A CRAZY, RANDOM WORLD CUP — MOROCCO? — MEANS U.S. MUST MAKE NOISE IN 2026
A 0-0 tie with England doesn’t look so grand amid a spate of upsets, so it’s incumbent upon the USMNT movement to make substantial strides — and score more goals — when it hosts the quadrennial event
The capital of Morocco is Rabat. Long after this World Cup is encased in germicidal bubble wrap, its political grime sealed by men in Hazmat suits, the rabid ragers of Rabat will continue to sing and dance in the streets. For days and weeks, maybe months, they’ll be shooting off fireworks in a sea of red and green, celebrating shutouts of Belgium and Spain and Portugal and the crash of Cristiano Ronaldo, showing the planet that a futbol wannabe can slay behemoths and become the first nation in Africa and the Arab world to reach the semifinals.
“Dreaming is free, but to do it is different,” declared Romain Saiss, the Moroccan captain.
And all the while, those of us who live in the United States of America will continue to ask a familiar, decades-dusty question.
Why not us?
All we’re hearing, in the aftermath of a Round of 16 defeat two weekends ago, is that the Americans made progress in Qatar. I suppose they did in the context of four years ago, when they failed to qualify for the event altogether. But this has been a World Cup defined by joyful unpredictability — beyond the Marrakesh Express, Japan beat former champions Germany and Spain while Cameroon gobsmacked Brazil and two eventual semifinalists, Argentina and France, were shocked by Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.
“Small teams beating big teams,” as described by the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, when he wasn’t busy depositing billions and placating the shady Qatari rulers.
To which, I say: At what point does the U.S., which happens to be a major world power in every other life exercise, end its maddening existence as a small team that can’t beat a big team? So Christian Pulisic scored a heroic goal to beat Iran in the only victory, which enabled an escape route out of Group B. It was one of only THREE goals scored in four games, including a 0-0 tie with England that looks far less impressive compared to Morocco’s run and other upsets. No one is asking the USMNT to make a run to the Cup final and spit in the face of Kylian Mbappe or Lionel Messi. It just would be nice to score more than once every two hours of play.
“We set out with a goal to show the rest of the world how we can play soccer,” said Gregg Berhalter, the latest coach to try. “I think we partially achieved that, even though we fell short of our goals.”
Um, how will they reach goals if they can’t score goals? The grand U.S. mission continues to plead for patience. How much do we have left in our tanks? “We've made progress,” Berhalter said. “I feel like when you look at our team, it's a very clear identity of what we're trying to do. Can we win against top teams? Can we perform well against top teams well enough to win? I think this group is close. The American public should be optimistic.”
“That part’s changing,” said goalkeeper Matt Turner, who was exceptional at the other end. “The expectation of our fans is changing, the expectation of the players. We’re not feeling like we want a trophy just because we move to the Round of 16. We want to be able to compete with these teams, like the Netherlands, like Argentina. We want to be able to play those games, play those big moments and create more buzz.”
“We had a common goal four years ago, a mission that we set out on, which was to change the way the world views American soccer,” midfielder Weston McKennie said. “I think this tournament has really restored a lot of belief, restored a lot of respect. I think we've shown that, you know, we can be giants. We may not be there yet. But I think we definitely are on our way.”
To arrive at their illusory destination, the Americans will have to take a substantial leap in the next 3 1/2 years. Does our country have the talent? Don’t our best young athletes continue to follow domestic billions and play American football, basketball and baseball? Elite futbol nations — and futbol remains the proper name, by the way, contrary to President Biden’s rah-rah insistence that “it’s called soccer” before the 3-1 elimination loss to the Netherlands — have long identified prodigies out of the womb and nurtured them in elaborate academies. How is the U.S., which worships quarterbacks and three-point bombers and home-run sluggers, supposed to keep pace with countries that embrace futbol as a religion when we barely watch it on TV? Fox says the four U.S. matches averaged 12.2 million viewers, with another 2.45 million on Telemundo, but that total is half the audience of a regular-season NFL showdown. We’re curious, but we won’t truly care and wear our red, white and blue garb until a 0-0 tie become a 1-0 victory over England, or a 3-1 loss becomes an advancement to the quarterfinals.
Is the USMNT movement authentically close to a breakthrough? Or is this merely more of the same rhetoric? Not to overstate the urgency at hand, but if the Americans ever make a lasting dent in the national consciousness — the way our women’s teams have in global competition — it must come during the 2026 World Cup. The U.S. is splitting host duties with Canada and Mexico, but the semifinal matches are projected to be in Atlanta and Dallas and the final at MetLife Stadium on the New Jersey side of metropolitan New York CIty. That would be a good time to start making noise.
First, the U.S. Soccer Federation must make a decision on Berhalter’s future. His contract is expiring and, for leverage purposes, he is talking to European club teams. For those who want a new coach, who’s better? He was tasked to clean up a crash scene and rebuild with kids. He did so with the likes of McKennie, Tyler Adams and Tim Weah, attaching them to the presiding Pulisic. In Sergino Dest and Yunus Musah, he brought in nationals who hold citizenship in dual countries — Morocco’s formula. The regimes of Jurgen Klinsmann and Bob Bradley didn’t make it through two World Cup cycles. Old soul Bruce Arena didn’t qualify in 2018. Yes, Berhalter is the man, even if he never got through to malcontent Giovanni Reyna — who pouted about playing time — and almost sent the midfielder home last month after a vote of teammates. Lightning rods such as Eric Wynalda and Alexi Lalas always will have strong opinions, as former U.S. players, but at this point, the coaching continuity of Berhalter is vital.
“He's done great. I think the hardest thing as a coach is to get everybody going in the same direction," defender DeAndre Yedlin told Fox. “I think he's done that very well. He's gotten everybody bought into the culture, and that's the most important thing. You hear a lot of talk about vibes with this team, and people like to joke about it. But at the end of the day, I think that could be the team's biggest quality.”
Said Adams, the 23-year-old U.S. captain: “Now you have a coach that comes in and tactically understands the game better than almost every coach I’ve ever had. And he puts a plan in place of really wanting to develop the players, these young players, giving them the opportunity, having belief in them. And that was different than what U.S. Soccer had done in the past.”
Until 2026, we’ll look to Morocco — Morocco! — for inspiration. “Pinch me, I think I’m dreaming,” said Yassine Bounou, the goalkeeper known as Bono, after a beautiful day he didn’t let get away. “These moments are great, but we’re here to change the mentality. With this feeling of inferiority, we have to get rid of it. The Moroccan player can face any in the world. The generation coming after us will know we can create miracles.”
“We’re the Rocky Balboa of the World Cup,” coach Walid Regragui said after knocking out Portugal. “When you watch Rocky, you want to support Rocky Balboa because of his hard work and commitment. We are the team that everyone loves because we are showing the world you can succeed even if you don't have as much talent and money.”
The U.S. could demand royalties for theft of the Rocky narrative. I’d prefer we just get better at futbol.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.