As the U.S. men's national team trudged off the field for the last time at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, beaten by Belgium 4-1, the occasion was smothered in disappointment.
That July 6 match at Seattle's Lumen Field began with high expectations. The USMNT appeared to be in form, having put in performances that were at times dazzling, and at other times, demonstrated the requisite grit to advance. A boisterous home crowd, decked out in red, white and blue, was on hand to cheer the U.S. What followed was a display that wasn't remotely competitive.
The round-of-16 finish was no better than what the team achieved four years before in Qatar. It wasn't any better than its 2014 tournament. Or 2010. Of the past five World Cups, this was an improvement only over the 2018 edition, a competition for which the U.S. did not qualify.
Instead of a day of celebration, there was the acknowledgement that an opportunity had been missed. So, 12 weeks later, where is U.S. Soccer now? Are those who oversee the USMNT panicked by the program's lack of progress since its 2002 run to the quarterfinals? Or are the powers that be content knowing that the 2030 World Cup cycle will be led by prime-aged European-based stalwarts such as Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams and supported by an exciting new wave of teenage talents headlined by Cavan Sullivan, who kicked things off with an impressive 4-1 win over Peru on Saturday?
One might expect a bit of a hangover from the summer given the jolt the tournament provided, the gargantuan effort used to help pull off the sport's biggest party and the knowledge that the USMNT is still far from the world's elite. In fact, the opposite is true.
In talking to seven sources connected to the USSF -- who, apart from CEO and secretary general JT Batson, requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly -- the word "excitement" keeps cropping up, both in where the sport in the U.S. is headed and what lies ahead for the various national team programs.
"The energy is incredibly high," Batson said in an exclusive interview with ESPN. "The success of this summer on and off the field has people believing that America can be one of the great soccer countries in the world and that we've got the ingredients here to go do that. We just got to put them together."
The legacy of the home World Cup
The state of the USMNT, and its performance at the World Cup, draws mixed emotions. Internally, the tournament isn't seen as a failure for the U.S., but there is an acknowledgement that money was left on the table.
For the tournament's first few weeks, the USMNT was like a snowball rolling downhill, getting bigger and generating more momentum. That came to an abrupt halt with the loss to Belgium, with the controversy surrounding Folarin Balogun's suspended sentence for the red card he received against Bosnia-Herzegovina, ceding whatever support from neutrals existed.
"If you win [the Belgium] game, then you're playing with free money in the quarterfinals against Spain," said one source close to the federation. "Are you kidding me? You're going to that game, no one expecting you to win. And then what if you pull something out of your ass? So, it's a different exit. And then add on top of all the Balogun red card stuff, that just didn't go well. You couldn't have scripted a worse way to go out, right? All the controversy around it, and then you get smacked. No one even plays well. How much that takes away, it's hard to say, but it definitely left a bad taste in people's mouth for sure.
"So, you missed that opportunity, and it was disappointing. I said they had to get past the round of 16 for it to be a success, but I also don't view it as a failure."
In terms of the Balogun situation, Batson said he wouldn't change the federation's approach, and that the USSF will always appeal red cards. But another federation source thought it was still poorly handled.
"Everybody [appeals red cards], but you don't go to the President of the United States, who goes to the president of FIFA and says, 'Get it done.'" the source said. "Someone could have said to JT, 'Make sure that doesn't happen.'"
Audacious goals to grow the game
There is a sense that the World Cup created a road map for big, audacious goals, be it revamping the youth soccer landscape to growing the game at the grassroots level via the Soccer Forward foundation and partnering more closely with professional clubs.
"There's this whole series of things where if you're here, they all feel like they could be once-in-a-generation things to happen, and we're doing all of them at once," one staffer said. "I find that to be super exciting. I think most of the staff does, though what they will also say is, 'We have no north star. What is our coherent strategic vision?' And [U.S. Soccer chief operating officer Dan Helfrich] and JT would say, 'It's all of it. That's the reality. Welcome to the big leagues.'"
Another staffer noted that, as in any job, there are positives and negatives. The staffer brought out an old Drew Carey quote: Oh, you don't like your job? There's a support group for that. It's called Everyone, and we meet at the bar every Friday night. But the staffer added that, for the most part, there is little to complain about.
When asked if he thought the World Cup was a success, Batson's response was an unequivocal "yes." One goal was to get the USMNT to inspire a nation. To a large degree, that was done. The TV ratings were spectacular, with the U.S.-Belgium game drawing in 30 million viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in U.S. history, until the final eclipsed it.
On the business side, Batson said the USSF is on track to achieve record revenues. Per the USSF's last annual general meeting, revenues for the 2025 fiscal year were $264 million, and the 2026 fiscal year revenue forecast is $305 million. In terms of the projected $100 million that the USSF is expecting to receive from FIFA, Batson said that remains on track, although he added that FIFA won't close its books on the tournament until later in 2027. Batson also said the federation's dealings with FIFA hadn't been affected by the political infighting roiling the organization.
