Not laughing now: How World Cup fans vindicated McKennie’s love of ranch

IRVINE, Calif. — France and Argentina have certainly been impressive, but the team making the biggest impact during this World Cup group stage — the team that is captivating, enthralling and creating the biggest buzz — is surely Ranch Dressing FC.

Ranch dressing is everywhere. In myriad memes, in reels, in fans’ carry-on suitcases and, apparently, in the mouths of countless international visitors to the United States who seem to be discovering its incredible finishing ability for the first time.

Suddenly, ranch dressing — also known as “American Sauce” in some corners — is a global sensation, and USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie, who also serves as Ranch Dressing FC’s (unofficial) captain, feels completely vindicated.

“I saw it coming,” McKennie told ESPN in an interview earlier this week. “I was a trendsetter.”

This is difficult to dispute. McKennie, you may recall, was roundly mocked five years ago for his devotion to ranch dressing. The inciting incident was a sequence in Amazon’s documentary about McKennie’s club team, Juventus, where McKennie is having a casual lunch with Italian legends Giorgio Chiellini and Gianluigi Buffon and mentions — in the way one might recommend a flavorful wine — that he puts ranch dressing on his pizza.

Buffon chuckles over the napkin tucked into his shirt, and Chiellini appears visibly horrified by this revelation. McKennie, though, is unbowed (he calls ranch “amazing”) and even as he subsequently became a target of many around the world, and on the internet, for having an allegedly unsophisticated palate, he never wavered. Ranch, he proclaimed to whomever needed to hear it, was a gem.

Now, as foreign tourists attend soccer matches all over the country, the prevailing opinion has shifted in his favor and McKennie — in between helping the U.S. win its group and largely captivate a nation of fans — is reveling in a victory that clearly has deep meaning to him (and his taste buds).

“They all gave me a lot of s— for it,” McKennie said. “Now they understand what I mean. It’s addicting.”

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It is. And McKennie, not surprisingly, is very aware of all the different ways that ranch dressing is seizing its World Cup moment. He was particularly heartened by how the travel industry has been forced to reckon with airline passengers packing ranch dressing in their cabin bags and running afoul of the TSA’s restrictions on liquids or gels — is ranch sort of both? — that are over 3.4 ounces.

As someone who has admittedly brought ranch dressing back to Italy (in his checked luggage) following trips stateside, McKennie has closely followed the TSA’s various warnings on the topic and is already planning to make his sure his Italian teammates are also brought up to date.

“I was very happy to see that the TSA was sending out a report saying that you need to stop traveling with the ranch in your bag,” McKennie said. “That will for sure be relayed back to my team whenever I get back home.”

McKennie has already had an eventful World Cup. He played a critical role in pushing the U.S. to beat Paraguay and Australia, both fairly comprehensively, in their first two games. He also was at the center of an unexpected situation during one of his team’s off days when he, Christian Pulisic and Alejandro Zendejas had gone out for lunch and were stuck several miles from the team hotel without a way to get a ride back.

An accident had closed the road to vehicles and, with Pulisic nursing an injured calf, walking for 40 minutes wasn’t an option. So, McKennie helped orchestrate a ride on a street-legal golf cart from a local dealership that saved any extra stress on Pulisic’s leg.

Of course, that meal the players had before getting stuck? Pizza, which McKennie said was “excellent.”

Ranch, presumably, was included.

“It’s the best,” McKennie said. “I’m just glad everyone knows it now, too.”