Forget for now about the U.S. men’s national team having ambitions of winning the World Cup.
The benchmark as the U.S. co-hosts next summer’s first-ever 48-team World Cup, according to Fox analyst and former USMNT defender Alexi Lalas, should be getting past the Round of 16.
“If you had asked me in my version of myself back in 1994, where we would be 231 days away from yet another World Cup being hosted in the United States, I would say, ‘Hey, we’re going to win the World Cup,’” Lalas said on talkSPORT “DriveTime” on Thursday.
“I don’t think that’s the case right now in the way that this team is and the way this team is being thought about, so you’re wanting a little bit of magic. And there is magic that happens in a World Cup.”
After a rough initial foray under head coach Mauricio Pochettino, exacerbated by sniping around the availability of star player Christian Pulisic for summer tuneup matches, the USMNT appeared to turn a corner in the most recent international window
In a pair of friendlies against World Cup-bound, top-25-ranked opponents, they fought to a 1-1 draw with Ecuador and beat Australia, 2-1.
“He’s had to hit the ground running and learn as he goes,” Lalas said of Pochettino, a veteran of the English Premier League. “He’s being paid $6 million a year to do things we haven’t seen before. Qualifying for a World Cup, we’ve done that plenty of times. Winning a group, we’ve done that before. Getting out of the group, we’ve done that before. But now it’s getting past … well, in this case, it would be the Round of 32. And then back to Round of 16 where we always kind of falter and [then] doing something magical.”
The United States was eliminated in the Round of 16 in 1994 (its last time hosting the tournament), 2010, 2014 and 2022, a result that came with largely the same core ticketed for the 2026 roster.
In between came the storied dos a cero win over Mexico to reach the quarterfinals in 2002.
This time, the U.S. again will have the benefit of home turf. Lalas spoke from experience of “a magic that comes with it.”
“If this team can harness that, I think it’s going to bring this country together in a way that other things can’t,” Lalas said.
For the next trick comes the World Cup draw on Dec. 5 in Washington. The U.S., an automatic qualifier as hosts (along with Mexico and Canada), will learn the three teams joining Group D.
The top two teams in each of the 12 four-team groups will advance to the Round of 32, along with the top eight third-place teams.
“That group is going to be important,” Lalas said. “And you find your pathway and you start to figure out what you have to do to get out [of the group]. Ultimately I do think this team can capture some magic next summer.”
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