Each Friday, Inquirer photo editors pick the best sports images from the last seven days. This week featured action from South Philly to Center City and from Fairmount to Camden. There was Eagles minicamp and, of course, some Phillies action. There was a skate contest in FDR Park and FIFA Fan Fest kicked off in Lemon Hill Park. And across the river, the Sixers introduced their new top executive.
Here’s a look back at some of our favorite photos from the week:
The World Cup is here, and as you get ready for tonight’s United States vs. Paraguay game (9 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62), let’s go back in time to the 1950 World Cup hosted in Brazil.
The U.S. team stunned England in a 1-0 win that still stands as one of the most significant moments in American soccer history. But the U.S. may have not qualified for the World Cup if it wasn’t for the late Benny McLaughlin, one of Philadelphia’s true soccer pioneers.
He played professionally as a teenager, was a star at North Catholic, and all-American at Temple before dropping out after one year to work at a factory in Hatboro that made parts for Navy ships and submarines.
However, McLaughlin, then 22 years old, didn’t get to play in the epic upset in the World Cup. Instead, he chose family and a paycheck.
McLaughlin’s name still means something in Philadelphia, but his legacy has dimmed outside the city. Perhaps that would be different if he played in that World Cup and scored that iconic goal. Though, none of that mattered to McLaughlin.
🚨 Curious what our writers predict for America’s World Cup opener? We got you covered — a win over Paraguay would go a long way for the U.S.
— Isabella DiAmore, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.
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The Phillies have leaned on Jhoan Duran a lot this season, and this week against the Blue Jays, they asked their closer for more than usual. He was used three nights in a row. The last time Duran made three appearances on three consecutive nights was in 2023. But if he feels good, then “I want to be in the game.”
On Thursday, the Phillies acquired outfielder Derek Hill in trade with the White Sox as they wait for an update of Adolis García, who is sidelined with a right shoulder injury.
🏀 Wondering: Taylor Swift repped the Knicks during Game 4 at Madison Square Garden. Some Philly fans feel betrayed. But should they?
🏎️ Reading: NASCAR driver Kyle Larson and the Urban Youth Racing School want Philly students to get involved with motorsports, especially through STEM.
🎤 Learning: Devan Kaney, a former WIP host and Eagles sideline reporter, is back talking Philly sports on a new podcast.
⚾ Watching: The College World Series starts today. Here’s the local players to know and what their former coaches are saying.
Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin wants a trade. Larkin is set to begin Year 4 of an eight-year contract he signed in March 2023, with a cap hit of $8.7 million. The contract makes his trade request sticky.
Multiple sources have confirmed to The Inquirer that the Flyers are interested in the center. And why wouldn’t they be? But the Flyers would have to come with the right package, one that includes a combination of prospect, an NHL player, and draft picks.
This U.S. men’s soccer team has players with talent and pedigree like never before. Now, the time has come to prove it.
The U.S. men have won just nine of the 37 games they’ve ever played at World Cups and haven’t won two group games in one tournament since 1930. Those are the stakes heading into Friday’s opener.
And in Philadelphia, the first day of the World Cup fan fest at Lemon Hill drew thousands, despite a heat advisory that saw temperatures jump into the mid-90s with heat indexes surpassing 100 degrees, thanks to high humidity levels.
For the rest of the weekend, folks should prepare for more hot weather with possible showers on Sunday.
Riq Woolen, the Eagles’ new outside corner opposite Quinyon Mitchell, made a highlight play during the final day of mandatory minicamp to cap off a strong few weeks.
Woolen’s size and cover skills were on display earlier during OTAs, and given the makeup of the Eagles’ defensive backfield, there could be plenty of celebrating to do for a group that was looking to improve at the cornerback spot.
The Knicks completed the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history on Wednesday night. They now stand 48 minutes away from ending a 53-year drought. Only one NBA team has blown a 3-1 lead in the Finals, and those 2016 Golden State Warriors faced prime Kyrie Irving and LeBron James in his prodigal return to Cleveland.
But this is Jalen Brunson’s team. These are the ‘Nova Knicks, writes columnist Marcus Hayes.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Matt Breen, Jeff Neiburg, Marcus Hayes, Jonathan Tannenwald, Lochlahn March, Jackie Spiegel, Scott Lauber, Ariel Simpson, Becca O’Reilly, Conor Smith, Mia Messina, Owen Hewitt, Anthony Wood, Isabel Maney, and Nick Vadala.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
As always, thanks for getting your morning started with me. Happy Friday, and have a wonderful weekend. — Bella
The parking lot was crammed, and the game was already underway when Benny McLaughlin pulled his Impala toward McVeigh Playground, the spot in Kensington where he played as a kid before traveling the world as one of Philadelphia’s true soccer pioneers.
He grew up on Hurley Street in a rowhouse across from the playground where neighbors hung out their windows in the summer of 1948 to fete McLaughlin with a ticker-tape parade after he made the Olympic team.
