"Why not us?" Mauricio Pochettino asked his squad during a March training camp. It's a good question. The answer, at least on paper, starts with the goalkeepers.
The United States enters the 2026 World Cup with its weakest group between the sticks in four decades. Matt Freese has displaced Matt Turner as the starter, and the Americans are set to head into the tournament without a Europe-based keeper for the first time since 1990. For a country that produced Tim Howard, Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller, and Brad Guzan — keepers who played at the elite level for years — that's a significant fall.
"It just seems like we've had a little bit of a rut," Howard admitted. That's understating it.
A defense held together with duct tape
The problems don't stop at keeper. The central defensive picture is thin. Chris Richards, 26, is the rare American CB playing in a top league — Crystal Palace — and he missed the entire 2022 tournament with a hamstring injury. Auston Trusty has been a starter at Celtic since October, and Mark McKenzie is a regular at Toulouse, but the depth drops off sharply after that.
Cameron Carter-Vickers, a 2022 veteran, is out entirely with an Achilles injury. Right back Sergiño Dest is racing to recover from a hamstring problem sustained in March. John Tolkin, third-choice left back, is also a doubt. Captain Tim Ream is 38 and playing in MLS. The back line Pochettino is likely to field carries genuine risk against quality opposition.
Which is why the tournament structure matters more than anyone will openly say. Seeded as a co-host in the expanded 48-team field, the U.S. could avoid a top-tier opponent until the round of 16. Their group — Paraguay, Australia, Turkey — is navigable. That's not an accident, and it's not nothing.
Everything still runs through Pulisic
Christian Pulisic hasn't scored for club or country in months. Scoreless in 14 games for AC Milan since late December, and without an international goal in eight matches since November 2024. At 27 and in what should be his peak, that drought is a real concern — not a slump to wave away.
"He's going to score because he has the quality," Pochettino said. That's faith, not analysis. In 2022 Pulisic's goal against Iran sent the U.S. through. The Americans need that version of him, and right now they don't have it.
Weston McKennie captured the mood well enough: "It would be everything to win, especially to do it in your home." The emotion is real. The 2002 quarterfinal run still stands as the high-water mark. One knockout win since 1930 — against Mexico — is the historical record Pochettino is trying to rewrite.
The U.S. is 1-7 in World Cup knockout matches, outscored 22-6 in eight straight losses to European opponents since 2022. The co-host seeding buys time. Whether the pieces are there to use it is a different question entirely.
