The Stars and Stripes have a tough path to a potential World Cup final this summer.
U.S. men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino asserted the Stars and Stripes are playing “to win” the 2026 World Cup; at the very least, the team is hoping to make a run to the semifinals.ahead of soccer’s biggest competition this summer, unfolding largely across U.
S. soil. After failures at the 2024 Copa América, the 2025 Concacaf Nations League and the 2025 Gold Cup, the red, white and blue have everything to prove under high-profile hire Pochettino, who has lofty expectations for his group.what the USMNT’s objective is at the 2026 World Cup, Pochettino replied: “To win! Because the USA is a country where, regardless of the athlete, regardless of the sport, at the start of a competition, the objective is to win. Soccer is no exception to the rule.”: Türkiye, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo. Getting out of the group stage is just the first test for the Stars and Stripes, though, on what Pochettino hopes will be a long journey to the team’s best ever finish.Mauricio Pochettino has bold goals for the USMNT. | John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images. Even if the team tops its group, it will likely have to overcome European giants in the knockout stage. If results pan out in expected fashion, Pochettino’s squad would have to eventually play Spain in the quarterfinals and France in the semifinals. On paper, the Stars and Stripes stand no chance of defeating the reigning European champions or the 2022 World Cup runners-up. But Pochettino is not taking the logical approach. “In soccer, logic plays a limited role,” he said. “There are no mathematical equations to predict the outcome. That’s also why it’s the most beautiful sport in the world, because it’s sometimes unfair. It’s about being competitive, but also about managing emotions. “It’s a good mix of logic and illogic, rationality and irrationality. Assuming we have a quality squad with a good mentality and the support of the fans, everything is in place to generate positive energy and attempt what South Korea and Morocco achieved in 2002 and 2022.” Back in 2002, South Korea made a surprise run to the semifinals in the tournament it co-hosted with Japan. Morocco also unexpectedly made it to the semifinals in Qatar in 2022, where many of the matches felt like home games for the Atlas Lions. Now, the USMNT will have the support of the home crowd at its matches, an advantage that could take the Stars and Stripes far, so long as they show their quality on the pitch.Mauricio Pochettino will be forced to answer some tough questions this summer. | Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images, Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Imageshis players should only talk about soccer, not World Cup ticket prices or politics. “We are not politicians. We are sport people that only we can talk about our job,” the Argentine said. Yet U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, war with the Middle East and previous threats to tariff European countries have provided a tense backdrop for the 2026 World Cup, one that will be hard to ignore for the manager of the USMNT, especially when asked directly about the situation unfolding throughout the host nation. Pochettino, though, remained firm on his original stance. “I am prepared to listen to them, but it is not my duty to talk about politics. I can say, as a human being, that I am against all forms of injustice,” he said. “But there must be neither hypocrisy nor demagoguery. So, how can I, as a public figure, contribute to a better world? Not by being a demagogue or by only speaking out when the media gives me the opportunity. “But if I can act behind the scenes, if I have access to influential people capable of improving the world, I do it; it's in my nature. However, using a public platform, in this case the one provided by the organization that pays me, like the U.S. Soccer Federation, to spread my ideas is not the right approach.”Amanda Langell is a Sports Illustrated FC freelance writer and editor. Born and raised in New York City, her first loves were the Yankees, the Rangers and Broadway before Real Madrid took over her life. Had it not been for her brother’s obsession with Cristiano Ronaldo, she would have never lived through so many magical Champions League nights 3,600 miles away from the Bernabéu. When she’s not consumed by Spanish and European soccer, she’s traveling, reading or losing her voice at a concert.
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