McLaughlin played professionally as a teenager, was a star at North Catholic, kicked leather balls that felt like cinder blocks in the rain, and helped the U.S. qualify for the 1950 World Cup.
But he had to miss the tournament in Brazil. Why? Because his job refused to give him time off.
McLaughlin, who once played in front of more than 100,000 people in Scotland, was told by a British journalist that he was good enough to play in England’s first division. Considered by one admirer to be the “Babe Ruth” of his neighborhood, in Philadelphia soccer circles, McLaughlin was an icon.
But he still needed a parking spot that Sunday afternoon in the early 1970s at his old playground. Finally, he was spotted behind the wheel.
“Someone goes, ‘Benny’s here,’” said his son, Andy, who sat in the passenger seat. “They waved him in and just said, ‘Park the car anywhere. Leave the keys. Drop it here.’”
Benny McLaughlin already had his cleats and shorts on. He was in his early 40s, there to play in a reunion game of old teams.
Andy, then 12 years old, watched as his dad subbed in. A defender from the Five And One Club — another Kensington watering hole — pointed to McLaughlin and said he had him covered. Good luck.
“He made a move or two around the guy and the guy just fell down,” said Andy, 65. “He took a quick pop shot, and it was in. It was just smooth. I was going crazy. I get goose bumps thinking about it now. And it’s true. I witnessed it. He still had it.”
McLaughlin’s six children would often ask their dad how good he was back in the day. The dad guarded his heroics like state secrets. He was humble. McLaughlin was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1977 and told his kids that it was because he had good teammates.
Just once, Andy said, he wished his dad would brag. That wasn’t McLaughlin, who always had a second — or third — job while raising his family on Convent Avenue in the Northeast.
He finally gave his son a glimpse of the life he lived when he blasted that shot into the net at his old playground.
“That was the proof,” Andy said. “I was like, ‘Yeah!’ I was roaring. What would you do? My friends needle me like, ‘What happened to you?’ It’s like being Mickey Mantle’s son. What do you want from me?”
The World Cup will be broadcast worldwide over the next six weeks as players from 48 nations play in sold-out stadiums across three countries. Six games will be in Philadelphia, and the event is now a spectacle after years of planning.
But in 1950, it was anonymous to most Americans. McLaughlin, then 22 years old, was in Mexico the previous September to help the U.S. qualify for the 1950 World Cup. He graduated from North Catholic three years earlier and was an all-American at Temple before dropping out after one year to work.
He was hired in 1949 by Fischer & Porter, a factory in Hatboro that made parts for Navy ships and submarines, where his brother-in-law was an executive. McLaughlin asked the company if he could have a few weeks off to go to Brazil and play in the World Cup.
“They told him, ‘If you go, you no longer have a job,’” Andy said.
Len Oliver, a Hall of Fame soccer writer and Philadelphia native, once wrote that McLaughlin was one of the best American-born players of his era. He was a star. But he couldn’t play in the World Cup.
“Imagine that happening today,” Andy said. “Let’s say you’re a youth player, you make the national team, and you’re going to go represent the U.S. in a foreign country. They would wrap the company’s logo around you. It had to be a real kick in the teeth not to go. But he had to decide. He had a life decision to make. He needed to work. He wanted to get married. If the company said you can’t go, then what do you do?”
McLaughlin’s father, Bernard, immigrated from Scotland after being recruited by Bethlehem Steel to work at its plant and play on its soccer team. The McLaughlins eventually moved to Kensington, where Benny learned to play soccer in the streets as the boys used the neighborhood’s narrow passages as soccer fields.
His skills blossomed at Lighthouse Boys Club where he played with Walter Bahr, another Kensington kid who became a giant in Philadelphia soccer. They were best friends and played together as teenagers on the Philadelphia Nationals, a professional squad that traveled to New York on the weekends.
McLaughlin was just 15, so he used a false name — Bernie Flanagan — to protect his amateur status while making $15 a game. A tipster wrote to the U.S. Olympic Committee in June 1948, informing them that Bahr and McLaughlin were pros. The USOC passed the information to the U.S. Soccer Federation, which said it would investigate the high schoolers. Nothing to see here, they said.
“Ben, a young fellow doing a graduate thesis came across these letters,” Bahr wrote to McLaughlin years later after being sent a series of correspondences about their amateur case. “Thought you’d get a kick out of them.”
McLaughlin and Bahr remained amateurs and played together on the U.S. team at the 1948 Olympics in London.
“He looked up and saw 90,000 fans,” said McLaughlin’s son, Bernie, 73. “His cousins from Scotland came over to see him play. He said he was never more proud to be an American.”
Two years later, he was ready for the World Cup. But the company did not budge. McLaughlin, engaged to be married later that year, couldn’t risk losing his job.
