Four days after finishing his Marseille season and five days before the USMNT’s World Cup journey begins, Tim Weah is back in New York—Harlem, Queens and all. He says the intensity of Marseille, where results can ignite celebrations or arguments at home, has t
On a rainy Thursday, Tim Weah moved like someone trying to outrun the waiting—until the waiting caught up anyway.
Four days after playing his final game this season with Marseille and five days before the U.S. men’s national team’s World Cup journey officially begins, Weah spent his morning in Harlem with mayor Zohran Mamdani. He spent his evening at Madison Square Garden watching the New York Knicks. Somewhere between the two—after dealing with New York’s inconsistent but uncompromising traffic—he was back at his family’s home in Springfield Gardens. Queens. a neighborhood he has always called home.
“It’s a lot,” Weah said, when asked about what the days are really for. “I don’t know yet. We’re just all pretty much waiting for the roster.”
For him, that waiting game sits on top of three-and-a-half years of preparation that began the moment the U.S. was eliminated from the 2022 World Cup. In the round of 16, the U.S. fell 3-1 to the Netherlands, a blow still close enough to recall for the players who were there.
Weah described the World Cup years as work that never truly stops—meticulous decisions made in the margins, every day in service of the next one.
“There’s no limit to whatever preparation you can do that’ll get you ready for a World Cup. ” he said in an exclusive sit-down with CBS Sports. “No matter how much you prepare. it all comes down to how the guys are feeling in their heads because a World Cup is not easy. You can do a whole bunch of preparation but if you’re nervous and you get out there, it’s tough. I think we’ve done a great job.”.
His move to Marseille, he said, is the clearest training ground for that mental part of it.
Last summer. Weah transferred from Juventus to Marseille. and he believes he made the right call by choosing a place where consistent playing time came with expectations. He said he has already checked off the goal he set for the move. and that Marseille has given him regular appearances—an essential step toward cracking a World Cup roster.
But the port city, living by the Mediterranean Sea, comes with its own kind of pressure: intense contrasts that hit fans and players alike.
“The city is a very football-forward city. so depending on our results. that’s going to determine how people in the city live their lives. how people in the city love. ” he said. “When we win, it’s a celebration. People are going out to restaurants and enjoying. When we lose, people are going home to their wives and starting arguments. That’s what I mean by [the fact that] it’s super intense. Our results will affect the daily lives of the individuals that are in Marseille. so it’s a lot. a lot of responsibility to carry. obviously. and if you’re not prepared for that. then it can be tough.”.
He also insists that choosing a club like Marseille shouldn’t be casual.
“You just have to be ready,” he said. “It helps that the club has embraced me quickly after my playing time dwindled at Juventus, Weah playing 41 games across all competitions in his first season with Marseille.”
Weah framed his return to France as the original goal, and Marseille as the moment it all aligned.
“I think coming back to France was the goal initially and then Marseille came. which was perfect because they’re a big club and I knew that once they reached out to me. I was going to play there. ” he said. “I think it was the best decision because I needed a place where I could get consistent game time. be a leader. be an important player and Marseille gave me that.”.
Still, even in that intensity, he makes room for his own escapes. He is a homebody by habit and has a house by the beach where he can watch the waves. He also balances the grind with screens and comfort.
“I watched the new ‘Dracula,’ absolutely loved it,” he said, naming the French director Luc Besson. “I want to watch the Michael Jackson biopic. I haven’t watched that yet.”
His favorites, he said, lean toward familiar rhythm.
“I love the Food Network. I watch Booby Flay. I love ‘Iron Chef.’ There’s this new one – I don’t think it’s on the Food Network. but it’s this new one with Gordon Ramsay. ‘Next Level Chef’ … ‘Top Chef’ … It’s like a comfort watch. Food Network’s like a comfort watch for me because when I was a kid. I used to put it on all the time.”.
Weah is also a well-documented foodie. He previously shared a lengthy list of eateries he missed as an American living in Europe, and he stirred conversation when he said he preferred Italian food in the U.S. than the Italian food he ate in Turin during his years with Juventus.
For Marseille, though, his review isn’t glowing.
“They’re going to hate me when I say this, but it’s not my favorite,” he said. “It’s not my favorite. When I’m overseas, I don’t really get the full food experience just because I’m always eating at home. I try to keep my diet pretty strict.”
He keeps things simple during the season, sticking to a diet “just like most professional athletes.” When he comes back to New York, he swaps discipline for appetite.
“When I’m back here, I’m everywhere – Chinese Tuxedo. I have a whole list of restaurants that I go to … If I’m free, I’ll be out like every other night.”
That blend—routine and rest, focus and distraction—maps to how he talks about the World Cup itself.
New York will be the first stop of many for the USMNT. The team is set to be unveiled at an event on Tuesday, before pre-tournament stops in Atlanta, Charlotte and Chicago. After that, they are scheduled to settle in Irvine, Calif. for their base camp—where the attention of the nation and the world will finally lock in fully.
