Clint Dempsey didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n
When I asked arguably the greatest American soccer player of all time what the U.S. men\u2019s national team must do to keep its fans engaged and create new ones before the next World Cup arrives in 2030, Dempsey \u2014 the USMNT\u2019s all-time co-scoring leader and a FOX Sports analyst during the 2026 tournament \u2014 was unequivocal.<\/p>\n
“Win,” Dempsey told me during a post-World Cup interview. “Score goals, keep clean sheets, get the people excited and out of their seats because you\u2019re fighting for your country, making them proud. I mean, that’s what it’s all about, right?”<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n Right. And for three games at the first World Cup held on American soil in three decades, the home team did all of that. Those emphatic group stage wins over Paraguay and Australia, and another in the new round of 32 against Bosnia and Herzegovina, were enough to convince the U.S. Soccer Federation to offer Pochettino a new four-year contract despite a 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16. The deal became official on Monday, giving the 54-year-old Argentine \u2014 who took over the program less than two years before the last World Cup \u2014 an entire cycle to build a squad to compete on the biggest stage in sports.<\/p>\n Before that, lots of games must be played. The USSF is expected to announce the first slate of exhibition games on the road to 2030 later this week. There are Concacaf Nations League matches in November and March. The 2027 Concacaf Gold Cup follows in June. In 2028, there\u2019s a Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and almost surely another U.S.-hosted Copa Am\u00e9rica \u2014 the South American championship.<\/p>\n In other words, to Dempsey\u2019s point, a lot of opportunities for Poch and his players to continue to endear themselves to the broader American public before the main event returns four summers from now.<\/p>\n With that in mind, here are five things Pochettino must accomplish before the 2030 World Cup arrives.<\/p>\n Noahkai Banks remains an intriguing prospect at center back. (Photo by Ulrik Pedersen\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n The U.S. won the first three editions of the new regional competition, beating blood rival Mexico in the final in 2021 and 2024 (and in the semis in 2023). But they didn\u2019t even make it to the decisive match in Pochettino\u2019s maiden Nations League trip, losing to Panama in the semis and Jesse Marsch-led Canada in the third place game.<\/p>\n Getting back to the title bout next March would show progress. Winning the first available trophy this cycle would be an even better signal of intent. It would also give themselves momentum heading into the second regional championship of 2027 just a few months later.<\/p>\n After the Nations League debacle in 2025, Pochettino used the Gold Cup to reset the mentality of the U.S. team. Or at least he tried to: Christian Pulisic, the Americans’ most important attacking player, withdrew from consideration citing fatigue. Same for Yunus Musah, another American starter at the 2022 World Cup. A slew of other regulars \u2014 including striker Folarin Balogun, midfielder Weston McKennie, and left back Antonee “Jedi” Robinson \u2014 also missed the tourney because of injury or FIFA Club World Cup commitments.<\/p>\n But those who Pochettino summoned instead took advantage of the opportunity. Players like Sebastian Berhalter and Alex Freeman, who didn\u2019t have a cap before that summer, would both go on to score at the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n But the 2025 Gold Cup literally ended in tears for Pochettino, as the U.S. lost to Mexico in front of 71,000 mostly green-clad fans in Houston.<\/p>\n This summer, expect all the top Americans to participate. If they do, there\u2019s no reason the U.S. can\u2019t claim the Gold Cup for the eighth time and first since 2021.<\/p>\n Steve Cherundolo will be in charge of the USA at the Olympics (Photo by Rich Lam\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n In the not-too-distant past, the U.S. upset the sport\u2019s superpowers regularly frequently. The Americans topped Portugal at the World Cup. A Dempsey goal helped stunned European champ Spain in the semifinals of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. In friendlies, they beat former World Cup champs like Germany and Italy.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s now been more than a decade since the Stars and Stripes beat one of FIFA\u2019s Top 10 squads. In the last two months alone, they lost to Germany and Belgium. Chances to test themselves against elite opposition don\u2019t come often for the current generation of U.S. players; the advent of Europe\u2019s own Nations League has made it harder to schedule non-official matches against that continent\u2019s best. That only makes it more crucial to take advantage of the next opportunity against one of soccer\u2019s best.\u00a0<\/p>\n Three countries \u2013 Morocco, Portugal, Spain \u2013 will serve as the hosts of the 2030 World Cup. (Photo by Harold Cunningham – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BROWSE BY Clint Dempsey didn\u2019t hesitate. When I asked arguably the greatest American soccer player of all time what the U.S. men\u2019s national team must do to keep its fans engaged and create new ones before the next World Cup arrives in 2030, Dempsey \u2014 the USMNT\u2019s all-time co-scoring leader and a FOX Sports analyst […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7161","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\/7161","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=7161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}