“He needed a job, right?” said his son Mark, 59. “All he ever said to us was that it was for personal reasons. What do you do? You choose family. That’s him.”
The U.S. team stunned England that summer in a 1-0 win that still stands as one of the most significant moments in American soccer history. It was so hard to fathom that the Brits back home thought the score was a mistake. They even made a movie about the upset.
Bahr assisted the winning goal, which was scored by the player Andy said replaced his dad on the roster. McLaughlin and Eugene Olaff — who was slated to be the backup goalie but couldn’t get off work as a New Jersey state trooper — read about the win in the newspaper.
“Imagine getting that news,” Andy said. “It had to be bittersweet. You’re thrilled for them but sorry for yourself. When you have time to evaluate it, what’s a few weeks when you’re making history?”
Bernie was a freshman at St. Joseph’s when some teammates who grew up in his dad’s old neighborhood recognized his last name.
“My dad’s picture was hanging up in bars in Kensington,” he said as the taverns all sponsored teams. “They said, ‘Is your dad Benny McLaughlin?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ They said, ‘Well, if you grew up in our neighborhood, you would’ve never had to buy yourself a beer.’”
About 10 years ago, Andy was sitting at a quiet bar on Torresdale Avenue when he heard a few guys talking about soccer. He joined the conversation.
“I said, ‘Yeah, my dad played one time,’” Andy said. “The guy said, ‘Oh yeah? Who’s your dad?’ I said, ‘Benny McLaughlin.’ He looked stunned. He said, ‘Your dad is Benny McLaughlin? Benny McLaughlin is your dad?’ He was fumbling for words. Finally, he says to the bartender, ‘This guy is on scholarship for the rest of the afternoon.’”
McLaughlin’s name still means something in Philadelphia, but his legacy has dimmed outside the city. Perhaps that would be different if he played in that World Cup and scored that iconic goal. But he never thought about it, his sons said. It didn’t make him bitter or dim his love of the game he learned to play as a kid in Kensington.
He kept a pair of old soccer cleats — “You would’ve thought they were Frankenstein’s boots,” Mark said — under the basement stairs and watched VHS tapes of European highlights, marveling at how they blasted the ball. He cheered the next generation of American players, some of whom grew up near Kensington. The game never left him.
“He always said that soccer is for the new generation,” Mark said. “He had no regrets for what he did. He was grateful for what he was able to accomplish. He never looked back.”
Ed Blaney, who played at St. Joe’s, told the McLaughlins that he credited their dad for his college scholarship. McLaughlin, he told them, helped make soccer relevant in the U.S., which caused more colleges to field teams.
Blaney played at North Catholic and grew up in Kensington, just like McLaughlin. He would not have been able to afford college without the pathway the neighborhood celebrity created. Forget the World Cup. That is McLaughlin’s legacy, Bernie said.
McLaughlin kept his job at Fischer & Porter for more than 20 years before working for the city in the redevelopment authority. He sold carpet at night and delivered kegs on the weekend, doing whatever it took to raise six children with his wife, Joan. McLaughlin made breakfast every Sunday — fried eggs and bacon — and often topped a summer barbecue with a drive to Goodnoe’s Ice Cream in Bucks County.
“I want to stop myself from bragging about him,” Andy said. “But I don’t. As great as a soccer player as he was, he was a great dad, too. He was always looking out for us. He always had a nice word for you. He was just a great, loving dad.”
McLaughlin was starting to fade in 2010 when his family moved him to a senior facility in West Chester. A few weeks later, a new resident named Harry Naughton was complaining about his hips. He told the staff he used to play soccer. They told him they had someone else living there who once was a big soccer player in Philly.
“Don’t tell me it’s Benny McLaughlin,” Naughton said.
The staff asked Naughton how he knew it would be McLaughlin.
“Who doesn’t know Benny McLaughlin?” he said.
Mark soon took his dad to Naughton’s apartment. Benny couldn’t say much, but his son knew he recognized his old teammate. Naughton was a goalie on the Philadelphia Nationals, the team McLaughlin played for under that fake name.
Mark took out his phone, called Bahr, and put him on speakerphone. The three teammates were together again.
Bahr asked Naughton how his back was feeling. He said it was giving him trouble, but how did Bahr know?
“‘Oh, I just figured it would be bad from all the times you had to bend over to pick the damn ball up from the back of the net,’” Bahr said.
Benny McLaughlin, who died two years later in 2012 at age 84, laughed. So did the others as they chatted that afternoon about the old days.
McLaughlin played the game as a kid with wizardry, a skinny kid from Kensington who moved the ball with ease and always seemed to find an open teammate. Eric Charleson, one of America’s earliest soccer experts, once wrote that McLaughlin had “a fire, spirit, and determination that defied the rigors of the sport.” But he was more than that, Charleson wrote, as McLaughlin had “integrity, sportsmanship, and character.” That’s why he didn’t talk much about his career. His game said it all.
