SEATTLE — For the past 96 years, the U.S. men’s soccer team has known nothing but heartache and tense nerves on the World Cup stage. But that ends when the Americans face Turkey on Thursday night in Inglewood, California.
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With a 2-0 win over Australia here on Friday afternoon, the U.S. secured its place in the knockout round with a game to spare. (See the full schedule and standings here.) When Paraguay topped Turkey later that evening, the Americans also clinched the top spot in Group D. For a team that won back-to-back World Cup games for the first time since the inaugural 1930 tournament, the breezy progression was unprecedented.
The anguish of group-stage elimination the U.S. experienced in 1990, 1998 and 2006? Not happening. The final-matchday drama that sent the Americans to the knockout round in 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2022 also won’t be necessary.
“If someone said before the tournament, ‘Two games and you’d be free to the knockouts,’ I think we all would have took it,” forward Folarin Balogun said. “So you know we’re delighted.”
Now, a team that didn’t just get the results but looked good doing it — playing with well-earned bravado on the ball and tireless vigor off it — will enter the knockout round as a dark-horse contender. The likely reemergence of star attacker Christian Pulisic, who has only played 45 minutes this World Cup because of a left calf injury, only enhances the Americans’ chances.
Here’s what to know as the World Cup knockout round looms.
Nothing, really. Paraguay’s 1-0 win over Turkey not only ensured the U.S. would win Group D, but it also ousted the Crescent Stars from knockout round contention — making them the first team mathematically eliminated. With both teams locked into their places, U.S. Coach Mauricio Pochettino will have the luxury of resting and rotating to his heart’s desire Thursday.
“The most important is to keep enjoying what we are doing,” Pochettino said. “Every single game is different, and the challenge now is to keep that level that was so high.”
Expect the U.S. players who have picked up yellow cards — defenders Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson, midfielder Tyler Adams and Balogun — to get nowhere near the field, since another booking would result in a round of 32 suspension. (The yellow card slate wipes clean after the group stage.) Pochettino also doesn’t need to deploy Pulisic, unless he wants to throw the playmaker some minutes to get him back in a groove.
In fact, it wouldn’t surprise if Pochettino swapped in an entirely new lineup, though giving his regular starters a 10-day layoff could hinder rhythm and momentum. But what a champagne problem to contemplate.
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Finishing first in the group ensured the U.S. will face a third-place finisher in the round of 32 and, at least initially, avoid the tournament heavyweights. Looking ahead, the Group D winner also dodges the runner-up’s unenviable fate: a round-of-16 collision course with defending champion Argentina.
We don’t know yet, and it could be one of dozen-plus teams as the U.S. prepares to face a third-place finisher from one of five groups (B, E, F, I or J).
Among the most realistic options, based on the standings through Friday night, are Sweden, Ecuador, Senegal, Algeria and Bosnia and Herzegovina — all decent teams the U.S. would be favored to defeat. But there remains the possibility that a more formidable foe — perhaps the Netherlands or Japan from Group F, or Erling Haaland’s Norway from Group I — could slump to a third-place finish and present the U.S. with a daunting matchup.
The U.S. will play its round of 32 clash July 1 in Santa Clara, California. The winner will advance to a round of 16 matchup July 6 in Seattle, followed by a potential quarterfinal July 10 in Inglewood.
It will require a run to the final four for the U.S. to leave the West Coast this World Cup. In that mind-boggling scenario, the Americans’ path would take them to a July 14 semifinal in Arlington, Texas. From there? Either the third-place game July 18 in Miami Gardens, Florida, or the World Cup final July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Whether you’re polling a broadcast studio or the U.S. locker room, the consensus seems to be “very.” Former England defender Micah Richards argued on Netflix’s “The Rest Is Football” that he could see the U.S. in the quarterfinals or semifinals. Swedish great Zlatan Ibrahimovic said on the Fox telecast that he thinks the Americans can win it all.
For his part, Pochettino has long resisted pragmatism and declined to set a goal anything short of lifting the trophy. Ask his players and they’ll echo the sentiment — even if the U.S. has only won one World Cup knockout game in its history.
“Every game, every tournament we play, we want to win,” Richards, the defender, said. “So I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that we want to win it.”
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