Weston McKennie’s ranch dressing joke becomes a World Cup talking point

Weston McKennie is being cast as an unlikely winner of a World Cup food debate: his long-running love of ranch dressing now looks less like a punchline and more like a cultural moment among visiting fans in the United States.

According to ESPN, the USMNT midfielder joked that he saw the trend coming after years of criticism for praising ranch, including a memorable Juventus documentary scene in which Giorgio Chiellini and Gianluigi Buffon reacted with disbelief to his pizza habit.

The story sits alongside a strong group-stage narrative for McKennie and the U.S., with ESPN noting his role in wins over Paraguay and Australia. It also adds a lighter locker-room angle, including an off-day episode where McKennie helped arrange a golf-cart ride back toward the team hotel for himself, Christian Pulisic and Alejandro Zendejas after a road closure complicated their return.

Editors should treat the wider “ranch mania” framing as a single-source cultural observation rather than a verified nationwide trend. Still, the piece offers a useful community hook: a player’s personality, a food argument and a World Cup fan culture moment intersecting away from the pitch.