And there he was in his old buddy’s apartment, talking about the game they once mastered. The game they played on the streets in Kensington and the game they toasted in those little neighborhood taprooms. The game that took them around the world and the game that wasn’t yet popular enough to get you off from work. But McLaughlin didn’t mind. The game gave him enough memories. He didn’t need a World Cup.
“You almost saw a youth come into all of them,” Mark said. “They were young again for a minute. The joy and the smile. The eyes were shining. It was just so awesome. It was the best day ever.”
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — U.S. men’s soccer team manager Mauricio Pochettino has said many times during his tenure that he wants his players to believe they can win this World Cup.
If it’s unrealistic, or derided by fans and media, he does not care. His job has been to make his players think they can do it, and use that belief to put extra fuel in the tank.
(For the record, reaching the quarterfinals is the bar most outsiders have set; and if you ask this reporter’s opinion, that’s correct.)
On Thursday, in his final remarks before Friday’s opening game against Paraguay (9 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62), Pochettino finally turned to a more realistic tone.
Asked how he defines success now, he started by saying “it’s difficult.” Then, acknowledging those who hadn’t heard his passionate stances in the past, he set out his explanation.
“I think for me, ‘successful’ is winning,” he said. “It’s win tomorrow, and win after tomorrow, and win. If we don’t arrive to the final and we don’t win the World Cup, to talk about ‘successful’ is, I don’t know — for me and my mindset.”
Pochettino has heard from plenty of people in his 22-month tenure to date about the mountains American men’s soccer must climb, and the obstacles along the way. And now he knows firsthand how his players truly stack up against the world’s best, especially after games against powers Belgium, Portugal, Senegal, and Germany.
“If you say to me, oh, the conditions, or this [other thing], or we play against good national teams, I say, OK, OK,” he said. “But when we signed here, it’s because we wanted to come here, and to be involved in that unique event, but with the possibility to compete well, and believing in winning.”
Asked what he’ll say to his players before Friday’s kickoff, Pochettino joked that “I already spoke, I already talked — too much. I said [to them], don’t expect an unbelievable speech Friday.”
That’s mainly because in his opinion, they “don’t need an external motivation” at this point.
“They need the motivational speech and inspiration when they need to go to train and improve in every single area,” he said. “And then tomorrow, it’s late. … If you are not ready, sorry guys, it’s impossible to perform. What were [we] doing all this year and a half [we’ve been preparing]?”
But in a way, the manager gave that speech to the media from the podium on Thursday, in a news conference where he alternated freely between English and Spanish.
“The players, tomorrow, need to go on the field and feel in a bad way that they need to perform,” he said. “And to perform is to respect some rules, but also the most important is not to be disconnected with your emotional relationship with the game. And we were talking about that: they need to think tomorrow and play like they are a child, with no pressure, with no responsibility.”
He also said he wants his players to “take it step by step,” and that “the key is not to look at the finish line before you actually get there.”
Pochettino particularly applied that to the players he’ll summon from the bench, a key part of any manager’s strategy with five substitutes allowed per game.
“How many players aren’t starters early in the World Cup, but end up big figures in the tournament?” he said. “It’s not just about how you start, but how you continue and how you finish.”
Perhaps his most revealing words came when he opened up about what he has learned from the players, for as much as they have learned from him.
“I really admire the players’ mindset,” Pochettino said. “I don’t think they should be underestimated, because their emotional intelligence is very high — well above the global average. They become great athletes because they possess that capacity and talent, and they develop that mental strength. I tell you, they are all intelligent.”
He has also learned the different ways required to connect with the 26 players on this squad, and the over 70 he has had in U.S. camps over his tenure.
“The trick is getting to know each individual so you can communicate effectively, finding the right frequency,” he said. “You realize that, ultimately, they all feel the same things, face the same struggles, and have the same needs. It’s about finding the right frequency to connect with each personality. They are giving us so much, and honestly, we are really enjoying the whole group.”
As nice as it was to hear Chris Richards declare himself “ready” on Wednesday, that only counted for so much without his boss’s blessing. Pochettino gave it on Thursday, calling the key centerback “available.” He also said all 26 players on the roster are fit to play.
But he backed off saying whether Richards has the green light to start.
“Chris is available to be selected, and then we will decide if he’ll start from the beginning of the game or is on the bench,” Pochettino said. “But I think we celebrate the job that our medical staff and performance [staff] did — worked really hard to recover Chris, and recover some other players that arrived with minor things. No big issues. … It’s a really good feeling to have 26 players available to be selected.”
Pochettino said he knows what his starting lineup will be, but signaled that he hasn’t told the players. That includes the goalkeepers, the subject that has been second to Richards’ health in the most-discussed rankings.
“No, I’m not going to tell you,” he said when invited to. “But I already decided. Only if something happens before the game [would it change].”
