The U.S. men's national team has a major opportunity hosting the next World Cup. Is it ready?

NBC News

a day ago

Tony Meola knows the pressure of competing in front of his home fans. Back in 1994, when the United States hosted the FIFA World Cup, Meola, the national team's starting goalkeeper, and his teammates had not one but two jobs: beat the competition and help grow the game.
'It was relentless,' he told NBC News. 'Twenty-four hours a day for a year leading into the World Cup. Promotion of the game, events. We never stopped.'
His team did its part off the field — the event shattered attendance records even though soccer wasn't the most popular sport at the time — and it made it out of the group stage before it lost 1-0 to eventual champion Brazil. Though it wasn't the result it wanted, that squad is credited for helping generate major interest and participation in the sport stateside.
Meola had dreams of one day seeing the U.S. men's national team become perennial contenders. But more than 30 years later, with the country (along with Canada and Mexico) hosting the 2026 World Cup next June, he says there's still as much up in the air as there was two decades ago.
'I don't feel like we're ready right now,' Meola, now an analyst for CBS Sports Golazo Network, said of the current U.S. team. 'I want to see progression over the next year and go into [the World Cup] with as few question marks as possible, not going in there sort of fearing what's going to happen.'
Meola is far from the only former USMNT player to share some skepticism one year out. His co-hosts on the soccer podcast 'Call It What You Want,' Charlie Davies and Jimmy Conrad, also expressed concern. So did Fox Sports, MLS and Apple commentator Maurice Edu.
Taylor Twellman, the lead soccer analyst for Apple TV, put it more bluntly.
When he was asked how the United States stacks up right now with the top countries in the world, he told NBC News: 'They're not in the conversation with any of them. ... They don't see themselves as a contender.'
When North America was awarded the rights to the 2026 World Cup in June 2018, Carlos Cordeiro, then the president of U.S. Soccer, called it a 'rare and important moment to demonstrate that we are all truly united through sport.'
It also guaranteed more eyeballs on the host countries. According to FIFA, the average global live audience for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was 175 million viewers. The final between Argentina and France drew 1.5 billion viewers, dramatically more than the most recent Super Bowl (127.7 million).
And with the 2026 World Cup final taking place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, this was the perfect time to showcase just how far the U.S. men's team has come. Especially with the 'Golden Generation' of players entering their prime.
That term — attached to rising stars like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Sergiño Dest, Gio Reyna, Timothy Weah, Antonee Robinson, Matt Turner and Tyler Adams — recognizes what was expected to be the best core in program history.
They showed glimpses of brilliance during the 2022 World Cup, a run that ended in the Round of 16, but they were all young. Now, four years older, with experience both internationally and for European clubs, they are expected to help lead a deep World Cup run.
But some remain hesitant to say this group can pull it off. To this point, it lacks a true signature win and has come up short in recent competitions. In last summer's Copa América, which the United States hosted, the USMNT failed to get out of the group stage after losses to Uruguay and Panama.
The result raised questions about whether this roster was talented enough to get over the hump.
'You can't be a 'Golden Generation' until you do something that hasn't been done before,' Davies told NBC News.
Edu said: 'I felt like the 'Golden Generation' tag was coined based on the potential. And now some of these guys are coming into their prime, so that potential has to be realized. Everything, to me, now revolves around what happens next summer.'
To help them reach their potential, the program moved on from longtime coach Gregg Berhalter and replaced him with Mauricio Pochettino. His hiring was seen as a huge deal, as Pochettino, who is Argentine, has managed on some of the biggest stages of world soccer: Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.
So far, the results have been mixed.
He has five wins and four losses in nine games, but the team disappointed in March with two losses in the CONCACAF Nations League Finals. The team has also dropped four games in a row — including a 4-0 loss to Switzerland on Tuesday — though the lineups were far from full strength, with certain stars, like Pulisic, not playing.
U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker said Pochettino's 'reputation stands for itself.' It's far too early in the process to critique the job he's done.
