United States National Football

Within 30 minutes of the defeat to the Netherlands on Saturday in Doha, Gregg Berhalter was asked by reporters if he intended to remain on as the U.S. men's national team coach. The 49-year-old said he’d have to think about it.

You can imagine the U.S. Soccer Federation will do some critical thinking too.

In his time with the national team, Berhalter has collected notable victories, including beating Mexico three times in a year, winning the CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup in the same summer, qualifying for the World Cup after missing it in 2018 and making it out of the group.

The USMNT has a clear culture of positivity and brotherhood, cultivated in part by the man at the helm. He's also overseen a successful dual-national recruitment process, bringing promising talent such as Sergiño Dest and Yunus Musah to American shores while keeping the best interests of each player in mind.

Ultimately, though, a sound defeat to the Netherlands in the round of 16 is just good enough. A group stage exit would be seen as failure. A quarterfinals berth would be historic success. What this team did is set a foundation; it was just enough.

But the nation and the federation have higher hopes as they prepare to co-host the 2026 World Cup, and they'll need to accelerate progress and implement changes to achieve them.

In that pursuit, U.S. Soccer should look gratefully at the foundation Berhalter built and then find the best candidate to keep building. For Berhalter, returning to the club level—perhaps on foreign shores—might be preferred after a pressure-packed tenure as manager.

The foundation is set

The second-youngest team in the tournament has World Cup experience under their belt—and the bitter taste of defeat to drive them. They believed they could do more in Qatar. With four years to work toward redemption, this crew of youth will hit their prime on home soil after four years of developing at club level.

Ideally, the men plying their trade in Europe—Musah, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic and company—will continue to grow their roles at the top level. They already have youth and accomplishments. As they add more experience, they'll be lethal.

The trend of young Americans who depart for competitive, European shores will continue. On arrival, they'll need to work tirelessly to play central roles in top leagues. The program would be wise to identify players who start to excel at that level and integrate them more quickly into the senior team.

Clubs like the Philadelphia Union and FC Dallas play no small role in developing young talent and getting them to Europe. They'll need to continue that contribution, and other clubs would be wise financially to join them. The benefits of developing talent and selling to Europe seem self-evident for a club, though many have yet to do so successfully.

A glaring issue as the World Cup wore on is that depth in the squad was too shallow. The drop-off in output from the first to the second half as starting players tired or were substituted became a core issue. But building on the talent pool who are proving themselves at the highest level solves that problem.

Success in 2026 will require the continued growth of young stars in Europe. It will also require younger prospects to break out at that level, adding confidence to this team's depth and rotation.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of a striker

The role of striker-savior in the 2026 World Cup is up for grabs. It remains among the USMNT's more elusive positions.

That hero might not be known yet. The hungry and hopeful are practicing for that position as we sit typing.

It could also be somebody already in the program. Jesús Ferreira is long out of form and happy at FC Dallas, but one wonders if he might grow his game abroad given the hunger acquired from this tournament. Josh Sargent and Haji Wright both had their moments in Qatar. Sargent did well against Iran before going off injured. Though Wright was imperfect, he did score one of the team's three goals. Both are doing well with their clubs and their careers still developing. Sargent will be just 26 and Wright 28 at the next World Cup.

Ricardo Pepi—spurned from the roster, now in form in the Netherlands—has a fire burning inside him. Pepi seems resolute in his intention to break back into the team. It will be a joy to track that progress. He'll be 23 when the World Cup comes to home soil.

Beyond the striker, the U.S. needs to create more chances, necessitating a style that encourages creativity. The next manager must identify creative talent and build around it.

Hope is in the future

Develop the talent, identify the talent, build creatively around them, find a striker. Sounds easy, right? That will be the work of the next four years.

Observe the progress, catalog the stories and find a way to convey them to the American public—that's the job of the pundits and writers.

The race is on, for all of us. We're looking at 2026 with hopes set high. And the main question is pending: Will we be ready?

United States men's national team manager Gregg Berhalter received a bevy of criticism for his decision-making in the USMNT's 3-1 loss to Netherlands on Saturday that knocked the Americans out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Berhalter opted to start Jesus Ferreira, who did not appear in the group stage, at the forward position with Josh Sargent unavailable due to an ankle injury suffered against Iran.

Ferreira only made it through one half of Saturday's loss and made little impact on the contest.

