{"id":5745,"date":"2026-06-30T09:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T09:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5745"},"modified":"2026-06-30T09:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T09:35:17","slug":"as-teens-they-saw-a-u-s-world-cup-dream-fail-as-men-theyre-reviving-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5745","title":{"rendered":"As teens, they saw a U.S. World Cup dream fail. As men, they\u2019re reviving it."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic celebrate the first goal against Paraguay in the Group D opening match June 12. (Mario Anzuoni\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

IRVINE, Calif. \u2014 The rubble of the United States\u2019 World Cup-qualifying collapse was still smoldering back in the fall of 2017 when the building blocks for the next decade-plus were put into place.<\/p>

Read more Iran\u2019s leverage over Strait of Hormuz snarls Trump\u2019s push for a deal<\/a><\/p>\n

Just a month after the U.S. men\u2019s soccer team was unthinkably eliminated<\/a> from the 2018 tournament before it began, an 18-year-old Tyler Adams and 19-year-old Weston McKennie made their international debuts in an exhibition against Portugal<\/a>. At 19, Christian Pulisic was already a national team star. In the subsequent months, 18-year-old Tim Weah and Antonee Robinson, 20, broke through. A year later, 18-year-old dual national Sergi\u00f1o Dest picked the U.S. over the Netherlands. And 2020 brought Chris Richards<\/a> (then 20), Brenden Aaronson (19) and Gio Reyna (17) into the fold.<\/p>\n

It was a collection of promising prospects already excelling in top European circuits \u2014 England\u2019s Premier League, France\u2019s Ligue 1, Germany\u2019s Bundesliga \u2014 that had long proved elusive for U.S. players. And the players had history together, dating to when several of them were 13-year-olds in the U.S. youth setup. Soon enough, the team\u2019s more optimistic supporters began looking ahead not just to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but to the 2026 tournament in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Not only would Pulisic, an unprecedented American talent<\/a>, be in his prime for that home-soil showcase \u2014 so would a slew of European-tested standouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of the backbone of this team,\u201d Reyna said. \u201cA lot of us are similar age and have known each other since we\u2019ve been teenagers or even younger. So I think one of our strengths is just how close we are off the pitch, and I think this will \u2014 and has \u2014 brought us success.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gio Reyna celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal in the match against Paraguay. He used this goal to announce his wife’s pregnancy. (Frederic J. Brown\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

That group has plenty of feathers in its cap: three titles at the regional Concacaf Nations League and a knockout-round appearance at the 2022 World Cup. But it has failed to elevate the program beyond the status quo.<\/p>\n

Four years ago, the Americans were outclassed by the Netherlands in the World Cup round of 16. They also crashed out of the 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica group stage on home soil and finished fourth in the most recent Nations League. Tune-ups against high-caliber opposition \u2014 South Korea, Belgium, Portugal and Germany \u2014 consistently ended in defeat.<\/p>\n

Through the group stage, however, this U.S. team has already made history. A 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay<\/a> and a 2-0 handling of Australia<\/a> clinched the Group D title with a game to spare, marking the Americans\u2019 first World Cup winning streak since the inaugural 1930 tournament. (A reserve-heavy lineup then lost narrowly to Turkey<\/a>.) And they\u2019ve played not with the underdog grit of past U.S. teams but possession-dominating, crowd-pleasing swagger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love these guys,\u201d Weah said. \u201cI think we\u2019re a big family now, we\u2019re all brothers, and we know each other like the back of our hands. In the preparation to this World Cup, we had some bumps in the road, some things that we had to fix, and I think we\u2019re getting to a spot where it\u2019s looking really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a difference between \u201clooking really nice\u201d and leaving a legacy. When the U.S. faces Bosnia in the round of 32 on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California, it will be pursuing just its second World Cup knockout victory and its first since 2002. Such is the U.S. men\u2019s program\u2019s history of World Cup mediocrity. But with a golden generation of players at home in their primes? It feels like now or never for the American program to announce itself as a budding contender.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the beauty of World Cups: Your legacies are defined by this tournament, and this World Cup will define this generation of players,\u201d said Stuart Holden, a former U.S. midfielder who serves as the lead analyst for Fox\u2019s World Cup broadcasts. \u201cI think they were prematurely dubbed a golden generation. You\u2019re not golden until you win something or achieve something that nobody has done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
McKennie celebrates with Tyler Adams, left, and Christian Pulisic, right, during a World Cup qualifying match in 2021. (Julio Cortez\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The U.S. brought only one World Cup veteran \u2014 reserve right back DeAndre Yedlin \u2014 to the 2022 tournament in Qatar. This time around, half of the 26-man roster entered the event with World Cup experience. It\u2019s a belated benefit of having brought the second-youngest team, with an average age of 25.2 years, to Qatar.<\/p>\n

