Marcos Arfsten's Journey: From USMNT World Cup to European Football

The World Cup ended for the USMNT with a thud in Seattle against Belgium. One night, 26 players shared a locker room; the next morning, they scattered across the map.

Some went home. Some hit the beach. Some disappeared into vacations that would blur together in a few years’ time.

Marcos Arfsten’s compass pointed to California.

He needed that.

“I spent like a week at home with my family,” he says. “I went to the beach for a little bit. I just took a little mental break. Then, I came back to Columbus, started training, and I just played in a couple games.

“It kind of just ends, and you have to move on, but it was such a massive moment that it's kind of hard to move on.”

The “massive moment” is obvious enough: a World Cup, a whirlwind six weeks, the spike of adrenaline that comes with goals, wins, celebrations. The noise of it all.

But when Arfsten rewinds the tape now, it isn’t just the big scenes that play back.

“The national anthem,” he says, and the smile gives away what it meant. “Whenever people ask me, I always say that just because they let everybody go out there, so I was out there every game. You're singing the national anthem at the World Cup, and the world's watching. In that moment, it seems like everyone is watching.”

Then there are the moments no one saw.

“The stuff you remember most is the relationships you make,” he says. “For me, me and a group of like five other teammates, we'd play cards every single night on the balcony at the hotel in Orange County. We'd just look at the ocean, play cards. That was like such a fun time because you just talk about stuff. You learn a lot about people.”

From balcony card games to the brutal grind of the EFL Championship. From Orange County to Teesside. The contrast is sharp, but this next step has been a long time coming.

From college question mark to European move

Back in January, speaking to GOAL, Arfsten laid out two targets for 2026. Make a World Cup. Get to Europe.

The first box is already ticked. The second is about to be.

On paper, it looks like a smooth, upward climb: UC-Davis standout, MLS breakthrough with Columbus Crew, USMNT call-up, World Cup, then a move to Middlesbrough.

Arfsten insists the story reads very differently from the inside.

“My whole journey, it feels like ups and downs and going through a lot of hurdles just to get to Columbus,” he said in January. “To be where I am now, I feel like I'm just learning as I go. All of this is new to me. I feel like the one thing I want people to understand is that this isn't linear.”

He’s right to stress it. After breaking through at UC-Davis, his sophomore season vanished when COVID-19 shut down college sports. After his junior year, he signed with San Jose Earthquakes II, hoping to climb into the first team. Instead of a straight promotion, the Fresno-born winger/wingback ended up in Columbus via the MLS Draft.

No youth national teams. No “can’t-miss” label. No red-carpet pathway.

Before his USMNT debut in the January 2025 camp, Arfsten had never worn a U.S. shirt at any level. He arrived late to the party and forced the door open himself.

Now he heads to Boro, a club that will at least feel a little familiar. USMNT teammates Sebastian Berhalter and Aidan Morris are already in the dressing room, ready-made allies as he drops into a new league, a new country, a new rhythm of football.

There won’t be much time to catch his breath. Middlesbrough’s Championship campaign kicks off on August 15. The EFL Cup opener against Wrexham comes even earlier, on August 7. Arfsten won’t be eased in; he’ll be thrown straight into a squad gearing up for competitive games that matter from day one.

One last week in MLS colors

Before the leap to England, there was one more stop: a final week as a Columbus Crew player and a first taste of MLS All-Star status.

Arfsten soaked it in.

He logged 44 minutes in the All-Star Game itself, helping MLS to a 4-3 win over Liga MX’s best. It was fun, sure. But the real highlight came off the ball, off the field, back in that World Cup orbit.

He spent much of the week with Tim Ream and Matt Freese, the two other USMNT players in the All-Star squad. For a short stretch, the trio were teammates again, reunited for the first time since that Belgium defeat sent them back to their clubs and their scattered lives.

“It's super cool to see them,” Arfsten says. “Obviously, this summer, that's like your family for over a month, almost two months, and you're with them every single day, training with them, battling with them. You go through all those emotions together, so it's definitely a special bond and it's always fun to see them.”

Ream, who has lived this journey from college late-riser to England himself, knows exactly where Arfsten stands.

“It's been a whirlwind for all of us,” Ream said. “And I think we're all trying to get back to normal, but it was amazing to see those guys and catch up and talk about the World Cup and how amazing it was.”

Then came the question Ream knew was coming: any advice for the younger pair stepping into the European grind he’s already endured?

“Just be yourself,” Ream said. “You don't have to change. You don't have to change anything. You've gotten to this level and gotten to the World Cup by being yourself and doing what got you there. I think that's the key of going through a career. We all know there are ups and downs, that it's no different than anything. It's the same as going through life, but if you can be the same person, no matter if you're doing well or struggling, then you're going to be okay.”

The Championship, the cycle, and the noise he wants to make

Ups and downs are baked into what comes next.

The Championship is unforgiving: 46 league games, relentless travel, a promotion race that chews up squads and spits out the weak. For a player trying to cement his USMNT place at the start of a new World Cup cycle, there is no hiding place.

The national team picture will change. The coach might change. The depth chart will definitely change. Arfsten steps into all of that while adapting to a new league and a new life.

He’s not shying away from the size of the challenge. He’s already thinking about what he has to do to stay in the frame.

“I think scoring goals, getting assists, making noise wherever I'm at, it's just making it hard to not select me,” he says. “At the end of the day, that's what it's about. I feel like we can talk about who plays where, who does what, but like I feel like if I'm just always making noise wherever I'm at and just making it hard to not select me, that's my job as a player, and that's what I'm going to try and do.”

From UC-Davis to COVID cancellations. From San Jose’s second team to Columbus. From balcony card games in Orange County to a promotion chase in Middlesbrough.

The journey has never been linear. Now comes the hardest stretch yet: proving that the World Cup wasn’t the peak, just the start of the noise he intends to make.