New England Revolution
“I do remember my childhood, especially those summer times where we would just sit and watch the games the whole day.”
Marko Mitrovic is in his first season as head coach of the New England Revolution. John Tlumacki/Boston Globe
July 15, 2026 | 12:03 PM
3 minutes to read
Revolution head coach Marko Mitrović has represented his homeland as a player as well as a coach, and those dreams started while watching the World Cup as a kid growing up in Belgrade.
“The first connection with [the] World Cup was 1982,” he said. “I was four years old. I’m not saying that I remember games, but what I do remember is actually doing those sticker albums. So I have all those since 1982 and growing up, many times I was just going through the pages, and then trying to remember everything.”
The following tournament in 1986, Mitrović had a greater recollection of the matches and his love for soccer continued to flourish.
“I do remember my childhood, especially those summer times where we would just sit and watch the games the whole day,” he said, “Back then there weren’t that many games like we have now, but those few weeks were always exciting. I remember so many games and players from the World Cup. I would say it’s probably the highest level of excitement that I have watching the games.”
While Mitrović has plenty of positive memories from watching the tournament in his younger years, there are also some that ended in tears. The 1990 World Cup saw Yugoslavia face off against Argentina and footballing icon Diego Maradona.
But it was also Mitrović’s aunt’s wedding day. There was a TV playing the game in a room where the wedding was taking place, and the space was packed. Unfortunately for Mitrović’s aunt, the attention wasn’t on her during the momentous occasion.
“The game was played on TV in the other big room, and the wedding day was ongoing, and then in one moment there was no one, everybody went just to the other room,” Mitrović said. “My aunt still talks about that, because she was crying. Everybody went to watch the game, and then the worst part, because Yugoslavia lost the way that we lost. After that, nobody was celebrating.”
Eventually, Mitrović started carving out a professional career in the game. He was involved in the Serbian youth setup (formerly Yugoslavia) as a young player. He never got to represent the senior team but was an assistant head coach for Serbia when it won the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup.
The now-Revolution head coach said that there was a unique sense of pride and responsibility when representing the nation. While he was just a teenager, he felt the weight of the responsibility when representing an entire country.
But those games that he watched in the latter half of the ‘80s and into the ‘90s propelled him to reach these career milestones.
“Every friend of mine was dreaming about playing in the World Cup,” he said. “You always have those dreams, like, ‘Oh, I’m scoring the decisive goal in a World Cup for my country.’ It was a big drive. I think we had that strong motivation, thinking about, ‘One day I want to play in a World Cup.’”
Additionally, Mitrović coached the United States in the 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2025 FIFA U20 World Cup. The head coach noted that he recently took some time with his wife to look at photos and reminisce.
“One night I was sitting home with my wife, and we just started playing videos and photos from the Olympics in Paris, because it’s a different emotion,” Mitrović said. “It’s just kind of like a privilege. [Those] were very special moments in our lives.”
For many children in the United States, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the moment when their love for soccer is born. Future head coaches and players will have their eyes opened to the beautiful game.
There is just something special about the tournament that brings the world together. Whether you are a kid in Serbia or a kid in Somerville, it can forever change the course of your life.
“I think it’s another privilege for us to have such a big amount of games at our stadium,” Mitrović said. “We speak about the World Cup, we speak about history, now we have it in our backyard. It is a privilege. We can not take it for granted.”
⚽ Get the latest World Cup news
Receive updates on the 2026 FIFA World Cup
