The mood at Seattle’s Lumen Field was already soaring Friday night after the U.S. men’s national team secured a 2-0 victory over Australia. The result marked the Americans’ second straight win at the World Cup and guaranteed their place in the knockout rounds with one Group D match still to play. Then, just after the final whistle, the stadium speakers cued up a familiar American classic.
John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” rang out across the venue, though the recording was quickly overtaken by the sound of 66,000 fans singing along. As the U.S. players circled the field to applaud the crowd, the moment took on a life of its own. It may have been the first time the song echoed around a World Cup stadium in this way for the USMNT, but it immediately felt like something that could become part of the team’s tournament identity if this run continues.
The story behind the song choice is fairly straightforward. FIFA asked all 48 participating teams to submit possible songs that could be played inside the stadium after a victory. U.S. Soccer, after consulting players and others within the federation, looked for tracks by American artists that could spark a full-stadium singalong. The shortlist included Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Country Roads.” Diamond’s hit was taken by England, which also chose Oasis’ “Wonderwall,” while FIFA appears to have adopted “Livin’ on a Prayer” for second-half hydration breaks. USMNT supporters still managed to sing that one twice in Seattle — once during the break and again shortly before “Country Roads” began.
For the U.S. team, however, “Country Roads” is beginning to feel like something more personal — a song that may now belong, in this setting, to the USMNT and its fans.
“It’s just being proud of your country,” defender Auston Trusty said after the match in Seattle, where he made his World Cup debut. “I think ‘Country Roads’ is a very American song. To hear that in the stadium, everyone singing along — everyone. If you’re American, you probably know that song, so everyone’s singing and celebrating the win and you’re smiling and happy with the teammates. It’s a dream come true. It’s feelings that you can’t really describe. It’s just a dream come true.”
The song has long held a place in American sports culture, especially at West Virginia University, thanks to the state’s prominent mention in the lyrics. Its roots, however, are a bit more complicated. The road that helped inspire the song was actually Clopper Road in Montgomery County, Maryland, where then-married songwriters Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff came up with the title during a drive. Danoff later said the West Virginia reference was influenced in part by actor Chris Sarandon and members of a commune from the state who attended his performances.
The USMNT return to action Thursday for their final Group D match against Turkiye at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area. After that, the Americans will move on to the round of 32, where they will face an opponent still to be determined on July 1 at Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area.
