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Without a doubt, this year’s FIFA tournament is inadvertently platforming the Christian faith.

World Cup head turners like Leo Messi and Felix Nmecha are part of a much broader lineup of Christian players proclaiming Soli Deo Gloria instead of bragging about scoring goals.

Such as the US Men’s soccer team (USMNT), who have unashamedly taken more than one knee to shine their light before all men (Matthew 5:16).

The entire USMNT squad joined in for the postgame prayer after their World Cup victory over Paraguay. 🙏🇺🇸

Mark McKenzie led the prayer. pic.twitter.com/NWbgukDT89

— Sports Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) June 13, 2026

 Secular Media Stunned

Putting concern for the gospel at the forefront of kicking goals, the USMNT even impressed The New York Times (NYT), who wrote, “Within the broader brotherhood of the U.S. men’s national team, roughly seven players regularly convene for prayers or Bible studies.”

This was not unusual. These men are Christians, and Christians pray.

However, the uncharacteristically reverent NYT said, “On Friday, June 12, something spontaneous happened. The entire USMNT, teammates and coaches and staff” engaged God in a post-match prayer.

 

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A post shared by Christian Pulisic (@cmpulisic)

Motivated by the moment, USMNT defender Mark McKenzie led the way.

“Instantly,” an astonished NYT recalled, “a snapshot often overlooked by the secular soccer world became one that defined the team’s togetherness.”

After defeating the Socceroos 2-0, the U.S. soccer team did it again.

“This time, [the group prayer] was less spontaneous.”

“This time, rather than crowd around the prayer circle, dozens of them joined arms in one big ring. McKenzie stepped to the centre, knelt, raised his arms and spoke.”

Team USA stopped to PRAY after their 2-0 victory over Australia in the World Cup! WOW 🙏 pic.twitter.com/biAKLPsPRX

— Revival Nation News (@EncounterNewsX) June 20, 2026

Some bowed, and others looked on, reported the NYT.

Quoting McKenzie, they added, “You have players and people on this team and this staff from all walks of life, from all different backgrounds and different experiences.”

“But there’s power in prayer.”

“It unites people in ways that you may have never even thought could. And I think there’s beauty in that.”

Agreeing with Mackenzie, the typically Christian-hating New York Times asserted, “[Prayer] united a group of players and people who, for the past month, and in some ways for the past several years, have been pushing toward a common goal: World Cup success.”

“The image of that postgame gathering became emblematic of the bond that’s fortifying this USMNT.”

‘The Lord Is at the Centre of It All’: Mark McKenzie

Giving context for McKenzie’s leadership, the NYT spoke of a 27-year-old from the Bronx and Delaware, whose loving parents introduced him to both God and the game.

“McKenzie wasn’t always a leader in religious contexts.”

The NYT said he “credits his dad, who ‘always said, “Listen, son, you have a greater purpose than just playing this game.”’”

Andy Young, USMNT’s chaplain, can also take a bow for edging McKenzie towards guiding others.

Talking to the NYT, McKenzie told them his “newfound postgame leadership role, ‘happened unexpectedly.’”

Preaching the gospel hand-in-hand with playing soccer was always an idea.

Supported by British player John Bostock, who founded the “Ballers in God” ministry, 2026’s World Cup offered McKenzie and Bostock an opportunity to turn that idea into reality.

The NYT said this was about “spreading the good word and doing so in a way that was ‘as unifying as possible.’”

Post-match prayer hasn’t just involved the Americans.

After the United States was beaten by Germany, Felix Nmecha and Jonathan Tah “joined them in prayer.”

“It was visible,” the NYT said, “and, to those involved, powerful.”

While noting that American athletes praying on the field was the norm, the NYT described this prayer gathering as “different.”

“It was organic, voluntary, inspired by emotions and harmony.”

Although the NYT put McKenzie at the centre of the circle, he clarified that, “At the end of the day, the Lord is at the centre of it all.”

“He’s the main purpose, He’s the main character, He is the protagonist. And I’m just trying to bring people into His light in some way.”

Team USA putting prayer on the playing field doesn’t just rest in the hands of McKenzie.

USMNT captain Christian Pulisic is a big sponsor.

As The Guardian declared, “Pulisic’s faith was not a revelation.”

Nicknamed ‘Captain America’, Pulisic’s Christianity is public knowledge. It’s engraved into his digital footprint.

Cultural Shift Back to Christianity

What is a revelation for The Guardian is the USMNT’s “radical change in the team’s public engagement with religion, or really with personal beliefs of any kind.”

According to the somewhat perplexed left-wing mouthpiece, the contrast between previous teams and this one is “remarkable.”

“Although demographics suggest that at least some national team stars of the past would have been religious, hardly any were ever vocal about it.”

Not willing to call the public display of affection for Christ a miracle or a move of God, The Guardian put it down to Trumpian Christian nationalism.

“The USMNT opening up about their religious beliefs is happening to the backdrop of a governing party that trades, when convenient, on demonstrative religiosity.”

This is, The Guardian seemed to snidely remark, a consequence of the Trump administration empowering Christian nationalists.

It’s also a result, they said, of Team Trump “openly seeking to remake a nation that is constitutionally free in its practice of religion to an overtly Christian one.”

Despite the whiff of TDS in their sneer, The Guardian couldn’t ignore the sincerity of it all.

“The national team’s leading players’ proclamations on their religious beliefs seem to be sincere. They are very much doing it in, well, good faith.”

They also couldn’t dismiss the observable fact that there has been a tangible change under the Trump administration.

USMNT’s Christians, The Guardian conceded, “are joining a generation of professional American athletes who feel freer to express their views.”

More so than “several decades’ worth of their predecessors”.

That’s not an insignificant observation. Nor is it the result of an anomalous glitch in the mainstream’s anti-Christian algorithm.

There’s a still small voice at work underneath all of this. Its rumblings are low, deep and dynamic.

The 2026 World Cup is overflowing with Soli Deo Gloria.

That’s because what is at work here is the transformative power of the cross.

It’s the reason why a perplexed legacy media cannot solely pin it all on Donald Trump.

As Paul exclaimed, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

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Images via Facebook/Holy Athletes and Instagram.