,000 registration applicants but had to cap the attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was a festive start to the week ahead of the Americans\u2019 World Cup opener vs. Paraguay on Friday at Los Angeles Stadium (9 p.m. ET on FOX) located a bit more than 40 miles from this temporary home.<\/p>\n “Once a place where Americans trained to defend our nation, this is now a place where Americans train to represent the United States of America,” Larry Agran, the mayor of Irvine, told the buzzing crowd anxious to see their favorite players.<\/p>\n U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino also addressed supporters and gave somewhat of a motivational pregame speech.<\/p>\n USA manager Mauricio Pochettino gave a welcome speech of sorts. (Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n “The most important thing is you feel proud about your team,” Pochettino said while holding a microphone and pacing the field. “One thing is for sure: we are going to give everything to create good memories with you, for you to feel proud of your team.”<\/p>\n The moment this country has been waiting for is finally here as the largest World Cup in history \u2013 a 48-team tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico \u2013 begins later this week. Half of the USA’s squad played in the World Cup four years ago in Qatar, so they are familiar with soccer\u2019s grandest stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n But as captain Tim Ream told a room full of reporters before Monday\u2019s training, this is new territory for everybody.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s not our first rodeo, but it\u2019s the first one on home soil, so it kind of is our first rodeo in a way,” Ream explained. “It\u2019s exciting. I\u2019m old enough to remember bits and pieces from 1994 [World Cup]. I\u2019ve tried to tell guys and convey the message in the media that it\u2019s a once-in-a-career opportunity. With that comes more expectation and more pressure, but at the same time, you have to enjoy it.<\/p>\n “And for me, it\u2019s about opening your eyes and taking everything in because this is completely different from anything that any of us players have experienced. So take it in, enjoy it, embrace everything that it is, because it is so unique, so special, and it’s not something that we\u2019ll ever get to do again.”<\/p>\n Last week, while the team was at U.S. Soccer\u2019s new National Training Center outside of Atlanta, several veterans spoke about the responsibility they feel to help first-timers savor every minute of the tournament.<\/p>\n Star forward Christian Pulisic has said he was extremely focused during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and admits he wasn\u2019t always the easiest person to be around during the tournament. Goalkeeper Matt Turner said he didn\u2019t do a good job of “soaking it all in.”<\/p>\n “Like taking a video of something that was going on [and instead] just thinking, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s nice,\u2019 and letting the moment pass by,” said Turner, who started every match four years ago. “I wish I documented more things from Qatar.”<\/p>\n USA’s Chris Richards engaging with the fans at practice. (Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY IRVINE, Calif. \u2014 Great Park, where the U.S. men\u2019s national team has established its World Cup base camp, is the former site of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, which was a military training hub for pilots, aircrews and ground personnel during World War II. Since then, the more than 1,300-acre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}