The United States men’s national team is on the verge of a big summer. While the U-23s will hop on a flight to France to participate in the Olympics in July, the senior side will spend June and July playing host to Copa America. It’s not a tournament that usually takes place in North America — Copa America is put on every four years by CONMEBOL, the sport’s governing body in South America — but six CONCACAF teams will participate this time around.
For the United States, this presents two opportunities. The country will get the chance to put on a major men’s tournament ahead of the World Cup that it will co-host with Canada and Mexico in 2026, while the national team will be presented with the opportunity to show that it’s taken a step forward following its performance in Qatar at the 2022 World Cup, where Gregg Berhalter’s squad came in second in their group before running out of gas against the Netherlands in the Round of 16.
One of the building blocks — both in Qatar and this time around — should be Timothy Weah. A 24-year-old winger who just spent the last year getting used to a new club with Italian giants Juventus, Weah has been one of the national team’s primary attacking threats over the last few years of the Berhalter era. A tricky right winger who is comfortable taking on opposing defenders and creating chances, Weah has had to grow as a player this year, as now-former Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri preferred to use him as more of a wingback, which threw more defensive responsibilities on top of his inherent instincts to take players on.
With all eyes on how the USMNT will do on their home soil, Uproxx Sports caught up with Weah via his partnership with New Balance to talk about his experience with the brand, Americans in Italy, his move to wingback, and more.
[Ed. note: The interview occurred in the lead-up to the USMNT’s 5-1 loss to Colombia in a pre-Copa America friendly in which Weah scored the team’s only goal.]
What do you have going on with New Balance?
I have everything going on with New Balance. I’ve been with New Balance for how long, five years now? Almost five. It’s been a smooth ride, honestly, dream come true. We’re just working on so much, so many things, the the future is definitely gonna be a vibe. Hopefully I can try to find my way to a Creative Director role somehow.
What do you envision your future being with New Balance? What’s some stuff that, whether it’s stuff you’re working on now that you’ve seen come to fruition or you hope to do down the road, that you’d like to accomplish here?
New Balance has given me the opportunity to work on a lot of my own projects, just like having input on the boots that I wear, the content that we create together. But in the future, I want to — hopefully, if everything goes as planned — take on a bigger role, maybe working for New Balance in whatever space they have. The ideal one would be Creative Director. So yeah, hopefully that ends up happening someday.
Before we get to that point in your career, you have a pretty good football career going on right now. And obviously, we’re on the verge of a super important summer for both the men’s and women’s national teams — the men have Copa America and the Olympics. What are the general vibes in talking to the guys ahead of Copa America and ahead of the Olympics?
Everyone’s ready, everyone’s feeling the vibe, everyone’s happy to compete in such a big tournament. This is like the warm-up for the World Cup, I would say. So, having a major tournament on home soil, it’s going to be interesting. But some of the guys got into camp today, I saw, so the vibes are high. I can’t wait to be with the boys, I know it’s gonna be nice — playing at home is always a good thing for us. So hopefully, we can just work on the things that we need to work on, execute properly, and potentially come home with a cup.
What has you guys the most excited about Copa specifically, because obviously, you have World Cup experience, you have CONCACAF tournaments that have happened in the U.S., but an international tournament like this on your home soil is really special.
I think getting the opportunity to play against some of these big, these heavy hitters like Colombia and Brazil, I think that’s interesting. And obviously, just the fact that a major tournament is coming to the States, I think that’s the big one. So, competing in that and having a generation that is fairly young, we’re probably going to have the youngest team in the tournament, so having that is dope. I know expectations are gonna be high, but we just have to stick together as we always do and execute.
I want to ask about Copa through the lens of having played in a World Cup. How do you anticipate having gone through a major tournament against the very top teams in the world will help you guys here?
I think gaining that World Cup experience was definitely a positive for us as a group. Because to be fair, we were all like, really young when we played in our first World Cup, we’re all just getting that experience. And I think now, myself and the boys, we kind of have a sense of calmness when coming into major tournaments like this. So, I don’t know, it’s just up to the game plan and how we come out, I think it’s going to be super important to knock down these friendlies properly, try to get results, and prepare the right way. And then I think the most important is the first game, how you start.
And obviously, this is coming on the heels of your first year at Juventus. What is the biggest area where you feel that you’ve grown as a player after having gone through this last year?
Just maturity of my game. I think before, I used to play like really frantically, everything used to be fast. And now I kind of just take my time. I think that’s the positive of playing in the back, I’m playing with guys like Danilo who have years of experience. So I think learning what he does and his traits, I think it’s kind of helped me just relax on the field and not have those nerves when I was much younger.
You mentioned playing a lot of wingback for Juventus, while you’re more of an out and out winger for the national team. Is that the biggest difference between the positions, just one you play a lot faster and one is a little more deliberate?
Yeah, honestly, it’s like when I’m with the national team, I don’t have to worry about making a mistake and the other team scoring. I think when you’re playing in defense, you have to make sure that you’re on point, when you attack or when you defend, because one mistake can cost you the game. So, I think that’s what really changes, the stakes are definitely higher when you’re playing defense.
And when I’m with the national team and playing on the wing, I can kind of do my own thing, relax. I can lose the ball now [laughs], nah, I’m just joking. But it’s just less worrying.
There are increasingly a ton of Americans in Italy — you with Weston, Christian and Yunus, and few in Serie B. Is there a big group chat or do you always have guys over when they’re in Turin? What’s the relationship like with the rest of the national team guys in Italy right now?
It’s good. A lot of the guys, a lot of the closer guys … me and Weston are with each other almost every day. I’m over at his house, sleeping on his couch, playing with his dogs. That’s what kind of helped me in my transition to Italy. And then, just the other day, we were in Monaco with Christian after a game — after we played him, actually, we all went to Monaco together. So, just things like that is how you build that relationship and how you build that togetherness.
And then with Weston specifically, you guys did that video around Thanksgiving where it looked like you made him cry talking about how much he means to you. What has been the biggest way that he helped you get used to life at Juve?
Just like, I don’t know, having Wes feels like home, you know what I mean? Having a brother that I’ve known for years, played together on the national team, we’re both Americans who both have similar interests. I think that’s what really helped me the most. He’s just a lovely guy, lovely energy. So, I enjoy being around him. This past year we’ve gotten much closer, I’ve met his family members, we celebrated holidays together. So, it’s definitely a good vibe.
I’m talking to you on the heels of you doing something really cool and joining Brooklyn FC’s ownership group. I saw an interview you gave to Jazzys World TV a few months back, and it seems to me like you really feel a responsibility to help grow the game, particularly in New York. Is that fair?
Yeah, I mean, just in general, when I was younger, it was always pay to play. I was lucky to have parents that were able to do that, and I know a lot of people don’t have that. So my goal is to push organizations to change that. And also, a huge goal of mine is developing women’s soccer, just making sure that people keep an eye on women’s soccer.
Where does that sense of responsibility come from? Because athletes don’t have to do this stuff, but backing up what you say with the actions is really powerful thing.
Just knowing my purpose, then doing these things with full intention, I think is my drive. My ultimate goal in life is just helping people and making sure that I can change the world in whatever way I can.
And then my last question, I would kick myself if I didn’t ask you this: You were 100 percent onside against Iran when you scored, right?
Yes. And it’s kind of crazy that they’re changing the rule now to the Arsene Wenger rule, that’s kind of crazy. But I would have had two at the World Cup! [laughs] I was onside by like that much, literally.