Berhalter replaced Ferreira with Gio Reyna at halftime. The Borussia Dortmund immediately brought a boost to the USMNT attack.

Berhalter was also criticized for the lack of attacking options to help the USMNT come back from deficits. Haji Wright scored off the bench but didn't manage to produce consistently.

The United States will likely have a guaranteed spot at the next World Cup in 2026 as hosts along with Canada and Mexico, and expectations will be high for whomever the coach is to get past this hurdle and deeper into the knockout rounds.

United States men's national soccer team star Christian Pulisic has been cleared to play in Saturday's round-of-16 match against the Netherlands at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Pulisic scored in the 38th minute of USMNT's 1-0 win over Iran on Tuesday, which clinched the squad's spot in the knockout stage. He slid into the goalkeeper on the goal and suffered a pelvic contusion.

While he finished the first half, he was substituted at the start of the second half and spent some time in the hospital before meeting up with his teammates at the team hotel to celebrate the win.

Pulisic is pushing to play against the Netherlands, saying Thursday he would do "everything in my power" to be in the starting lineup.

However, when speaking to ESPN's Sam Borden, he suggested he may not be healthy enough to go a full 90 minutes, saying he was working with the medical team to be able to go at "110 percent" for "however long I can be out on that field."

The 24-year-old is unquestionably the United States' top offensive player with 22 goals in 55 career appearances for the senior national team. The next closest on the team is Weston McKennie with nine goals.

Pulisic's goal against Iran was the biggest of his career and among the most important in the history of American men's soccer.

The United States missed out on qualifying for the World Cup four years ago, but it has advanced past the group stage in each of the past three World Cups they have qualified for and four of the past five.

Getting any further has been a challenge, though, as the Americans fell in the round of 16 in both 2010 and 2014.

The U.S. will truly have to earn a quarterfinals berth for the first time since 2002. The Dutch have never missed the knockout stage at a World Cup they qualified for, and they were the runners-up in 2010 and finished third in 2014.

They had two wins and a draw in the group stage, led by forward Cody Gakpo, who scored once in each of the group-stage matches.

Pulisic and the United States will look to upset the Netherlands when they clash at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday.

United States men's national team star Christian Pulisic wanted to issue a clarification regarding the injury he suffered in Tuesday's 1-0 win over Iran in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

He told reporters Thursday he "didn’t get hit in the balls" in the process of scoring the winning goal.

Almost simultaneously as they celebrated the goal, fans applauded Pulisic for being willing to pay the physical cost of scoring.

The 24-year-old was subbed off before the second half with what U.S. Soccer originally called an abdominal injury. The federation confirmed later he suffered a pelvic contusion that left him day-to-day.

Pulisic's availability for Saturday's round-of-16 match against the Netherlands remains unclear.

"Just kind of seeing how I’m feeling, taking it day by day right now, but doing everything in my power to be able to be out there on the field on Saturday," he said during Wednesday's press conference.

The United States men's national team is in the knockout stage of the World Cup for the fifth time since it returned to the global stage in 1990.

Fielding the second-youngest squad at the World Cup, the U.S. went undefeated in group play and sealed a place in the round of 16 with a gritty 1-0 win over Iran on Tuesday.

The Netherlands wait around the corner: a formidable challenge for an ambitious young squad. But before the page turns toward the Dutch—and how the U.S. might beat them—it's worth reflecting on what the USMNT has done.

A new generation

Gregg Berhalter tweaked his lineup to face Iran in the most important match the U.S. has played in eight years, and the 49-year-old's bold selections paid off. Josh Sargent returned as the No. 9 after being benched against England. Cameron Carter-Vickers made his debut, replacing Walker Zimmerman at the back beside Tim Ream. Carter-Vickers was the 18th U.S. player to make a World Cup debut in this tournament, a USMNT record.

Let that sink in.

In a sea of individual debuts, this tournament is a collective debut. The new generation of USMNT is officially here.

The youth and World Cup inexperience of this squad are notable for this reason: They did the job playing some of the most compelling football to ever come out of the USA, and their careers have only just begun.

With a recipe that combines mentality, belief, tenacity and spirit with talent, tactics and growing experience in top global leagues, this team is ready to ditch the cliches and change a few minds.