Asked if the players know, he said: “I don’t know if they know. Because if they know, you are going to start to call them.”
The room laughed with him at that. Such leaks are a tradition in other countries, including Pochettino’s native Argentina, and England where he worked for many years. It isn’t in the United States, though, at least not yet.
IRVINE, Calif. — There is no question that this U.S. men’s soccer team has players with talent and pedigree like never before. Even some of their predecessors, who are as prone to claiming “back in my day” as in any other sport, have said as much lately.
Now, at last, the time has arrived to prove it. For all the pomp and circumstance that Friday’s World Cup opener against Paraguay (9 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62) will bring, it also will serve as the ultimate measuring stick.
This is the 12th men’s World Cup in which a U.S. squad has taken part. In the first 11, going all the way back to the inaugural edition in 1930, the Americans have played 37 games.
They have won just nine.
It’s not just that number, sitting alongside 20 losses and eight ties. It’s that the U.S. men haven’t won two games in a group stage since that 1930 tournament. They haven’t won two games in a single tournament since 2002, when they reached the quarterfinals with a round of 16 win over Mexico.
That, in turn, still stands as the only World Cup knockout-round win in program history. And the fact that it came against the opponent the U.S. knows best in the world means that while there isn’t an asterisk, it’s still not the same as beating a team from elsewhere.
Can this be the summer when that finally changes? And if so, what will it take?
“I think the maturity of the group now, I would say,” U.S. midfield star and longtime leader Tyler Adams said at Friday’s practice. “I know we’ve got some faces [for whom] it will be their first experience in the World Cup. But that being said, they’re all playing at a high level somewhere in the world, if not in MLS, and they’re all going to be able to contribute at a high level.”
The U.S.’s group is easier than others, lacking a European or South American superpower and coincidentally having three rematches of friendlies from last year. A smaller gap in talent means intangibles like mentality and home-field advantage might make a difference.
“I think just continuing to put in good performances, and believing,” said Christian Pulisic, the Americans’ most important playmaker. “I think having the confidence that we’re able to beat anyone, I think that’s what it is. And I think we’ve gained some experience, especially the last World Cup, a lot of guys being around, and now we have an opportunity to prove it.”
Indeed, Pulisic and Adams are among 13 players on this World Cup squad — exactly half the roster — who were also in Qatar in 2022. But the message has also gotten through to players who weren’t, such as fast-rising defender Alex Freeman.
“I feel like for us it’s having, that confidence in ourselves,” he said. “Knowing that we’re on home soil and it’s a different type of environment, knowing that we have the fans behind us. Now it’s kind of just to show what we can do, knowing that on the field it’s going to be a different type of confidence, different type of intensity that we’ll have to show.”
And how did they feel on game day eve?
“A good nervous, I feel like,” Adams said “I’ve never get nervous for games, but I just feel like … it just feels really real in the moment. And I’m to get out there with this group of guys, because I’m confident in what we can do.”
Adams wasn’t on the squad when the U.S. beat Paraguay in Chester last November because of an injury suffered a few days before that game. So when asked if that game matters now, his first answer was, “I mean, I didn’t play in it, so to me it doesn’t matter.”
But after the laughs all around that ensued, he agreed that the experience does help the team overall.
“It is nice when you’re breaking down film of an opponent, and you’re breaking down watching with players that we have on the field,” he said. “So I think for a lot of guys, it was probably a good experience.”
Freeman was on the field and became the center of attention when a brawl broke out at the end of the game. That was the latest lesson for the 21-year-old defender, who made a big move from Orlando City to Spain’s Villarreal two months later.
“I think for me and the team, we know how intense it is, right? And aggressive as well,” he said. “We feel like in those games, it’s going to be kind of the battle, who can strike first. I think for us, it’s to be aggressive first — I think we want to be those people that can go and make the game the way we want to do.”
So, here they are, in the final hours before the biggest game of their lives, with the opportunity for more biggest games of their lives afterward.
“It’s not quite here — still got another day,” Pulisic said. “But definitely feeling more real, getting excited.”
And Adams gave one more rallying cry, adding to the list of them he has given.
“This is, for me, the biggest opportunity to just really grow the game, to inspire people, to show that American players are at the level of the rest of the world,” he said. “I’m not going to say it’s difficult to showcase that week in week out when you’re playing abroad, but that’s not the collective. Now you have a group of Americans playing together at a high level — let’s show everyone what we’re capable of doing.”
Earlier today, Tyler Adams was asked about the burden Christian Pulisic has carried on his shoulders for a decade as the biggest #USMNT star.
Here was Adams' eloquent response, and what Pulisic said a few minutes later about whether he feels less of a burden now:
www.inquirer.com/soccer/world…
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@jtannenwald.bsky.social) June 11, 2026 at 3:07 PM
The heat and humidity have transformed the atmosphere into an obnoxious broth — just in time for the World Cup FIFA Fan Festival — and we can do without the fireworks, thank you.
