Why the US men's team is heading for disaster at the 2026 World Cup

The next soccer World Cup will take place in 2026, with the United States co-hosting the tournament. Despite the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as the new manager, the host nation still has a long way to go.

The team has hired Pochettino as their new manager, but will need to closely scrutinize what happened during a less than stellar performance at the 2024 Olympics.

The United States men’s soccer team was embarrassingly bounced from the Olympics after a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Morocco in the knockout stage.

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The range of emotion varied considerably throughout different parts of the Olympic journey for United States men’s soccer. The tournament started with a 3-0 setback at the hands of the host country, France.

Despite the lopsided defeat, the United States did some things well against the French. They nearly managed France in total shots and shots on target. ESPN noted that the French had to work for everything they earned in the first half, and also pointed out that the United States was inches away from taking the lead on a Djordje Mihailovic shot that hit the post.

With that said, the New York Times believes that the United States deployed a conservative approach against France, which would eventually doom them. According to their commentary, the Americans wanted to play keep away from the French and sit back and wait. The tactic worked for a while, but the flood gates were opened in the second half.

However, the United States took care of business against a less formidable opponent in New Zealand in the second match of the group stage. The Americans put it to their opponent, winning by a final score of 4-1.

United States Olympic manager Marko Mitrovic told NBC about the New Zealand victory, “Today we were good with the first two opportunities we had. When you get in the game with 2-0 at the very beginning, obviously it’s a much easier game. We never spoke about we have to win, we have to tie. We want to maximize every day and we want to maximize every game.”

Mihailovic rebounded from the disappointment of his near-make against France by scoring in the New Zealand contest and the United States’ final group stage tilt against Guinea. The Americans breezed to a 3-0 win to clinch a spot in the knockout round.

As ESPN highlighted, the win against Guinea gave the United States the right to play in its first Olympic knockout round since the 2000 Games.

However, as formidable as the United States looked towards the end of the group stage is about as feeble as they played against Morocco in the knockout round. They couldn’t get anything going, and were thoroughly outplayed by a superior Moroccan squad.

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Walker Zimmerman was one of the over-23 players on the United States roster, and thinks the experience will help younger players develop. He told the USA Today, “Big knockout tournaments, you need those games to grow as a group. I’m thankful these guys are going to have that opportunity, and hopefully they take that experience and use it in their future World Cups.”

After their elimination, Mitrovic told the USA Today, “When we are down 1-0 against teams like France or Morocco, how can we sustain that longer and make the game more difficult?”

After sacking senior team manager Gregg Berhalter in July, the United States men’s squad was in the market for new leadership. It became clear that Marko Mitrovic would not be a candidate to fill the vacancy, which is why they hired Pochettino.

The United States also had to deal with a raucous environment in their losses, as French and Moroccan supporters flooded the stands. The Los Angeles Times wrote about how the atmosphere might have put the United States behind before the game ever began against Morocco.

However, the nature of their two defeats seems to reiterate the notion that the United States is a long way off from legitimate contention in world soccer. Looking strictly at the results, France and Morocco appear to have a more established pipeline of players at this point in time.

Yahoo Sports called the Olympics a junior varsity event for the sport, which is understandable considering that teams nearly fully comprised of players 23 years old and younger. This could render the tournament a bit meaningless from a conclusion perspective for some. Others might still want to take stock from this by identifying young prospects who could contribute to the senior team.

What do you think the United States men’s soccer performance means for the program as a whole? Let us know by leaving a comment!

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