It seemed like things were going to break the right way for the US Men’s National team. Unfortunately, the final round of the group stage didn’t go as planned, and the FIFA World Cup bracket got significantly more challenging for the home underdogs.
The US starts bracket play on Wednesday against Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they will be a -270 favorite, their largest for a single game so far in the World Cup. This round-of-32 match is simply a must-win for the United States.
Over the years, the USMNT has struggled to get Americans to buy into the World Cup, but after an exciting group-stage performance, buy-in is at an all-time high, with most of the tournament taking place on US soil.
Given how the US has looked under manager Mauricio Pochettino, they shouldn’t have many issues against Bosnia; however, they did beat Italy, FIFA’s twelfth-best team, which prevented them from playing in the World Cup. There’s no such thing as a gimmie, but this game cannot be lost at home.
It’s only uphill from there, with the second round a much tougher test between the winners of Belgium and Senegal. The US did beat Senegal in a recent friendly right before the start of the World Cup, but they also got walloped in a friendly one month prior against Belgium.
If they managed to get past the round of 16, they’d be faced with one of Spain, Portugal, Croatia, or Austria. A very challenging path for the red, white, and blue, a path they’ll need to climb if they want soccer to be more than a trendy fad within the United States.
This team felt different than years prior. They haven’t looked like the plucky underdog; they were the by far best team in the group. They weren’t sitting back in a defensive shell, looking for one attack to break through; they were on the front foot in the group stages.
This iteration of the USMNT has a level of talent they’ve never had in a World Cup. A healthy Christian Pulisic is a good starting point, but having outside backs like Sergiño Dest and Antonee Robinson has been a game-changer on the outside this year. Also, Folarin Balogun has been incredible up front for the US.
Veterans Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams have been incredibly solid in the middle, filling out a US team far more talented than we are used to. If they are matched up with Belgium in the round of 16, not only will it be a rematch of Tim Howard’s incredible performance in 2014, but it can be a changing of the guard.
Belgium’s golden generation might finally meet its match in Father Time, whereas the US would finally show they can contend on the World Stage. Winning is the only thing that truly matters in the US, and if they can’t make it to the quarter finals, we will have to wait four more years for Americans to be all in on soccer.
