As the 2026 FIFA World Cup comes to a close, Orange County is reflecting on the last time it was home to the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s home base.
Irvine welcomed the USMNT as they settled into Great Park as their home base for the tournament. But in 1994, when the World Cup was last in the U.S., the team’s home base was in Mission Viejo.
Still affectionately known as the “World Cup Field,” children continue to play on the same field where the 1994 men’s team practiced.
“When the kids play here, they can say, ‘I played on the same field as the World Cup (team),’” said Robert David Breton, who was the mayor of Mission Viejo in 1994.
To commemorate the field’s ties to the historical, global event, the city renamed the street it’s on to World Cup Street. Breton said he made it his mission to have the U.S. men’s team train on his home turf.
“I said, ‘You bring the team here and they’ll feel like they’re in their hometown,” the former mayor said.
News of the quiet Orange County suburb becoming the team’s training ground made national headlines that put Mission Viejo on a spotlight.
Marcelo Balboa, a defender for USMNT’s 1994 team, said he has fond memories of the training field.
“Living together, eating together, we would go hang out together all the time,” Balboa said, adding that he and his teammates became close in the short amount of time they spent together.
Balboa said he’s proud to see the sport he loves continues to attract new fans around the world.