South Florida soccer fans will get a close-up look at the U.S. men’s national team under new coach Mauricio Pochettino as the USA opens its 2025 schedule with a friendly against Copa America quarterfinalist Venezuela on Jan. 18 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

Kickoff will be at 3 p.m., and the match will be broadcast live on TNT, Telemundo, Universo, Max and Peacock.

Presales for the match will begin on Monday night and the public sale begins Nov. 22 at 10 a.m. through ussoccer.com. The game should sell out quickly, as Florida has the largest community of Venezuela natives in the United States with more than 300,000, which is nearly 50% of the total Venezuela-born population in the country, according to the Pew Research Center. Roughly 200,000 of those are in South Florida.

The match falls outside the FIFA international window, so the preceding January training camp and match against Venezuela will be a chance for U.S. based players to showcase themselves with the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup and 2026 World Cup on the horizon.

“We are looking forward to the camp in January and the opportunity to get to know many of the MLS players and see all the potential talent we have here in the United States,” Pochettino said. “We are happy to bring the National Team back to South Florida and utilize the great facilities of Inter Miami for this important moment as we continue to build towards the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”

Coaches Circle and Presidents Circle members supporting the U.S. Soccer Development Fund can receive individual customer support and concierge services for their ticketing needs.

Visa cardholders can purchase tickets on Nov. 21 at 1 p.m.

Nine players from the U.S. 2022 World Cup team earned their first or second cap during a January camp match, including captain Tyler Adams, forward Brenden Aaronson, defenders Walker Zimmerman and Tim Ream and starting goalkeeper Matt Turner. The list of alumni also includes five members of the 100-cap club: Jozy Altidore, DaMarcus Beasley, Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan.

Venezuela, known as “Los Vinotintos,” reached the quarterfinals of the 2024 Copa America after three straight group stage wins, including a 1-0 shutout against Mexico. Now in qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, they have earned 1-1 draws against defending World Cup champion Argentina and five-time champs Brazil.

The USMNT holds a 3-1-2 edge in the series dating back to 1993, with all but one of the meetings taking place in the United States. Most recently, Venezuela beat USA, 3-0, on June 9, 2019 in Cincinnati.

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