The men’s soccer team from Jordan lost to Algeria 2-1 to on Monday, meaning they won’t go on to the next round of the World Cup. The team has been using the University of Portland’s Merlo Field as its home base for practice and training sessions between games.
UP men’s soccer head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt says the school boasts one of the best all-grass soccer fields in the Northwest, if not the country, and that it was a “no-brainer” when FIFA contacted him several years ago to see if the university would be interested in hosting a 2026 World Cup national team. It’s also given him the chance to attend Team USA’s matches, including its victory over Australia last Friday in Seattle, and relive his boyhood memories of cheering on the men’s team from the stands 32 years ago – the last time a men’s World Cup game was held on U.S. soil.
Carlin-Voigt joins us to share those memories and the new ones he’s making at the World Cup.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. There are no World Cup games in Soccer City USA right now. The closest venues for matches are Seattle and San Francisco, but that doesn’t mean that Portland has been completely shut out of the action. Because the Jordanian national team has been based at Merlo Field at the University of Portland, meaning that’s where they’ve been training between games for their first ever World Cup appearance. Their loss to Algeria last night means they will not make it to the next round, but they do have one more game on the biggest international stage, and it is a doozy, a match this Saturday against Lionel Messi’s defending champions, Argentina.
Nick Carlin-Voigt is the head coach of the University of Portland men’s soccer team. He joins us now to talk about what it’s meant to have a national team on his home turf. It’s great to have you in the studio.
Nick Carlin-Voigt: Thanks for having me.
Miller: So what does it mean? What does it entail for any national team, in this case Jordan’s, to have a home base?
Carlin-Voigt: There’s 48 bases. The World Cup this year is being hosted by Canada, U.S. and Mexico, and University of Portland is known as one of the best grass venues, not just in the region, but in the country. So we were lucky enough, and it was a great representation of the University and the work that the athletic director and president have done, to bring the world’s largest sporting event to the University of Portland.
So we are the base camp for the Jordanian national team in their first World Cup appearance. The coaches, the players, are using our locker rooms, our venues, our cold pools, our weight room, our training facilities as their base camp. So they played last night, and they’ll be flying back today and will train again tonight at the University of Portland.
Miller: Oh, a day after a match, they start training again?
Carlin-Voigt: Yeah. They’ll have probably two different groups going on. The players who played will, obviously, be fatigued and be doing recovery. Then those who didn’t play in the match last night or played limited minutes, will have a training session, is I guess the way it would go tonight. Those sessions are closed door with lots of security. There’s lots of protocols from FIFA to assure the players’ safety and most importantly, their tactical security in camp … it’s not open. These practices are closed and there’s been a lot of controversy around teams being spied on. In terms of who’s available, what formations and shapes teams are playing, the tactics that are being used. We have lots of extra fences around the facility now.
Miller: So this is something that you worry about as a collegiate-level coach? If you’re going against some other school, do you have anywhere close to the same level of surveillance vigilance?
Carlin-Voigt: You’re always worried. There’s been drones in the sky, and as a college coach, I think we have a gentleman’s agreement that teams don’t spy on each other. But in global football, there’s stories about this all the time happening. It just happened in the England Premiership this year. So it’s part of the game, in some aspects, and people are very worried and concerned about it. The University of Portland has done a great job of putting security measures around the stadium.
Miller: You said this is one of the greatest grass pitches in the Northwest or just in general. I don’t know if you can separate your home field pride enough to answer this question, but do your best. What makes it special? Pretend that’s not your actual field.
Carlin-Voigt: I’ll take my University of Portland hat off for a minute. But we’ve won Grass Field of the Year, two of the last nine years, voted by independent field managers.
Miller: What are they looking for? Are these like people with magnifying glasses, like touching the grass?
Carlin-Voigt: Field quality, how fast the ball moves, the length of the field, the durability. Obviously, being here in the Northwest with different climates, the field holds up really well even during rain. So we’ve had Inter Milan, we’ve had Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola, the famous manager has been here at University of Portland. We’ve been a home for the Brazil national team, and almost 20 MLS teams have trained here at the University of Portland. So, without a doubt, what Clive built back in 1990 still holds true today. That it is one of the greatest venues in the country.
Miller: It’s interesting as you’re saying this because just yesterday, I think, or the day before, I saw an article about all kinds of concerns about the field in New Jersey in the New York area where 10 times more fans can see it, maybe more than that. You have about 3,000 or so?
Carlin-Voigt: We hold almost 5,000.
Miller: OK, but still, it’s not enough for a World Cup final. But there are a lot of concerns there about the state of that field, which is not your problem, but it’s worth mentioning.
In this case, as you noted, there have been some very significant European club teams there before. But what has it meant to have a national team during this World Cup be in Portland?
Carlin-Voigt: Well, it’s the biggest thing happening maybe in humanity right now. Almost 6 billion people will participate in this World Cup in some capacity. So it is truly the global game. For the University of Portland, we consider ourselves Soccer City, and the University of Portland really was put on the map due to the success of the men’s and women’s soccer teams. The women’s team has won two national championships, have world-class icon players like Christine Sinclair and Megan Rapinoe. And the men’s side has had Kasey Keller and Steve Cherundolo.
We’re really proud of the fact that the men’s team has been to two Final Fours. Then recently we’ve been to two Elite Eights in the last four years. University of Portland is a soccer school. It always has been and always will be. We’re really fortunate and blessed to be part of FIFA and the delegation, and to have Jordan here, and having the ability to interact with them, and get to meet the players and meet the staff. For our community and for our own players, it has been a really awesome experience.
