With the advantage of playing the 2026 World Cup at home, a favorable group stage draw and a talent-packed squad that many have dubbed America’s ‘Golden Generation’, coach Mauricio Pochettino is encouraging fans to ask themselves: “Why not us?”
While this global superpower may have historically been a second-tier soccer nation, the sport has experienced enormous growth since the United States last hosted the World Cup in 1994.
Young Americans are now key figures at traditional European clubs, from Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie at Serie A giants Milan and Juventus, to captain Tyler Adams at Bournemouth, who secured a historic Europa League qualification in the just-ended English Premier League season.
“I’m here because I believe we can win,” said Pochettino, the Argentine coach who took charge of the United States national team at the end of 2024.
“Why not us? Why not us? Why not us? We really need to believe we can get there,” the former Tottenham, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach recently declared.
Of course, no one puts the United States in the same league as favorites like France, Spain and current champion Argentina.
For one thing, ‘Team USA’ — who will face Paraguay, Australia and Turkey in Group D — will almost certainly need to defeat high-profile opponents from Europe or South America to go far in the tournament, which kicks off on June 11 and is also being co-hosted by Mexico and Canada.
Although Pochettino’s men won friendlies against Uruguay and Paraguay last year, their hopes were dashed in March following 5-2 and 2-0 defeats to Belgium and Portugal respectively. These results exposed their long-standing weaknesses in games against teams from the world’s elite.
Concerns regarding Pulisic’s phase at Milan also cooled optimism, as ‘Captain America’ hasn’t scored a goal since December and is no longer an absolute starter.
Pochettino himself recently admitted that he doesn’t have any player in the world’s top 100 at his disposal, a statement that doesn’t exactly serve as a boost to Pulisic’s ego.
Still, the United States maintains confidence in its medium and long-term prospects, after playing with the second youngest squad at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where they had a worthy campaign to reach the round of 16.
Local talents
Pochettino has been experimenting with an ever-changing squad and variable formations over the past few months.
Pulisic, McKennie and Tim Weah (son of legendary former Liberian player George Weah) are the most promising local talents who have excelled in top-level leagues.
There is also another group of Americans with dual citizenship, such as Folarin Balogun, who grew up in the UK, and who are likely to lead the attack after a spectacular run of goals for Monaco.
Other members of this group include full-backs Sergiño Dest and Antonee Robinson —born in the Netherlands and England, respectively— and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Malik Tillman, who was born in Germany.
“Dreams inspire reality”
In general, the rapid rise of ‘soccer’ is indisputable.
The United States spent four decades without even qualifying for a World Cup, until its return in 1990. Since then, the American team has regularly made it through the group stage, only missing out on the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Their greatest success in the modern era came at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, when Bruce Arena’s team eliminated Portugal in the group stage, defeated Mexico in the round of 16 and fell to Germany in the quarter-finals.
Reaching the top eight again could be the minimum requirement for the 2026 campaign to be considered a success.
And beyond that? “We have to dream… Dreams inspire reality,” said Pochettino.
