More than three weeks have passed since the U.S. men\u2019s national team crashed out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a resounding 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16, and for USA greats Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, the lopsided defeat still stings.<\/p>\n
“I haven’t even watched the game back,” Altidore, the program\u2019s third all-time goalscoring leader behind only Dempsey and Landon Donovan, told me after the tournament was over. “It\u2019s difficult to swallow.”<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a little bit deflating, the way they crashed out of the World Cup,” Dempsey added when we caught up last weekend.<\/p>\n
Dempsey and Altidore were teammates on the Stars and Stripes 2010 and 2014 World Cup squads. The Americans won their group, ahead of England, in 2010, before an extra-time loss to Ghana in the round of 16. The U.S. survived the Group of Death over Ghana and Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal in 2014, losing in extra time to Belgium at the same stage.<\/p>\n
Playing in a home World Cup for the first time in 32 years, the expectation for the 2026 version was to reach the quarters for the first time since 2002, or at least match their predecessors with a respectable showing in the round of 16.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not how it played out.<\/p>\n
Despite multi-goal group stage victories against Australia and Paraguay and a round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, coach Mauricio Pochettino\u2019s high-risk, high-reward style was exposed against a Belgian side that methodically targeted U.S. frailties in goal and along the back line.<\/p>\n
“We conceded too many goals \u2014 that’s what I was worried about,” Dempsey said. “Look at Spain \u2014 not to say that we are Spain, but they only conceded one goal throughout the whole World Cup.”<\/p>\n
The two American soccer legends are finally getting a break after a breakneck last two months spent broadcasting sports\u2019 marquee event, Dempsey as an analyst with FOX Sports and Altidore with Spanish-language network Telemundo. On site for the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina on July 19, the decisive match was a homecoming for the New Jersey-born Altidore, who began his professional career with the New York Red Bulls.<\/p>\n
“I used to get dropped off at Giants Stadium by my mom in our Toyota Camry when I was 15, and now I’m back in this same place, but it’s for a World Cup final,” he said.<\/p>\n
Altidore and Dempsey\u2019s post-World Cup rest won\u2019t last long. They’ll both be paying close attention to the players returning to action at their clubs, especially the MLS-based contingent. Following a two-month World Cup break, the domestic league returned to action in mid-July and is hoping to capitalize on the unprecedented explosion of interest in soccer within the broader American public.<\/p>\n
Later this week, the top 18 MLS teams from last season will also embark on the latest edition of the Leagues Cup, joining all 18 squads from Mexico\u2019s Liga MX in a World Cup-style tournament. The schedule features as many as seven inter-league matches a day during the 10-day first round \u2014 many of them in prime time.<\/p>\n
Two youngsters who just missed out on Pochettino\u2019s World Cup roster \u2013 Real Salt Lake duo Zavier Gozo and Diego Luna \u2013 will be in action on opening night on Aug 4., when RSL hosts Mexican powerhouse Tigres.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully, there’s some young bloods coming up in the national team to push these starters and give them a run for their money,” Dempsey said. “The best teams in the world, they have that mix of quality right now, but also younger players who have no fear that are coming up and chomping at their heels.”<\/p>\n
Altidore was more succinct: “We need new faces,” he said.<\/p>\n
Diego Luna, who missed out on the World Cup squad, could be a player to watch moving forward. (Photo by Ryan Sirius Sun\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n The harder the games they play as young pros, the better.<\/p>\n The 2026 Leagues Cup, which for the first three years of its existence was hosted entirely in the U.S., will also feature games in Mexico. Dempsey\u2019s former club, the defending champion Seattle Sounders, visit Toluca on Aug. 5, while San Diego FC faces mighty Club Am\u00e9rica at the iconic, 88,000-seat Estadio Azteca in Mexico City the following night.<\/p>\n Those experiences will help battle-test the next generation of Americans, many of whom were no doubt inspired by what they saw from the USA during its first four games at the World Cup before the wheels fell off against Belgium.\u00a0<\/p>\n “There a lot of positives you can take away from how they performed in the three games that they won,” Dempsey said, noting that the Los Angeles Olympics are just two years away and possibly another U.S.-hosted Copa Am\u00e9rica, too. “I’m a fan, so I have rose-colored glasses on. But I\u2019m excited about this team. There is a little bit of a \u2018back to reality\u2019 when the World Cup is over, but there\u2019s so much to look forward to.”<\/p>\n Mauricio Pochettino has yet to decide whether to return for the 2030 cycle. (Photo by Jamie Squire\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY More than three weeks have passed since the U.S. men\u2019s national team crashed out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a resounding 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16, and for USA greats Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, the lopsided defeat still stings. “I haven’t even watched the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7123","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\/7123","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=7123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}