Mauricio Pochettino was blunt in his assessment of American soccer talent.
“We are USA and competing against Belgium, Portugal,” the U.S. coach said after a pair of March losses in friendlies. “I think for sure Belgium and Portugal have in the top 100 players few, or some players playing in that top 100. I think we don’t have.”
No Americans were listed among the top 100 when The Guardian published its annual list in December. Christian Pulisic was 116th in the voting by a panel of 219 former players, coaches, technical staff and media. Tim Weah was next at 183rd.
Spain placed 14 in the top 100, France 10, Brazil and England nine each, and Argentina and Portugal eight apiece.
“I don’t think our talent is far —- or much less than any other country in my humble opinion,” retired American forward Jozy Altidore said. “I think we’re just as talented. So for me, I’m that crazy guy. I believe and I know the players believe, but, why not? Why not us?”
U.S. players and staff are thinking big, hoping the red-white-and-blue can win its first World Cup title or at least reach the semifinals for the first time since 1930.
Americans still have to prove themselves to much of the soccer world.
“We want to do this for ourselves. We want to do this for our own country. We don’t need to prove to anyone else,” Pulisic said. “We have good players, really good players playing in top clubs in the world. We have a good team and, yeah, we’re going to do the best we can to prove ourselves right more than anything.”
Tyler Adams, the captain in 2022 and the team’s top defensive midfielder, sees the goal as to go as far as any team has before.”
“It’s just been a while, I feel like, since we’ve knocked off a big boy,” he said. “I think we need to try and find that in our character and I think that we will.”
U.S. has won only one World Cup knockout game
Dreams and reality have collided for the U.S. in the World Cup. The Americans are 1-7 in World Cup knockout games, their only win over regional rival Mexico in 2002 before a quarterfinal loss to Germany.
Since then, they lost in the round of 16 in 2010, 2014 and 2022, failed to advance from the group stage in 2006 and didn’t even qualify for 2018.
Despite the lack of pedigree, Pochettino told players in March they can win the title.
“Why not us? Why not us? Why not us?” he said. “We need to really believe that we can be there. We need to dream.”
Only a handful of players on top European clubs
Pulisic in 2021 became the first American to play in and win a European Champions League final, helping Chelsea to the title. He is one of six American World Cup-bound players on clubs ranked among the top 40 by UEFA coefficient, spending the past three seasons with No. 30 AC Milan.
That list includes midfielder Malik Tillman (No. 9 Bayer Leverkusen), midfielder Weston McKennie (No. 25 Juventus), defender Sergiño Dest and forward Ricardo Pepi (No. 26 PSV Eindhoven) and defender Alex Freeman (No. 39 Villarreal).
Decline of American goalkeepers
Goalkeeper, once an American strength with Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel and Tim Howard all starting for English teams, is now a weakness. This will mark the first time a Major League Soccer goalkeeper appears for the U.S. at a World Cup.
“Goalkeeping is definitely a concern,” said former American midfielder Stu Holden, now a Fox commentator. “We haven’t had a standout goalkeeper now for a number of years, but yet you have an opportunity to change the perception of who you are by one tournament.”
Matt Freese, the likely starter, made his international debut last June and has just 15 appearances.
“Not really, not really listening to anyone outside of the guys with me and the coaching staff,” he said.
Home field crowd advantage for a change
The U.S. team often plays home games in front of crowds with a majority cheering on the opponent, which happened during games against Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco, South Korea and Turkey.
“Americans are some type of fans that show out and show up for the big things even if they don’t love soccer,” McKennie said. “Any big event, we know how to put on a show and we know to show up, so I think it’s a huge advantage.”
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
