"That will have an impact not just on the sport of soccer, but sports in general." That's Cobi Jones on a USMNT semifinal run at the 2026 World Cup — and he said it without blinking.
Jones, 164 caps, one of the most capped players in USMNT history, was speaking in Vancouver after playing in the FIFA Delegations Football Tournament, a pre-Congress friendly that quietly doubled as an early curtain-raiser for the summer's tournament. He was repping Concacaf in an all-black adidas kit alongside FIFA officials and legends. Gianni Infantino and Cafu were on the opposing team. Not your average Sunday kickabout.
Semis or bust — but enjoy it first
Jones stopped short of a hard prediction, but his benchmark was clear: semis equals success. "No one can give expectations," he said, "but what I would constitute a very good run for the USMNT would be if they can make it to the semis." That aligns with Mauricio Pochettino's own stated ambitions, which means the manager and the legend are on the same page — whether the squad can deliver is another question entirely.
To even get there, the USMNT first has to come through Group D: Paraguay, Australia, and Türkiye. None of those are gimmes, and with a 48-team field expanding the knockout bracket, the road to Dallas or Atlanta for a potential semifinal is long. The betting market on the US going deep will likely tighten as the tournament approaches and home advantage becomes a real factor in how books assess their ceiling.
Jones knows something about that ceiling shifting. At the 1994 World Cup, the USMNT played Brazil in the round of 16 — a match Jones expected to be dominated by Brazilian fans. It wasn't. "We walked out onto the field and it was four U.S. fans to a Brazil fan, wearing red, white and blue," he recalled. "That showed me that we had made it."
The crowd question matters more than people admit
That memory carries real weight ahead of 2026. The USMNT is the only co-host with a realistic chance of staying on home soil from group stage through to the final — but home advantage isn't guaranteed just because the games are in the States. Ticket prices are steep, and the team has had to fight for favorable atmospheres in recent years even in friendlies. If Pulisic and company are drawing hostile crowds in their own backyard, that's a problem no tactical setup fully fixes.
Jones's message to the current group wasn't about pressure or legacy. It was simpler than that: enjoy it. "From now in this moment to 40 years from now, you want to remember that you had a fun time at the World Cup, playing at the highest level of your craft."
He's speaking from experience. The man played in front of 93,000 at the Rose Bowl against Colombia in 1994. He knows what this can be. Whether Pochettino's squad can match that moment — or surpass it — is what the next few months will tell us.
