The USMNT's 5 biggest questions entering the 2026 World Cup: Expectations, lineup decisions and defensive concerns

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The U.S. soccer team's twisting pathway to hosting Paraguay in its World Cup opener Friday at SoFi Stadium began eight years ago at an expo center in Moscow.

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At its lowest point in decades after failing to qualify for the 2018 tournament in Russia, the U.S. program — and American soccer, as a whole — was about to receive badly needed good news.

With Russian President Vladimir Putin in attendance, FIFA President Gianni Infantino stepped onto stage and announced the 2026 spectacle was coming to North America.

What that meant for the U.S. team, as well as hosting partners Mexico and Canada, was an automatic berth in that competition. There was still much heavy-lifting to do, most notably rebuilding a team in ruin and ensuring it didn't miss the 2022 event in Qatar. But without the burden of qualifying the next time around, the Americans could begin charting their drawn-out course to this summer's festival.

And so that day arrives Friday, with an Argentine coach best known for his European club portfolio and with a roster illuminated by players employed in major leagues overseas. It comes with a generational opportunity to accelerate what the U.S.-hosted 1994 World Cup and subsequent building blocks, such as Major League Soccer, helped create.

"Our mind-set is to win — to compete, and to win. Compete, compete, compete," said Mauricio Pochettino, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain boss who took the U.S. reins in October 2024. "We have very good athletes, very good players. The challenge was to unify and to put it all on the same line."

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With fresh culture and values instilled, the U.S. has become a united group. Whether it's good enough to make a deep run this summer is another matter.

Here are five pressing questions heading into the opener:

Pochettino has gotten his players to believe they can do great things. "We represent a country that always wants to be the best, wants to be No. 1," he said. "Why not us?"

The sobering reality is, come July 19, when Infantino hands the World Cup trophy to the winning captain at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, the U.S. will not be No. 1. That honor will almost surely go to France, Spain, Brazil or one of the other global titans that has won this thing before.

The quarterfinals — now that would be a grand achievement for the U.S., which hasn't gotten that far since 2002 — the last time the program won an elimination-round match. (The 2010, 2014 and 2022 campaigns ended in the Round of 16.)

Playing at home with the strongest roster in its history (based on club affiliations), it's not out of the question.

(L-R) Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic and Sergiño Dest are expected to be central figures in the U.S. World Cup campaign.Ronaldo Bolaños via Getty Images

To accomplish that, though, the U.S. would have to not only take care of business in the newly created Round of 32, but probably defy odds in the subsequent stage.

Since the first World Cup in 1930, the U.S. has never recorded an upset in the knockout round. (In 2002, the Round-of-16 victory was against regional rival Mexico.) Overall, the program has won only nine World Cup matches — and two came 96 years ago.

Losing in the Round of 16 this year would feel like a disappointing draw. Anything short of that would feel like a gutting defeat and, in the case of failing to get out of the group, an unmitigated fiasco.

"There's no reason to put an exact target on what's a successful World Cup," Christian Pulisic said. "It's game by game, and you're never going to be happy going out whenever you go out. … We can decide after how we feel about how we did."

Group D does not have any super powers, but it doesn't have any pushovers, either. With Paraguay, Australia and Türkiye, it's a balanced quartet that could see the U.S. finish first — or last.

Two teams are guaranteed of advancing to the Round of 32. The third-place finisher has a good chance of securing passage, as well. (Eight of the 12 teams that finish third in group play will move on.)

For the Americans, the opener is critical because they should be favored in the second match against Australia in Seattle. It's then back to SoFi Stadium to face Türkiye, which, in spite of needing to navigate a European playoff in March just to qualify, is perhaps the group favorite.

The U.S. played all those teams in home friendlies the past year, losing to Türkiye last summer and defeating Paraguay and Australia in the fall.

Finishing first earns a trip to Santa Clara, California, to play any of five third-place teams. Finishing second requires a visit to Greater Dallas and a meeting with Group G's runner-up — quite possibly Iran. If they advanced as a third-place team, the Americans would go up against a group winner such as England, Netherlands or Portugal.

Mauricio Pochettino has been entrusted with the USMNT's biggest opportunity in a generation.IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters / REUTERS

No, not officially until about 75 minutes before kickoff, but thanks to the most recent match and good ol' intuition, we're getting closer to learning Pochettino's preferred 11:

It's looking like goalkeeper Matt Freese; wing backs Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest; center backs Tim Ream and Alex Freeman; central midfielders Tyler Adams and Malik Tillman; attackers Pulisic and Weston McKennie; and striker Folarin Balogun.

But that's only 10! Well, there's the matter of center back Chris Richards, who has been rehabbing an ankle injury for almost a month. If he's good to go — and he seems so — he'll start between Ream and Freeman on the backline. If he isn't, Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson and Auston Trusty are the options.

Key substitutes include winger Tim Weah, strikers Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright, and midfielders Brenden Aaronson and Sebastian Berhalter.

Half the roster has returned for a second World Cup. Compare that to 2022, when only substitute defender DeAndre Yedlin had played in the 2014 tournament. (Reminder: Somehow the U.S. failed to qualify in 2018.)

It's not just more national team experience. "Guys have just gotten a lot more experience at club level," said Pulisic, one of 13 players employed by clubs in Europe's top-five leagues.

Pulisic also pointed to lessons learned from the Round-of-16 loss to the Netherlands in 2022.

"It all helps you grow. It all helps you learn," the AC Milan man said. "Most guys are going to go into this World Cup just a bit more relaxed, ready for these big moments. I've seen that so much throughout my career. Every game and every big moment just feels a little bit easier, and you feel a little bit more comfortable going into it."

Also worth noting is Pochettino has played in a World Cup (2002) but never coached in one. In fact, he never previously coached a national team. He, too, has had a learning curve in terms of managing a team that gets together only a handful of times per year.

"In clubs, it is more business," he said, "but in the national team, it is pure emotion because you defend your country, you defend your culture, you defend your family."

The defense is suspect, even more so when Richards isn't available. Consider the last four friendlies: Five goals conceded in a Belgium blowout, two in a barely competitive loss to Portugal, two in the Senegal victory and two to Germany last weekend, including an easy set piece less than two minutes into the match.

The U.S. has shown an ability lately to create opportunities, but without stouter resistance, it's not going to last long in the competition.

"Obviously not happy with goals conceded," Ream said. "That's always a big one that everybody, including myself, will look at. … We'll look at areas and make sure that everything's tightened and buttoned up."

Since consecutive shutouts in the CONCACAF Gold Cup's group stage last summer, the U.S. has recorded one clean sheet in 14 matches (vs. Japan in September).

If the Americans hold up defensively, they've got a shot at the quarterfinals. If cracks show, this very well may end with another missed opportunity to grow the program – and the sport in this country.

No pressure, guys.

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