'We have a great generation of young players that we want to turn potential into performance, and we couldn't have had and asked for a better coach to come in and have the ability to do that,' Crocker said. 'Now, he just needs to have the time with the players and the games and the experiences to hopefully be ready for next summer, which is our objective.'
One year away from the biggest tournament in sports, the USMNT's on-field product is still far from sorted.
The most important position to be decided may be goalkeeper.
Turner, who started in the 2022 World Cup, is once again expected to have that role. But after a year when he played sparingly as a backup for Crystal Palace, some wonder whether his lack of playing time will have him fit for next summer. Reports this week say Turner has agreed to join the French squad Lyon.
Nobody knows goalie play better than Meola, who said, 'There are a lot of questions.'
'In general, we've gone into World Cups either knowing who our No. 1 is or two or three guys battling for the position. That's been the rotation since 1990. This particular group, I think we're unsettled in that position,' he said.
If Turner gets consistent action at Lyon, he should be that guy again in 2026. Patrick Schulte, Zack Steffen and Matt Freese are the likeliest next options.
Meola's other position group to watch is center back. Out wide, Robinson and Dest are near locks, but the middle of the field is still anyone's guess. Candidates include Chris Richards, Tim Ream, Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson or Cameron Carter-Vickers.
'There's just too many question marks in the middle of the field at the moment,' Meola said. 'If I'm going to focus on one, that would be it.'
Edu and Davies said they want to see how the next 12 months play out at center forward. The USMNT won a hard-fought battle with England to get Monaco's Folarin Balogun (who has dual citizenship), but after him there are many names to consider in Ricardo Pepi, Patrick Agyemang, Haji Wright, Damion Downs and Josh Sargent.
'Even if there's question marks in other positions, if we feel good about the No. 9 position, I think that gives us a hell of a chance,' Edu said.
Conrad is similarly focused on the middle of the field, this time at center midfield. Pochettino could go with McKennie, Yunus Musah, Johnny Cardoso, Tanner Tessman, Diego Luna or Malik Tillman.
He had one prediction that might shock fans.
'Gio Reyna ... I'll throw him in there, but at this moment I don't expect him to make the team. That's my big shock,' Conrad said. 'I'll put my flag in the ground and say he's got a lot of work to do to get into this team for 2026, which would probably be a surprise to many, but I just think there's other players that are playing well and could fit the system a little bit better at this current moment.'
Even though questions abound in the middle, Conrad said he feels great outside.
'I would put our outside backs internationally against anybody,' he said. 'Our strength, in terms of our starters, is Antonee Robinson, Sergiño Dest and then into Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah. I feel confident going up against any nation with our outside players.'
This summer, the USMNT has CONCACAF Gold Cup matches followed by friendlies in September, October and November. Players will then compete for their clubs, either in Major League Soccer or abroad, and then return for more friendlies before the World Cup.
The final roster, capped at 26 players, will be set 10 days before the tournament.
Nobody is more important in that decision than Crocker, the technical director. Previously with English club Southampton and the England national team, he's focused on getting the best product possible on the field by next June.
He said questions around particular positions don't really matter because nobody is truly locked in at this point.
'I don't think that exists 12 months out from a World Cup,' he said. 'You're trying to build depth in the squad but also continue to monitor players' performances. We need to know who the best three players are at every position. In the build-up to a major tournament, there will always be a player that hits form; there might be a player that gets an injury. So you've got to be ready.'
Twellman, a forward on the national team from 2002 to 2008, said his concerns aren't based solely on the talent level in specific position groups. It comes down to results, and the team simply hasn't gotten enough of them for him to be confident heading into a World Cup.
'There's just a sense of apathy around the United States men's program,' he said. 'And I don't think that's a hot take.'
Crocker said he has heard some of the negative discourse around the program but 'can't control the outside noise.'
'Our job, both as staff and as players, is to almost sort of look within ourselves, to continue to work as hard as we possibly can, continue to try and improve in training every day to put the performances in that we need to every day,' he said. 'We would love everybody to be great supporters and start to talk positively about the team, but we'd also know that we have a responsibility through our performances to control that narrative, as well.'