The official temperature at Philadelphia International Airport had reached 97, setting a record for the date, with a heat index of 103 at 4 p.m. It beat the high of 95, reached in 1985, and an encore was expected Friday, when the record also is 95.
In addition, the steaminess has added volatility to a vapor-swollen atmosphere that is even making the windows sweat. The city’s heat emergency remains in effect until 8 p.m. Friday, and the National Weather Service is advising people to stay hydrated and in air-conditioning if possible.
With a front approaching, strong thunderstorms with potent winds are likely at some point during the FIFA fan festivities in Fairmount Park on Friday.
It will still be hot during the weekend, forecasters say, but as the World Cup activities heat up, the humidity will be so comfortable you might think you had moved.
As for game-time conditions Sunday for the Ecuador vs. Ivory Coast match in South Philly, spectators might want to pack an umbrella.
The government’s Storm Prediction Center warned that the region could be affected by “multiple disturbances,” and the atmosphere is well-juiced with moisture.
Rich Thompson, chief of forecast operations at the storm center, in Norman, Okla., said the center might have to issue a severe watch for the Philly region Friday, when he happens to be on duty.
Those attending the FIFA Fan Festival on Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park will be well-warned in case of severe weather, said Philadelphia Soccer 2026 spokesperson Melissa Ferdinand, via screens, announcements, and text messages.
In short, if you didn’t like the weather Thursday, you won’t like Friday’s, either.
The weather service warned of the “risk of heat-related illnesses for much of the population — especially those without effective cooling or hydration.”
Temperatures on both Saturday and Sunday are expected to reach 90 or better, but the air is going to be refreshingly drier. All thermal comfort being relative, the differences will be as noticeable as they are welcome.
At game time Sunday — 7 p.m. — it should be quite comfortable in South Philly. However, another system may touch off more showers during the game in advance of what will be a refreshing air mass to start the workweek.
Former Phillies All-Star Jayson Werth and former 94 WIP host Devan Kaney have started a podcast.
The first episode of Werth Talking About was released Thursday. The hosts discussed topics ranging from Werth’s passion for horse racing to their defining Philly sports moments — and whether the Phillies have what it takes to make it to the World Series this year. They promised to “tell it like it is” and “keep it real” in their weekly Thursday episodes.
Werth, who played for the Phillies for four seasons, helped lead the team to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2008 and 2009 before signing a whopping seven-year, $126 million contract with the Washington Nationals after the 2010 season. Though his departure was a major disappointment for many Phillies fans, Werth assured that he is impartial these days.
“I had some great years in Philadelphia,” he said. “I played on great teams, won a World Series, and nobody can take that away from me. … I can be a Phillie, I can be a Nat, but these days, I identify as a horse racing owner.”
For Kaney, Werth was a welcome surprise voice for the podcast.
“I was absolutely not expecting Jason Werth,” Kaney, who replaced Howard Eskin as WIP’s Eagles sideline host in 2024 before being laid off in March, told The Inquirer. “We’re one episode in, and he just has so much lore. He’ll just drop the most insane stories, and it’s awesome to work with him.”
Though out of the baseball limelight for the past few years, Werth is no stranger to podcasting, having served as a cohost of Off the Rail, a show discussing the world of horse racing with fellow former MLB player Shawn Kelley.
As the hosts got acquainted in the debut episode, stories bounced from Werth’s horses to his recent appearance in a Lakers jersey at Game 3 of the NBA Finals, and, of course, each of their perspectives on the Phillies’ 2008 World Series win.
Despite now being a horse racing enthusiast and accomplished owner — Werth’s horse, Dornoch, won the 2024 Belmont Stakes — he shared some analytical thoughts on his former team. Werth, who retired from baseball in 2018, offered a wealth of insider knowledge after playing in Washington with current Phillies stars Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. The latter sparked debate over his status as an elite player.
“I think Bryce is right in the middle of his prime,” Werth said. “If he can stay healthy over the next few years, we’re talking about a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”
The Phillies have been one of the best teams in baseball since replacing manager Rob Thomson with interim Don Mattingly in April. Werth remains optimistic about the team’s chances the rest of the way but knows from experience that it won’t be easy — even if he believes the team is better than most.
“I would say this to the people out there that say, ‘Oh, this team’s not as good,’” Werth said. “This team, year over year, has made it to the playoffs, won the division, and found a way to get in. So this is a quality team if it keeps doing what it’s supposed to do. … Winning is hard. Everybody should know that. Winning is hard.”
As the Phillies move deeper into the season — and the baseball world descends on Philly next month — Kaney said the show will continue to evolve.
“We’re going to start incorporating a lot more guests and active players,” Kaney said. “I know we’re going to do a lot of fun stuff around the MLB All-Star Game here in Philly.”
