SEATTLE STADIUM \u2014 <\/strong>Through more than 20 years covering the U.S. men\u2019s national team in countries across the globe, I have never seen an American squad play with the ferocity that Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s version has at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. I\u2019ve never seen so much quality, so much depth, never seen attackers who can beat elite defenders off the dribble the way Christian Pulisic and Sergi\u00f1o Dest have consistently this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n The USA has never had a scorer as efficient and well-rounded as Folarin Balogun who, as the whole world now knows, is now eligible to play in Monday\u2019s pivotal round of 16 match against Belgium (8 p.m. ET on FOX and FOX One).\u00a0<\/p>\n Mauricio Pochettino celebrates with USA players after beating Paraguay in the 2026 World Cup group stage. (Photo by Alex Livesey – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n It has never had players at their respective positions like box-to-box midfielder Weston McKennie or left back Antonee “Jedi” Robinson.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never witnessed mainstream America get behind this squad like it has over the last four weeks, not even in 2002, when a Brooklyn-born lacrosse coach named Bruce Arena somehow led a team that had finished dead last at the World Cup four years prior within a whisker of the semifinals.<\/p>\n With three wins and nine goals in four games heading into Monday\u2019s contest, there is no doubt: This is the best the U.S. has ever played in a World Cup.<\/p>\n And none of it will matter if Pochettino\u2019s side can\u2019t win this next one, too.<\/p>\n Soccer\u2019s quadrennial bonanza is the ultimate results business. With a victory in Monday\u2019s match, Pochettino will never have to buy a glass of wine in this country again. If he loses, it wouldn\u2019t be a mere disappointment. It would make Pochettino \u2014 who has repeatedly said that his goal is to leave a legacy behind whenever he moves on \u2014 the architect of a very public failure on home soil.<\/p>\n The stakes are that binary, as much as the 54-year-old Argentine tried to downplay at his pre-match press conference Sunday.<\/p>\n “I think the players are responsible to create the legacy,” he said. “I am a small part, because in the end, it\u2019s the players that are creating the emotional relationship with the fans.”<\/p>\n Maybe. But Pochettino arrived with a reputation as a truly all-world coach, a man who had succeeded at the highest levels of the European club game. The expectations here are therefore elevated, especially given all the Americans have already accomplished this summer.<\/p>\n Monday will be the sixth round of 16 game the USA has played since 1990. The Americans were eliminated at this same stage four years ago, and in 2014, and in 2010 \u2014 and none of those games were played in America, much less America\u2019s best soccer city.<\/p>\n Sure, the hope is that the millions of new USA fans who have been created since that World Cup opening 4-1 win over Paraguay on June 12 will stick around no matter the outcome on Monday. Pochettino believes they will.<\/p>\n “Tomorrow, win or not win,” Pochettino said, “the legacy is already there.”<\/p>\n But America loves winners. The U.S. men will never get a more favorable first-round draw than they got at this World Cup, and they will never have a better opportunity to advance to the last eight than they have here in Seattle.<\/p>\n Part of the reason soccer began exploding from coast-to-coast over the last three decades was the men\u2019s national team\u2019s obvious potential.<\/p>\n Mauricio Pochettino and Chris Richards after the USA’s 2-0 victory against Australia in the 2026 World Cup group stage. (Photo by John Dorton\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Losing in the round of 16, again, this time in a 70,000-seat venue filled overwhelmingly with their own supporters, in front of what will surely be the most watched soccer game in U.S. history, can\u2019t be waved away as acceptable. Not for a coach with Pochettino\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9, not for a guy who is getting paid at least four times what his predecessor, Gregg Berhalter, earned in bowing out to the Dutch at the same stage at Qatar 2022.<\/p>\n J\u00fcrgen Klinsmann\u2019s 2014 squad took Belgium to extra time in the round of 16 before succumbing. Bob Bradley did the same in 2010, losing to Ghana after winning a group that included England.<\/p>\n And while Arena\u2019s U.S. didn\u2019t survive group play in 2006, that quarterfinal run 24 years ago in Korea\/Japan remains the Americans\u2019 best showing since the inaugural World Cup in 1930.<\/p>\n None of those coaches had the advantage of playing at home.<\/p>\n Any excuse Pochettino might have had not to beat the Red Devils evaporated on Monday, when FIFA controversially ruled that the red card Balogun received against the Bosnians would not rule him out vs. the Belgians.<\/p>\n The status quo won\u2019t cut it \u2014 not this year, with this coach, with this team, in this moment.<\/p>\n This is the game that Pochettino was hired to win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY SEATTLE STADIUM \u2014 Through more than 20 years covering the U.S. men\u2019s national team in countries across the globe, I have never seen an American squad play with the ferocity that Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s version has at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. I\u2019ve never seen so much quality, so much depth, never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}