The males’s nationwide staff solely wanted the primary two group stage video games to safe a spot within the knockout stage — an electrical 4-1 win over adopted by a sound 2-0 defeat of — on the 2026 FIFA males’s .
U.S. followers nationwide are bleeding pink, white, and blue and possibly even tempted to buy a pet bald eagle as they’re beginning to consider that the may really be one of many final groups standing.
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, the USMNT’s , and , the USMNT’s greatest all-time goalkeeper, are additionally all-in on this squad. However Donovan is pumping the brakes on the notion that the USMNT can win the Cup.
“These are video games we must always’ve received, Tim,” Donovan mentioned on “” on June 19. “Let’s be sincere. Like, when the draw got here out, we thought it was win, win, we’ll see what occurs with Turkiye. So, I do know the nation — and I don’t wish to be a Debbie Downer. I used to be on my fantasy soccer textual content thread this morning, and everybody’s like, ‘We’re gonna win the World Cup!’ And I’m like, ‘OK, cool down. Cool down.’ Like, it’s Australia. This isn’t an excellent staff.”
Donovan added, “We ought to be excited, however we’ve not confronted an actual staff.”
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 12: Landon Donovan commentates earlier than the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group D match between USA and Paraguay at Los Angeles Stadium on June 12, 2026 in Inglewood, California. (Photograph by Jamie Squire/Getty Photos)
Howard agreed with Donovan, noting that he predicted the USMNT’s World Cup run to play out precisely because it has to date.
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“Australia and Paraguay should not good groups,” Howard mentioned. “No disrespect as a result of the whistle blew, and the U.S. needed to win the video games. So, hats off to the U.S. for, by the way in which, not even successful the video games, [but] doing their job, and their job was to blow these groups out. They usually did that.”
Donovan and Howard every asserted that they consider that the USMNT is totally able to reaching the quarterfinal.
The USMNT’s greatest all-time World Cup efficiency was a third-place end in 1930. Since then, the USMNT has exited within the group stage or Spherical of 16 in . The U.S.’s lone quarterfinal look resulted in a loss to Germany in 2002.
With assist from Paraguay, the USMNT received Group D and out of Group B, E, F, I, or J within the Spherical of 32 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on July 1.
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As of this writing, Bosnia and Herzegovina, third place in Group B, is the USMNT’s most certainly Spherical of 32 opponent. , , , and are presently the third-place groups in Teams E, F, I, and J, respectively.
The USMNT will end group play in opposition to Turkiye on Thursday, June 25, in what’s now a formality matchup. It’s overwhelmingly seemingly that the USMNT will maintain out most of its starters to make sure full well being for the knockout stage.
Watch Howard and Landon’s full podcast episode under.
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