Werth Talking About is produced by the ALLCITY Network and PHLY, which also produces Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship’s podcast, Exciting Mics. The show is working with the Major League Baseball Players Association to plan on-site episodes and in-person recordings as it grows.
“What we provide in our podcast is a unique perspective,” Kaney said. “It’s not attacking, it’s not hot takes, it’s not anything overly negative, but more so kind of peeling back the curtain on what happens behind the scenes.”
Kaney, a longtime Phillies fan, also hopes the show provides some optimism for fellow fans as the hosts draw connections between the current team and the ones Werth played on.
“If I was part of this Phillies team, I would be so sick of hearing about the magical 2008 Phillies just because they’re the last team that won,” Kaney said jokingly. “This is a good team, and we’re going to tie both of them together and find the similarities and differences between those teams.
“It’s going to be something that’s really fun for us.”
Philadelphia’s scorching, soupy weather could not stop soccer fans from making the trek to East Fairmount Park, where World Cup revelers filed in Thursday afternoon to celebrate the tournament’s kickoff at the FIFA Fan Festival.
Thousands of soccer lovers were present, arriving at Lemon Hill for the festival’s 2 p.m. start time — an hour before Mexico started its clash against South Africa in the World Cup’s first match, in Mexico City. Philly’s FIFA Fan Festival, which is slated to run for 39 days through the end of the tournament next month, arrived amid a heat advisory that saw temperatures push into the mid-90s with heat indexes surpassing 100 degrees, thanks to high humidity levels.
And that did not go unnoticed by festival attendees.
“This is far too warm for us,” said Rhys Gray, who traveled to Philadelphia from Scotland. Gray arrived in town Tuesday and plans to make the city his home base as he and his father follow Scotland’s games throughout the World Cup. Gray, who donned a matching plaid bucket hat and shirt for the occasion, said the city had been welcoming so far.
“I never felt so popular,” he added.
The FIFA Fan Festival serves as the city’s official World Cup watch party, and sprawls across a million square feet of lush, green space at Lemon Hill. It is capable of holding 15,000 attendees, many of whom are expected to take in matches on the festival’s 60-foot-wide screen on the main stage. The family-friendly event also features more than 80 food trucks, a massive shopping area, and a beer garden, among other amenities.
And while it attracted World Cup watchers from around the world Thursday, Philadelphia-area locals also made the trip. Many attendees seemed to be rooting for Mexico, judging by the sea of green-and-red soccer jerseys that dominated the space.
Among Mexico’s supporters was Bianca Vetta, who traveled to Philly from Easton with her mother. On Thursday, Vetta’s face was painted like the flag of Mexico, with red, white, and green marking her cheeks to show her support for the country’s team. Her father, she said, is from Mexico.
Bernard Dagenais, president and CEO of the Main Line Chamber of Commerce, also supported Mexico over South Africa. Dagenais, who parked at the nearby Philadelphia Museum of Art and walked to Lemon Hill, said his support for the country only made sense.
“Why not?” he asked. “They’re our neighbors to the south.”
Dagenais’ walk is likely not to be unique during the festival’s run, as extensive road closures and parking restrictions arrived with the event. Organizers have encouraged attendees to take rideshares or public transportation, which some Philadelphia residents, like West Philly’s Eric Abreu, heeded.
Despite the travel restrictions, Abreu said, getting to the festival was convenient and trouble-free, thanks to a $10 Uber ride that dropped him off nearby. And while he plans to head back to the festival grounds in the coming days, he did note Thursday was a little on the warm side.
“Hopefully we just get a nice tan,” Abreu said.
Philadelphia itself, meanwhile, is slated to host its first World Cup game Sunday, when Ivory Coast faces off against Ecuador at Lincoln Financial Field. FIFA has temporarily renamed the arena “Philadelphia Stadium” for the World Cup, which will include six games in town through July 4.
Philadelphia’s role as a host city, however, seemed to be secondary to the match at hand Thursday afternoon. As the match started, attendees flocked to the festival’s largest screen, set out picnic blankets, and danced to music reverberating through the grounds. Cheers and applause in Philadelphia erupted as the teams took the field in Mexico City.
On Thursday afternoon, said attendee Patrick Aruta, a registered nurse at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, the experience transcended any difficulties or controversies that may be associated with the World Cup. In that fleeting moment, he said, this was all there was — just enjoying the match, with thousands of other fans from far and wide.
“No matter what people say about the heat [or] the political climate, there is nothing like this. I forget who I am for a moment,” he said. “You can’t get this at any other sports game. Just the World Cup.”
As the Phillies await word on the severity of Adolis García’s right shoulder injury, they made a trade Thursday to add to their thin outfield depth.
