Was USMNT's 2026 World Cup campaign a disappointment? As someone that attended 3 US matches (and had tickets all the way through the semis), these are my thoughts.
Positives:
5 Group Points - We've never had more than 5 points in a World Cup ever. Even in our "best" campaign of 2002, we only had 4 points in the group stage. In 2022, we had 5 points, the best in our history at the time, and didn't even win our group.
11 Goals - We've never scored more than 7 goals in a World Cup ever. Even without the 2 goals in the new Round of 32, we still scored 9.
3 Wins - We've never won more than 2 games in a World Cup ever. Even in 2002 when we advanced to the Quarterfinals, our record was 2-1-1. This year, we had 3 wins, and notably beat everyone we were supposed to. That's a consistency shown by a good team.
Fan Support - We've never had the home field support like this, EVER. Raucous home crowds that took over what seemed like 90%+ of stadiums. Belgium probably didn't even have 1K there.
Coach - Mauricio Pochettino 's 3 wins already makes him the winningest coach in US WC history, even though some coaches have had 2 cycles.
We finally achieved the free-flowing, technically-skilled, offensive-minded attack that we've always craved.
Players who impressed this summer: Balogun, Tillman, Richards, McKennie, Freeman, Berhalter
Negatives:
We had prime conditions to overachieve, but we didn't take advantage:
- This was our golden generation - we've never had more high quality players at some of the biggest clubs and leagues in the world. So many stars were all in their athletic and soccer prime (Jedi 28, Christian 27, Weston 27, Tyler 27, Chris Richards 26, Weah 26, Balogun 25, Dest 25).
- Secondly, all our games were in the west coast, not in the humidity and heat of the east. Travel was easy - 2 games in LA, 2 in Seattle, one in Santa Clara.
- 1st seed in the group. As a host, we were not placed in a pot with a top 10 team in the world.
- Home crowd support.
While the furthest we advanced was the 1930 Semis in the inaugural WC, the truest measure is our 2002 Quarterfinals appearance (which would likely have been a win and a Semis appearance if VAR existed and caught the Deutschland handball).
Had we managed to upset Belgium, every US fan would have been satiated with a Quarterfinals attempt vs Spain.
Instead, we reverted to one of our worst games ever. With 95% of the crowd in full-throated support, it seemed like every single player simultaneously played their worst first half. In the 2nd half, we came out and took the initiative, the momentum, and were more likely to score. Then Christian got hurt, and Matt Freese had a AYSO level brain-"freese" that dashed our hopes for another 4 years.
Losing to Turkey on the last kick of the game (due to Trusty's ankle injury allowing attacks on the right flank) was disappointing, but the shoddy defense was a precursor, a warning, of the defensive collapse vs Belgium.
We couldn't beat those we weren't supposed to. Its likely we would have achieved a result against a poor Turkey side if we started our best XI, but who really knows.
How are we to judge Pulisic's performance? 2 different injuries completely derailed our chances. With the prime circumstances mentioned above, the one thing we didn't have was our best player healthy. It was the most unlucky aspect of the summer. His first half vs Paraguay was world-class. After sitting out our scrappy win vs Australia, his substitute performance vs Turkey immediately changed the game and easily could have led to a couple goals. While his Bosnia performance was so-so, he was invisible vs Belgium in that first half, just like the rest of the team. Just when he was starting to find his footing in the second half, a broken foot ended it all. I'd give him a C overall.
Tim Ream was great in possession but exposed against quality forwards. We knew this, but we simply didn't have anyone who had emerged to take his place. In retrospect, would Trusty have been better choice against Belgium? Probably, given that Belgium seemed to target Ream, but it's easy to say that in retrospect. We also can't forget that De Ketelaere was the only player who managed to score against Spain in 8 WC games. Belgium was always more likely to score than we were.
Conclusion:
We were ranked about 16th in the world. We finished in the Rd of 16. Belgium was ranked #9th in the world, they finished in the Rd of 8. Spain and Argentina were #1 and #2, and they met in the Final. Things happened as it should have. We were just hoping for that one upset, that one moment that would captivate a nation. Sadly, we wasted THE golden opportunity. But as we look back, we shouldn't simply dwell on the negative. Ultimately, I'd give them a grade of B. Statistically, the best campaign we've ever had.
My favorite moments:
- Domination of Paraguay in the first half with skill, speed, touch
- Freeman's delayed team goal celebration
- US "Country Roads" in Seattle
- Poch in the elevator (x2)
- U-S-A chant in the first minute vs Belgium sent shivers down my spine
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