A well-organized team

What this team lacks in age or experience, it makes up for in cohesion and talent. From game to game, they've adjusted to the matchup against the opposing squad, attacking the match with astute preparation. Give credit where it's due—Berhalter has gotten the results when they have counted the most.

The team has been defensively sound. Against Iran, the U.S. collected its second straight clean sheet. That's the first time the U.S. has kept multiple clean sheets in a World Cup since 1930. It's yet to concede anything from open run of play.

Matt Turner's time at Arsenal is apparent in his confident, progressive game. His shot-stopping is sharp as ever. Ream's reemergence is perfectly timed. His composure, game smarts and skill are vital pieces to the center-back pair. Zimmerman and Carter-Vickers have taken turns making gargantuan defensive stops, plugging holes, stopping plays.

Good luck to any team trying to get a ball through the midfield. Weston McKennie is churning out top performances as a two-way midfielder. At just 20, Yunus Musah is covering every blade of grass alongside the team captain, Tyler Adams. And what more can be said about Adams, who is blossoming as an American World Cup star?

At fullback, Sergiño Dest and Antonee Robinson are dynamic getting forward, key elements of the attack. Christian Pulisic and Tim Weah test teams from the wing, game-changers on either side. It's no shock the pair are responsible for both of the team's goals.

The striker position remains tepid, but Sargent's second start was the best we've seen. Should he recover in time from an ankle injury for Saturday's match against the Netherlands, he'll be in line for another start.

Hearts and minds

The quest to turn heads and leave a mark remains central to this team.

They've played phenomenally—if imperfectly—and have a lot left to prove. Defeating the Netherlands and making a deeper run would not simply set or tie a record. It would chip away toward their ultimate goal: Make America fall in love, and make the world take note.

The world has started to. While Pulisic is well known to soccer fans, his display of dynamism has keen observers wondering what his next move might be after Chelsea. Fans watch in awe of Adams along with Champions League clubs that could look to spend big cash on the young captain. Attendees at the World Cup have commented on how surprising this U.S. team has been. Iran coach Carlos Queiroz lauded the Americans, who he says have graduated to "football" instead of "soccer" and are playing the modern game.

It's an achievement already. But the team remains focused. The Netherlands this Saturday in Doha presents an opportunity entirely new.

Christian Pulisic expects to be available for the knockout phase.

The USMNT winger, who scored the decisive goal in his country's 1-0 win over Iran but was injured on that same play and left the game at halftime, told his teammates that he plans to be on the pitch for Saturday's Round of 16 showdown with the Netherlands.

Pulisic scored in the 38th minute, crashing the net after Sergiño Dest played a header across the face of the goal. A sprawling Pulisic got his boot on the ball and directed it into the net as he collided with Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.

The Chelsea forward and United States talisman immediately crumpled to the pitch in pain and needed the assistance of trainers to walk off the field. He did briefly return for the rest of the first half but was subbed off at halftime for Brenden Aaronson.

"Obviously, we're very thankful that he threw his body there," Weston McKennie told reporters after the match. "At the end, it was a heart-drop sinking moment, but we got it done, and we're excited to still be here."

After the game Pulisic was taken to the hospital with an abdominal injury, with manager Gregg Berhalter calling that visit precautionary in nature.

"It's a wonderful thing when one of your best players is also one of the most hard working," Berhalter added of Pulisic's goal. "He's certainly that. I can't say enough positive things about Christian."

Pulisic, from his hospital room, was one of a number of United States players to express their excitement at advancing to the knockout phase after a hard-fought win over Iran.

Having a full-strength side against Group A winners Netherlands will be key for the USMNT. Most of the United States' threat in the group stage came from the play of wingers Pulisic and Timothy Weah, as the United States continually attacked down the flanks and looked to swing crosses into the box.

While the effectiveness of that strategy was at times questionable—the USMNT only scored two goals in the group stage en route to a pair of draws and Tuesday's win—the midfield trio of McKennie, Adams and Yunus Musah completely controlled the scoreless draw against favored England, while the defense now has two clean sheets to its name.

Against a Dutch side that will be the heavy favorites, counter-attacking opportunities should be plentiful, which should play into the strengths of Pulisic and Weah. That makes having the Chelsea man healthy for Saturday morning's match all the more vital.

"Huge player for us, obviously," Tyler Adams told reporters. "Praying for him, hoping everything is OK. He'll hang in there. I know he'll do anything to play in the next game."