The Phillies acquired righty-hitting Derek Hill and international bonus pool money from the White Sox, a major league source confirmed, for double-A outfielder Dylan Campbell and single-A infielder Jose Colmenares. Primarily a center fielder, Hill is expected to see time in right field with the Phillies.
Hill, 30, batted .213 with four homers in 80 at-bats in limited action in Chicago. He went deep against Jesús Luzardo last Friday night in an 8-6 Phillies victory over the White Sox in Citizens Bank Park.
García grabbed his shoulder after making a throw to home plate Wednesday night in Toronto. He exited the game and was diagnosed with a pulled muscle in the right shoulder area, according to the Phillies. García was expected to undergo further testing Thursday. The Phillies remain uncertain how long he will be sidelined.
If García needs to go on the injured list, Otto Kemp, Felix Reyes, and Gabriel Rincones Jr. are potential replacements on the 40-man roster. Neither Kemp nor Reyes has hit much lately in triple A, while Rincones struggles against left-handed pitching. Bryan De La Cruz, who isn’t on the 40-man roster, has considerable major league experience, mostly with the Marlins.
Hill has a .789 OPS against left-handed pitching this season and could form a right-field platoon with Rincones.
ESPN was first to report the trade.
If you ask some Philadelphia fans, Taylor Swift’s claim to the city should be revoked.
On Wednesday, Swift sat on Madison Square Garden’s celebrity row to watch the New York Knicks, who swept the Sixers out of the playoffs last month, claw back from a 29-point deficit against the San Antonio Spurs to take a three-games-to-one series lead in the NBA Finals. Swift, who’s from Reading and spent her childhood summers in Stone Harbor, N.J., cheered on New York despite her strong ties to the Philadelphia area.
The pop star wore a blue T-shirt with “Stevie Knicks” — a nod to Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks — printed in Knicks orange. She was seated between friends and fellow musicians Este and Alana Haim, who sported “Knickole Kidman” and “Knickelback” shirts, and Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, whose character, Olivia Benson, inspired one of Swift’s cats’ names.
After Swift was spotted at the Garden, Philadelphia fans took to social media to voice their displeasure with the singer’s apparent New York fandom.
So, what’s actually going on? Did Swift ever rep the Sixers or has she always been a big Knicks fan?
In April 2002, a 12-year old Swift performed the national anthem before the Sixers tipped off against the Detroit Pistons at the First Union Center (now Xfinity Mobile Arena). Sixers public address announcer Matt Cord, who retired after this past season, introduced the future global star as “Taylor Swift from Reading, Pa.”
Swift, who also performed the anthem before Game 3 of the 2008 World Series at Citizens Bank Park, recently reflected on singing at her hometown NBA team’s arena during a December appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, but she did not mention where her NBA fandom lies. She instead focused on the American flag-themed attire she wore.
“You know, when you’re like 11 and you’ve got that one outfit that you just know goes so hard,” Swift said. “You just know that when you put this on, you’re like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m unstoppable today.’”
In 2014, Swift told Time magazine that she began to root for New York earlier that year when she moved to the Big Apple. That year, the “Process Sixers” went 19-63, but the Knicks were not worldbeaters either, finishing 37-45. Her reason for embracing the Knicks evidently was not because of how the team was playing. Instead, it was because of a friendship she formed with New York big man Amar’e Stoudemire.
“So you run into a bunch of different, interesting types of people at the Met Ball,” Swift told Time. “I’ve gone the last four years. And the most normal people at that event, every single time, are Amar’e Stoudemire and his wife Alexis. I talk with them and hang with them every time I’m there. So I’ve always had this sort of love of the Knicks, just because Amar’e is so cool.”
It also seems the Sixers did not claim a special place in Swift’s heart because they invited her to sing, either. In fact, as she told Time, she also performed at Madison Square Garden as a child. The Mecca seemed to leave a greater impression on her than the Sixers’ South Philly arena.
“And also I performed at the Knicks’ — at Madison Square Garden’s kids talent competition at halftime when I was 12 or 13,” Swift said. “And ever since then, I’ve had this kind of sparkly, magical opinion of Madison Square Garden and the Knicks, since they let me sing when I was a little kid.”
As some on social media have pointed out, Swift also attended Game 3 of the Knicks’ Eastern Conference finals matchup at the Cleveland Cavaliers. At that game, seated next to her fiancé and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, she appeared to root for the Cavaliers — not the Knicks. Kelce and his brother, retired Eagles great Jason Kelce, are from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and have been public in their support for the Cavs.
Swift’s relationship with the Eagles does not leave many clues to where her loyalty lies, either. Despite previously performing in Eagles jerseys and mentioning the team in her 2020 song “gold rush,” Swift seemingly ditched the Birds after she began to date Kelce. Since then, she has supported Kansas City.
It seems that Swift will have to correct the record on her favorite teams. Until then, a small sect of Philadelphia Swifties will likely hold out hope. The rest? They seem to have given up.