Mark McKenzie led the USMNT into post-match prayer after a 4-1 win over Paraguay and again after a 2-0 win over Australia. He has not played a minute at this World Cup, yet he was at the center of two of the team’s most visible moments.
After the win over Paraguay on Friday, June 12, the full group rushed to midfield and joined the prayer circle. A week later, the team gathered again after the Australia match, with McKenzie stepping to the center, kneeling, raising his arms and speaking during the prayer.
USMNT midfield prayer circle
McKenzie described the first gathering as immediate and unplanned. “After the first game, it just happened,” he said. “It was a powerful moment.” The second time, the group moved with more purpose. “And then the second game, guys are like, ‘Hey, let’s go, let’s go.’”
Roughly 7 players on the U.S. men's national team regularly gather for prayers or Bible studies, so the midfield circle was not a one-off gesture from a lone player. The scale changed after the Paraguay win, when the entire USMNT joined in, turning a small regular habit into a team-wide scene after the result.
Mark McKenzie in France
McKenzie is a 27-year-old center back for Toulouse in France, born in the Bronx and raised in Delaware. He rose from the Philadelphia Union to European clubs and the USMNT, and he credits Andy Young with encouraging him to help guide others.
That path matters here because McKenzie’s role at the World Cup has been larger than his minutes. He said, “I had been kind of preparing myself for any way, shape or form I could contribute, any way that I could step into a bigger role,” and added, “I’ve taken steps to try to be somebody who is glue for those around me, somebody who people can lean on, confide in and trust, and look to.”
World Cup opener and togetherness
The prayer gatherings have become a sign of how the group sees itself: “Although it starts out as a moment of prayer, it invites people into what this team is about,” McKenzie said. “It’s about love, it’s about togetherness, it’s about welcoming people.” He also put the point plainly: “It doesn’t matter what your background is, we are family.”
That leaves one practical question hanging over the next chapter of this story: what words did McKenzie choose when he led the group in those midfield moments? The wins over Paraguay and Australia are already on the board; the prayer circle now sits beside them as part of the team’s World Cup identity.
