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As 2026 World Cup nears, Alan Rothenberg reflects on U.S. soccer’s transformation

Related Topics: Alan Rothenberg, Scott LeTellier

Alan Rothenberg has a story he wants to tell you. A lot of stories actually; enough to fill a book.

So he wrote one.

But that’s not the first memorable work he’s authored. As the man behind the 1984 L.A. Olympics soccer tournament and the 1994 World Cup, still the most successful in history, Rothenberg has arguably had more to do with writing the story of U.S. Soccer in the modern era than anyone.

And you can draw a straight line from that chapter to the one that will be written this summer when the World Cup returns to the U.