The early results are in: This U.S men’s national soccer team is for real in this World Cup.
With a quick and creative offensive attack producing goals in front of stadium-shaking home crowds, the Americans have already won their group and booked a place in the round of 32 that kicks off the knockout phase of this 48-team tournament being held in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Still ahead for the U.S. is a final Group D match — they’ll face Turkey at 10 p.m. Eastern on Thursday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California — before the pressure ramps up again. The round-of-32 match for the Americans, who will face a third-place team from another group, is set for July 1 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
The big question now: Just how far can they go? The optimism and expectations of a deep run in the tournament are rising quickly, and the players seem eager to embrace what might have seemed inconceivable for a big nation with a relatively shallow pedigree in international soccer.
“I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that we want to win it,” defender Chris Richards said Friday after the Americans beat Australia 2-0 at Seattle’s Lumen Field, a week after opening with a 4-1 victory against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium. “We want to lift a trophy by the end of this.”