Irvine Mayor Larry Agran has expressed deep concern over the high cost of World Cup tickets, which threatens to 'price out' fans.
The USMNT are based in Orange County for this summer's tournament, which marks one of the biggest moments in American soccer history.
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Mauricio Pochettino's 26-man roster will commute less than 50 miles northwest to Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium), for their opening game on Friday, June 12 against Paraguay.
But on the eve of the fixture, hundreds of tickets remain unsold.
For the first time ever, FIFA used what it called 'variable pricing' -- also known as dynamic pricing -- to sell World Cup seats. The approach sees prices fluctuate based on real, or perceived, demand for games.
The decision to use dynamic pricing has been widely criticized in recent weeks and months, and speaking to talkSPORT ahead of the USMNT's opening game, Mayor Agran spoke out over the cost of tickets.
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Irvine Mayor worried over ticket prices for World Cup
"I'm very concerned about that," he told Ben Jacobs of FIFA's dynamic ticket pricing.
"Thank goodness for TV. People of course can participate by watching television, but it concerns me that the pricing of these
things prices out 90 percent of Americans.
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"It's very troubling for me.
"That's a bigger problem than I'm able to tackle by myself here in the city of Irvine."
Amid outrage over dynamic pricing, which has seen the price of the best available World Cup final tickets rise to $32,970, there is real worry that stands could be empty come opening night.
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The Financial Times report that almost 180,000 tickets are still available on official resale platforms this week, with FIFA's own resale portal listing 176,000 available tickets for the group stage as of Tuesday.
In the weeks building up to the tournament, up to 10,000 seats were still on sale for the USMNT's high-priced opener in Los Angeles, which was initially billed as one of this summer's most attractive games.
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While that number has dropped, tickets have been priced at $2,735 in Category 1, $1,940 in Category 2 and $1,120 in Category 3 since sales began last October.
Mayor Agran might have worries over fans being priced out of soccer's biggest event, but Jonathan Tannenwald of The Philadelphia Inquirer has suggested that feeling is not uncommon in North American sports.
High ticket prices the 'nature' of US sports
"I'm well aware of how much anger there is around the world at the ticket prices," Tannenwald told talkSPORT.
"And I think people in other countries might look at the US and say, 'Why has more not been made of this in the US?'
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"Everybody's angry here, too. Don't get me wrong. That's for sure.
"But it's the nature of things with US sport, that there's always five things going on at the time. There's this and the NBA finals, the NHL finals, baseball and the WNBA and so on and so forth.
"So, people haven't really been talking about the World Cup until closer to now. And all along, the fans have been angry at the ticket prices.
"There are lots of people who would love to go to a World Cup game who are soccer fans in the United States… there's lots of interest, there's lots of demand.
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"But if people elsewhere think there's not as much anger in the US, there's plenty. It's just that there's always lots of things going on in American sport at the same time."
It's now time, of course, for the World Cup to take center stage with the opening match seeing Mexico cruise to victory over South Africa at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
Only when the USMNT kick off Friday will the impact of FIFA's pricing become fully clear.