Miller: Even though the practices are fully closed off, there has been some interaction between UP players, staff or community members and Jordanian players?
Carlin-Voigt: Yeah, we had one open training session and we were able to watch practice. The Jordanian people are a beautiful people. They’re really known for their hospitality, and you saw last night, for example, they got eliminated from the World Cup when they lost a really heartbreaking match. Today, it goes viral on Instagram that they left their locker room in immaculate shape with thank you notes to the people in Levi Stadium in San Francisco for hosting them with such dignity and class.
At a time where the nation is so proud of the team, the royal family was at the game, but they’re incredibly disappointed not to advance to the next stage, they’re still able to show their character and class. The Japanese have been doing this for a long time. But leaving the locker room in immaculate shape, and just showing great gratitude and appreciation, I think that is why the game is considered a beautiful game.
So we’re able to have an open training session and their star player is a gentleman named Musa [Al-Tamaari]. He plays in Ligue 1 France for Rennes and he’s considered almost the Messi of Jordan. A left-footed winger plays on the right, similar to a Mohamed Salah. He scored one of the greatest goals that I’ve seen in training. It was a bicycle kick. Our players were able to watch the speed of the World Cup, but also see how world-class players are able to interact with the community. The Jordanian community came out and they were able to bring their players flowers and roses, and it was a really beautiful thing to partake in. You really felt like you were behind closed doors in a World Cup event.
Miller: You’re wearing a USA kit right now, jersey. But have you been a Jordan fan for the last couple of weeks?
Carlin-Voigt: Of course. Learning about the teams, the first World Cup, learning about the country, that’s what soccer does. It brings people together. It transcends boundaries. We watched the game last night. We were definitely rooting for them. The country is so proud of them. The King went on record and was so complimentary of the team last night, after a very, very disappointing, heartbreaking loss. But it was cool to watch them practice and get to know them a little bit better in almost a fan way.
Miller: Speaking of you as a fan, I have read that you went to the World Cup the last time it was in the U.S., as a 12-year-old in 1994. What are your memories of that World Cup?
Carlin-Voigt: Vivid memories. My mother, who is my hero, took me to the first game. The U.S. played Switzerland in 1994 in the Silverdome in Pontiac, which is no longer there. I just remember driving down and…
Miller: You were a Michigander?
Carlin-Voigt: Yeah, I was a Michigander. I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. And so we went there to that game and it was an unbelievable experience.
Miller: Were you already a soccer fan?
Carlin-Voigt: I was already a soccer player, but didn’t fully understand the magnitude of the World Cup. I mean, how would you? It’s a different era in ’94. Games weren’t around on TV like they are now. MLS wasn’t in existence. We were still very early in our soccer development in ’94. That really changed the trajectory of soccer in our country. Two years later, we got MLS.
But also at the time, a beautiful story as well is we had two Brazilian foreign exchange students living kind of with our meshed family. My mom had a beautiful way of getting tickets to different events, whether it’s Obama’s Inauguration or maybe the Brazil-Sweden World Cup game...
Miller: What’s her beautiful way?
Carlin-Voigt: She just has a way to get connections and figure things out. So she told our exchange students, one of them [said] at the time, “hey, we’re going to go watch Brazil play.” And they think, “great, we’re gonna go to a local bar and watch them play.” This makes sense. But she goes, “no, we actually have tickets. We’re going tomorrow to see the selection play.” And I’ll never forget. They called their parents in Fortaleza, Brazil, and they were crying, saying, “Dad, we are going to see the Brazil team play tomorrow.” Tears rolling down their cheeks.
Miller: I’d imagine it’s like telling an 11-year-old American football fan, we got tickets to the playoffs or the Super Bowl, and these are just kids in some random home state?
Carlin-Voigt: I was 10. It’s the World Cup.
Miller: And they’re Brazilian?
Carlin-Voigt: And they’re Brazilian and they ended up winning in ’94. So it was so cool to see just how soccer can mean so much, especially in a culture like Brazil.
Miller: What are your hopes for what this World Cup could mean for the future of soccer in the U.S.?
Carlin-Voigt: I think you’re seeing it on display right now in every corner of the U.S. Non-soccer fans are becoming enamored with this team and are getting behind this team. So a couple of hopes. One is that the game continues to grow. Two, personally, that my own kids kind of have the same appreciation and love of the game that I had growing up. I’m really fortunate to take my daughter Winnie to the first U.S. game. It was kind of our first trip together.
Miller: How old is she?
Carlin-Voigt: She’s 8. So we got incredible tickets at the last second from a friend in LA and got to see the first game. The final in ’94 was in the Rose Bowl and so, what, 33 years later, the World Cup was back in SoFi Stadium and we were there. I went with my really good friend and their family, and it was a beautiful experience. The U.S. played so well. It was so exciting.
It was a great game against Paraguay and we were dominant, we played on the front foot. Then again, at the last second, we got tickets to take our whole family, my wife, Marin, and our three young kids to Seattle on Friday and see that match. And that was also equally incredible.
Miller: It seems like you’ve inherited your mom’s ability to somehow get tickets?
Carlin-Voigt: I think it’s still through my mom. I think those connections still live on. So definitely, we were very, very fortunate and it was awesome to be part of it.
Miller: Nick, it’s a pleasure talking to you. Thanks so much.
Carlin-Voigt: Thanks for having me.
Miller: Nick Carlin-Voigt is the Head coach of the University of Portland men’s soccer team. The Jordanian national team has been training at the University of Portland for this World Cup, and as I noted, they still have one more game even though they’ve been eliminated. They’re not going to the next round, but they will be playing Argentina this coming Saturday evening.
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