Vancouver

The 2026 World Cup, the largest ever, will be played in three countries and 16 stadiums, organized by geography, not national borders.

Seven of the 11 U.S. venues — all but Kansas City, Philadelphia, Santa Clara and Miami — plus Vancouver normally have artificial-turf fields.

So for the World Cup, which FIFA mandates must be played on grass, those surfaces underwent multi-million-dollar transformations, with state-of-the-art fields — each with its own root system and irrigation methods — rolled out across the plastic turf.

Additionally, stadiums that have corporate names not affiliated with FIFA sponsors — SoFi Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, etc. — will use generic names such as Los Angeles Stadium and Atlanta Stadium during the tournament.

Mathias Laborda scored in the 82nd minute for the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night, sealing a 1-1 tie with the Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.

The Whitecaps (8-1-1), who were only the second MLS team in the post-shootout era (since 2000) to win eight of their first nine games to begin a season, had their club regular-season record four-game win streak snapped.

Sebastian Berhalter played a free kick from the left side to the back post and Laborda headed home the finish from point-blank range to cap the scoring.

The Whitecaps had 58% possession and outshot the Galaxy 19-7, including a 5-2 edge in on target shots.

Joseph Paintsil opened the scoring in the 46th minute. Lucas Sanabria, in the opening seconds of the second half, stole a misplayed ball from Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka and fed Paintsil for a finish from the right side of the area.

JT Marcinkowski had four saves for the Galaxy (3-4-4).

Takaoka finished with one save.