"All of our work streams with FIFA across everything is business as usual," he said.
There is also a line of thinking within U.S. Soccer that as important as the last World Cup was, it was just one tournament. Between the USMNT and the U.S. women's national team, there are big tournaments every year. The federation's focus can't be so myopic that World Cups -- even when it hosts one -- are the only focus. If some of the USSF's initiatives -- such as the youth soccer revamp that saw US Club Soccer and U.S. Youth Soccer become more intertwined with the federation -- are successful, that will translate to the national teams.
"We all agree that people pay too much money, travel too much and just have too much friction in their youth soccer experience," a staffer said. "If we can create a real standard accreditation system, it makes families' lives so much easier. It drives down the cost, it improves the clarity, and hopefully, we do that well, it leads to soccer success down the road. The youth soccer stuff is huge."
Solving this country's youth soccer conundrum would be an enormous step in the right direction, but the overwhelming magnitude of that endeavor shouldn't overshadow the notion that though this was a singular World Cup, the trend of the USMNT since 2002 has been stagnation.
"I think most people say [the USMNT performance] was a success because of just how they played and everything around it, but it's also: Did they progress? Not really," one source said. "Playing really good for a few games isn't progress. You've got to do that consistently."
Carrying the World Cup momentum
Alas, none of the federation's efforts on the grassroots level or in the boardroom will help the senior national teams in the near term.
The challenge then becomes maintaining momentum, and history has shown that piggybacking off seminal events is harder than it looks.
The 1994 World Cup spawned MLS, but the sport's growth remained incremental. The aftermath of the 1999 Women's World Cup saw similar challenges. Ahead of the 2011 Women's World Cup, just 5,852 showed up for the USWNT's last send-off game before their epic run to the 2011 final launched the program back into the stratosphere, but that took time.
Granted, the sports landscape is different now. The advent of social media and hyper media attention means every aspect of the game is viewed through a microscope. But in the current state of things, leveraging the recent men's World Cup appears to be easier off the field than on it.
Saturday's friendly win over Peru was a sellout, but it was bolstered by a considerable contingent of Peru fans. As the U.S. pulled away, some noticeable gaps in the stands appeared. That dynamic is practically guaranteed to be even more noticeable Oct. 3, when the U.S. takes on Mexico in Glendale, Arizona.
Batson said that in terms of sponsors, the excitement from the World Cup "only has them wanting to do more."
In terms of on the field, Batson talked up having individual development plans for players, so there is more cooperation between clubs and the national team. But the impact of such an approach, though it has its benefits, seems limited. The reality is that when it comes to the USMNT, the team is in transition, as highlighted by the 13 uncapped players on the roster for the current FIFA international window. And clubs will always be the primary venue for player development, leaving it up to players to make the most of those opportunities.
The competitions the USMNT will take part in over the next four years will also loom large in helping a new generation get acclimated to the international game. Hosting the 2028 Copa América would help significantly in that regard, although Batson said he had "no update" on whether that might happen.
Maintaining momentum puts a premium on continuing to get results, even in Concacaf-organized events such as the Nations League and Gold Cup. The 2028 Olympics will also play a part on the men's and the women's side.
"If [the USMNT] trip up in some of these friendlies, and then they struggle with Nations League, I mean, it's just the same old s---, in my opinion," one source said. They added, "It's unfair to the women, but if the women don't continue to win World Cups, and the men continue to not get past the round of 16, fans will be like, 'OK, we're not good enough,' and the interest isn't there. If you don't have a home World Cup coming, that hurts. But thankfully, they have the Olympics in '28, but again, the men's team could not do well. And then, 2031 [Women's World Cup] I think will be a big deal, and I think that's helpful for sure."
Another federation source was blunter.
"We've got to beat Mexico again, and that's a downer right now," they said. "If we keep losing to Mexico, we're admitting we're second rate. You beat Mexico and you beat them well, that'll help momentum."
Results are just one way the momentum could go sideways. USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino, who signed a new four-year contract in August but has been linked with several jobs at major European clubs for much of the past year, not completing his current contract is another. One source said that if the former Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea boss stays two years, the damage won't be that great, but by then, World Cup qualifying will already be underway. A reset in that moment would happen at a terrible time.
When asked about Pochettino's new tenure, Batson spoke only about Pochettino and his staff's excitement -- there's that word again.
"A big part of their interest in this new project is the ability to impact, of course, the men's team, but the soccer landscape in America, and whether it's coaching education, whether it's our youth programs, whether it's leadership development for the staff at U.S. Soccer," Batson said. "There are so many things that they're excited to lean in on, and we're obviously excited that they're excited."
Additional reporting by Lizzy Becherano and Cesar Hernandez.
