SOCCER: eve of World Cup draw, MLS commissioner says US soccer is thriving

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said the arrival of elite players such as Lionel Messi has helped the sport cement its place in a crowded U.S. market, as anticipation builds across the country for Friday's World Cup draw in Washington.

Soccer has long battled for attention in a U.S. sporting landscape dominated by American football, baseball and basketball.

Garber said real progress had been made in recent years, fuelled in part by the arrival of Argentina's World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi in 2023, the eight-times Ballon d'Or winner joining Inter Miami after leaving Paris St Germain.

"On the field, our league is more global than ever before," Garber said at a press conference on Thursday.

"Our roster features players from 80 different countries. More than any other league in any sport around the world. And global superstars, as we all know, are making MLS their league of choice."

Garber highlighted Saturday's MLS Cup final in Florida, where Messi's Miami will host the Vancouver Whitecaps, a side that includes Thomas Mueller, a 2014 World Cup winner with Germany.

"The greatest player to ever play the game, Lionel Messi, will go up against another World Cup champion and one of the world's most decorated players in Thomas Mueller ... in what we hope will be an epic MLS Cup," Garber said.

Next year's World Cup will feature 48 teams in 12 groups of four, with the draw at Washington's John F. Kennedy Center finalising a 104-game schedule across 16 host cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Among the teams making their World Cup bows at the June 11 to July 19 tournament are Cape Verde, Uzbekistan, Jordan, and Curacao - the smallest country ever to participate with a population of only 150,000.

Garber said it was important that soccer had made significant inroads with younger audiences.

"Now, soccer is the second favourite sport to watch here in the U.S. among people under the age of 40, behind only American football," he said.

"This is an incredible accomplishment by the soccer community here in the country. We are in the midst of a dramatic, generational change – soccer is now an American pastime."