That such a green U.S. squad advanced out of its group<\/a>, with draws against England and Wales and a win over Iran, was no small feat. Yet the Americans also showed their inexperience. They struck first against Wales, then surrendered a late equalizer against an opponent they should\u2019ve beaten. That result ultimately left them settling for second in the group and a clash with the Netherlands, which punished the American defensive lapses in a 3-1 victory<\/a>. Reyna\u2019s frustration with his role off the bench also prompted behind-the-scenes consternation that came to light after the tournament ended<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last World Cup, maybe we\u2019re all just a little bit young,\u201d Reyna said. \u201cI think it\u2019s normal to struggle in certain big moments like we did last tournament with most of the team being 23 or younger. I think the biggest strength now is everyone is just four years older, to keep it pretty simple, and have matured as players and as people.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt about that. Last month, Aaronson was excused from the start of training camp to attend his wedding. He joined the likes of Adams, Reyna and Haji Wright \u2014 a reserve striker who also played with the core group for the U.S. youth teams \u2014 in tying the knot. Robinson, Adams and Richards have become fathers, and Reyna used his goal celebration against Paraguay to announce that his wife is expecting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really special,\u201d said goalkeeper Matt Turner, who at 32 is the squad\u2019s second-oldest player behind 38-year-old captain Tim Ream<\/a>. \u201cSometimes you can lose touch with the fact that there\u2019s a human side to players. And sometimes the biggest growth you can see within those lives is welcoming children to the world, the big life moments, like weddings and things like that, and just staying in touch with each other.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Soccer fans clash with police in The Hague after Morocco stuns the Netherlands at the World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

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Tim Weah leaves the field after receiving a red card during a Copa Am\u00e9rica match against Panama in 2024. (Mike Stewart\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Coming out of the pandemic, then-coach Gregg Berhalter phased out most of the previous cycle\u2019s lingering stalwarts and doubled down on the prodigious teens and 20-somethings. A pulsating extra-time victory over Mexico<\/a> in the 2021 Concacaf Nations League final \u2014 featuring goals by Reyna, McKennie and Pulisic \u2014 started the new era in earnest. A second-string squad also managed to win the Concacaf Gold Cup that summer, and the Americans embarked on a successful World Cup qualifying campaign in the fall. The next two years brought a repeat and a three-peat in the Nations League as the U.S. team widened the gap with its regional rivals.<\/p>\n

But the 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica, a special edition of South America\u2019s prestigious championship expanded to include North American competitors, was a disaster: Weah was ejected for striking an opponent during a loss to Panama<\/a>, and the Americans were then blanked in a do-or-die defeat to Uruguay<\/a>. The first-round exit cost Berhalter his job<\/a>. Even the hiring of Mauricio Pochettino<\/a> \u2014 an esteemed Argentine who had coached such renowned clubs as Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea \u2014 didn\u2019t prevent another stunning loss to Panama<\/a> in last year\u2019s Nations League semifinals.<\/p>\n

All the while, the American stars kept performing admirably on the club level. AC Milan\u2019s Pulisic and Juventus\u2019s McKennie are among the top game changers in Italy\u2019s Serie A. Adams, Richards, Robinson and Aaronson are dependable Premier League starters. Dest is a key cog for Dutch champion PSV. Yet none of them \u2014 not even Pulisic \u2014 has taken that next step and entered the conversation about the world\u2019s best players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group grew up quickly, but then this group was almost given a little bit too much,\u201d Holden said. \u201cThere was a little bit of complacency.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. Coach Mauricio Pochettino speaks to McKennie during the World Cup match against Australia. (Agustin Marcarian\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Pochettino took notice after the Nations League embarrassment. He expanded his player pool at last year\u2019s Gold Cup, where an experimental squad finished second to Mexico. Yunus Musah and Josh Sargent, members of that young core who started in Qatar, were dropped. MLS-based newcomers such as goalkeeper Matt Freese, defender Alex Freeman<\/a> and midfielder Sebastian Berhalter \u2014 the previous coach\u2019s son \u2014 became fixtures.<\/p>\n

But amid the scrutiny, most of that group stuck around. Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, Richards, Robinson and Dest started against Paraguay, and all but Pulisic \u2014 who has been nursing a left calf injury \u2014 returned against Australia. Reyna and Weah have been key players off the bench, and Aaronson joined them in starting against Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, there is going to be outside noise \u2014 there always is \u2014 but you can\u2019t let it bother you at the end of the day,\u201d Aaronson said. \u201cI think that we believe in ourselves, we believe in the group that we have, we believe in each other individually, and I think that\u2019s all you need to do when you\u2019re at a World Cup stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

That group has gotten plenty of help from international recruits Malik Tillman (a German-born midfielder) and Folarin Balogun<\/a> (an English-raised striker of Nigerian descent), both of whom are playing in their first World Cup. The veteran Ream and the youngster Freeman have also left their marks. Still, it\u2019s clear this team lives and dies by the play of its enduring nucleus.<\/p>\n

Whether it was McKennie and Dest combining on the right side or Pulisic and Robinson wreaking havoc down the left, the Americans handled their group-stage opposition. Richards anchored the back line, and Adams confidently ran point in midfield. All the while, their inherent chemistry crackled.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to fight for guys like that,\u201d Pulisic said. \u201cI\u2019ve played with some of these guys for so long. You don\u2019t want to let them down. You want to give them everything. You want to have their back, always, and I think that pushes you through tough times.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKennie added: \u201cEveryone has a comfortability with each other, a freedom to be themselves, to be who they are. You can be completely honest with them, and you can hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a connection unique to the international soccer landscape. Amid all of the change that has defined these players\u2019 lives over the past decade-plus \u2014 the trades and the transfers, the weddings and the gender reveals \u2014 gathering together in U.S. uniforms has been the constant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like when I come around these guys, I\u2019m always able to be myself,\u201d Adams said. \u201cWhen you play in a foreign country, you\u2019re around a lot of foreigners, and you don\u2019t always get to act and be yourself. These guys I\u2019ve known since I was, I don\u2019t know, 14, 15 years old. It always feels like home coming back here.\u201d<\/p>

Read more A goal, a prayer and a standing ovation for Cody Gakpo amid personal grief<\/a><\/p>\n

Rick Maese contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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