Weah said the dynamic doesn’t feel like pressure to him as much as obligation.
“Obviously we’re the main actors in the situation of the World Cup and I think it’s our job to just perform. ” he said. “I think once we perform, this sport is going to grow in itself. Being that it’s a World Cup. all eyes are on you and when you’re the host nation as well so I think football in America is growing day to day but it’s our job now as the actors to go out there and perform. bring a smile to people’s faces. joy in people’s heart. bring different cultures and traditions together to where everyone wants to play soccer and everyone wants their kids to be soccer players. I think that’s going to be beautiful. There’s no better place to do it than in America.”.
There’s another layer to why Marseille prepared him: he’s not just carrying himself as a player, but carrying options.
USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino is known for reminders that no player is guaranteed a spot. Weah said his flexibility is a factor here. He is traditionally a winger, but he played much of the season at Marseille as a wingback.
He described the adjustment as something he’s already internalized.
“I’m just so used to it,” he said. “It’s kind of like second nature for me. I think on the U.S. I can’t tell you what Poch is going to do. but I feel like I’m going to be more of a winger rather than a wingback just because of the qualities that I do bring to the national team. It’s a lot of running in behind. so the closer I’m to the opposite. I think it’s just going to benefit us. and while at Marseille. I play a little further back just because I control the pace of the game from behind. I get up more to support Mason [Greenwood] … I like playing both positions. I’m like a Swiss Army knife. I enjoy being it, because you get the experience of different positions.”.
Even when it’s an “off day,” he doesn’t disappear from the work of getting ready. Since Marseille’s season concluded on Sunday, he filled his time with the series finale of “The Boys,” which he binged after watching the first five seasons in a three-week span.
He’s also been pushing soccer’s profile in the country in the ways he can—starting with the place he grew up.
He’s back in Queens in large part because of a community event at Rosedale Soccer Club on Saturday, a youth organization built by his uncle in the neighborhood where he grew up.
“This is the club that. when the fields weren’t grass. when they were dust. we were all out there kicking it around and it’s just humble beginnings. ” he said. “Growing up. unless I went to. I don’t know. New Haven or Manhattan or out there in Long Island. I was just around Caribbean families from Jamaicans to Trinidadians to Guyanese. Puerto Ricans. Dominicans. everyone. It’s just a really humble place to be and to grow up, as a kid. We grew up around a lot of love, a lot of good energy. On the weekends when school’s done, we’d go out to Rosedale soccer field and we’d have cookouts, we’d play music.”.
That sense of roots is why he understands what “all eyes” really means. It’s not just about the field; it’s about who gets pulled into the moment.
He was also at the Harlem event where Mamdani announced a discounted World Cup ticket initiative for 1,000 lucky New York City residents—one of several efforts aimed at making the tournament more accessible.
Weah said the connection began at a distance.
“The relationship was already amazing from a distance, I think,” Weah said. “When I saw his videos and I saw that he was always mentioning me. I think the love for him. it just exploded from there. I think what he’s done for the city has been amazing. What he’s doing for the World Cup is amazing. I think making tickets accessible for people who can’t really afford it is an amazing gesture and he’s someone that’s very football forward. which is amazing. Having a mayor that you can connect with – he’s young, he’s for the people, by the people . He’s a football fan and he’s a football player at that, which is something that’s amazing.”.
For Weah, the event wasn’t just recognition—it was an opening.
“The event in Harlem, Weah hoped, was an important networking opportunity – and maybe a step closer to a kickabout with the mayor.”
He said connecting with Mamdani was “definitely the start of a wonderful relationship” and added that he hoped to get into the mayor’s office and talk more.
“I think connecting with him today is definitely the start of a wonderful relationship so hopefully I can get in his office and get in his ear a little bit. ” he said. “On a personal level. I love street football so I want to be able in the future to maybe. I don’t know. purchase a building and turn it into a hub for street football and allow the younger generation to come in there and work on their game and improve and just have fun and just a safe place for us to play – or it’s just not on the streets… Hopefully I can play with [Mamdani] on the streets. but I’ve heard he’s pretty good. I can’t wait to see but it’s good talking to him.”.
On Thursday, with roster uncertainty still hanging over him, Weah kept moving—Harlem morning, Knicks evening, Queens in between. And in the background of everything he does, one idea stays steady: Marseille’s intensity taught him that results follow you home.
Now, with the World Cup starting soon and “all eyes” shifting onto the host nation, he’s trying to arrive ready—not just physically, but mentally—when the waiting finally ends.
Tim Weah USMNT World Cup 2026 Marseille Juventus Zohran Mamdani New York Knicks Madison Square Garden Springfield Gardens Rosedale Soccer Club Irvine California base camp wingback winger Mauricio Pochettino