IRVINE, Calif. – World Cup co-host Canada finished second in its group and got redirected from home soil for its first knockout round match against South Africa. Les Rouges emerged victorious in Los Angeles with a late winner on Sunday.
Fellow co-host Mexico won its group and earned the advantage of a home knockout match in a thunderous Azteca Stadium in the capital. El Tri rode the wave to a win over dark horse candidate Ecuador on Tuesday.
Now, as the United States men’s national team has vacated its Great Park Sporks Complex home base in Orange County, the Americans will try to match the feat of their co-hosts and in turn continue to inspire a growing soccer nation against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 on Wednesday in Santa Clara.
"We're very confident because we finished first in the group,” USMNT defender Sergiño Dest said on Sunday in Irvine. “That's the difference already. I think everybody's confident. We're more experienced. We have a better chemistry. We're just in a good head space. Everybody's concentrated. As well, the whole country believes at the moment. I think that's in our advantage."
It’s an advantage the U.S. will need to lean into, as the Americans look to win their first game against European competition since 2021–a 12-match streak dating back to a win over Bosnia, coincidentally–and only the second knockout round game in U.S. men’s history.
Their “Dos a Cero” win over Mexico in the 2002 Round of 16 is the only World Cup knockout win in American men’s history. Even the 1930 team that took third place, the four group winners advanced to the semifinals, and there was no third-place game.
“Honestly, I don’t think any of us are thinking about it,” USMNT captain Tim Ream said on Monday in Irvine. “I think it’s just about putting in good performances. If we do everything we’ve done up to this point, we’re going to put ourselves in the best possible position to move on in the tournament. It’s just focusing on us and what we need to do to accomplish the next step. That’s everything we did in the group stages and then some.”
It’s not totally uncommon for a host nation to play up to its homefield advantage in a World Cup. Of the 22 previous men’s tournaments, 13 host nations have advanced to the semifinals, including six champions.
What is uncommon is for that homefield advantage to be in favor of the United States.
In the 1994 World Cup at home, the Americans got out of their group only to lose their first knockout game. In the 2024 Copa America–the combined North and South American tournament hosted by the States–the USMNT flamed out in the group stage, which ultimately led to the firing of previous coach Gregg Berhalter.
Even in the various North American Gold Cups, Nations League or World Cup qualifiers, the Americans often succeeded in spite of homefield disadvantages with large swaths of Latin American fans in the crowd.
But this World Cup has been different. From the send-off games in Charlotte against Senegal and in Chicago against Germany, to the pair of group stage games in Los Angeles and signing “Country Roads” in Seattle, the support of the U.S. crowds has surpassed most people’s wildest expectations.
“I dreamed of it. Obviously, the beginning, it wasn’t like this,” said Dest, who has played with the senior team since 2019. “I like the change, because it helps us a lot. It gives us an extra boost in the game, as well. That’s what we need. We all need to do it together, and that’s how we can write history.”
This also isn’t some simple jingoistic pursuit, where slapping the Stars and Stripes on a team garners the country’s support no matter what.
This is real, genuine support of the soccer program. It is the awakening of a soccer loving generation (or two or three generations by now) that has lingered under the surface, waking up for early mornings watching European football and American players competing in those big leagues.
It is a moment of pure and real inspiration that have more fuel added to the fire with each successive victory, particularly if the U.S. can make a historic run through the knockout rounds.
“I think it’s just incredible to have the fans and the country on this road and journey with us is what the most special part about it is,” Ream said. “And seeing everybody is talking about, ‘my son is now picking up a soccer ball for the first time and he’s taking it to a restaurant, or he’s out in the park or he wants to go out in the backyard,’ or ‘my daughter is doing this because of watching you guys play.’ I think it’s those moments that are the most special.”
It’s not just the connection between the fans and the sport that has grown. In a World Cup that has been somewhat defined by the diasporic nature of some rosters–76 French-born players are playing elsewhere, as are 40 Dutch players and 20 English players–players can find community and cultural connections wearing their nation’s colors.
That’s more true for the five USMNT players with foreign ties. Dest (Netherlands), Malik Tillman (Germany) and Antonee “Jedi” Robinson (England) were born and raised abroad, and Falorin Balogun was born in America by chance to his Nigerian parents and raised in England.
For Balogun in particular as the firecracker that has set off the American crowds, he is feeling the surge of pride and wants to continue to reciprocate.
"I feel a lot more connected (with the country),” Balogun said on Sunday in Irvine. “Whenever you spend long periods of time anywhere, you start to adjust, you start to adapt. I really, really fell in love with the energy and just the ambition, just seeing how united the country's been. That's something I've taken a lot of pleasure in. I'm very excited to go out there on Wednesday and giving that extra boost, another reason for the crowd and for the nation to cheer."
Making it out of the group stage in this home World Cup was the expectation for the United States, but this USMNT will be defined on what it does in the knockout rounds.
If the Americans can light this torch and blaze a historic path forward, they can light a fire in the hearts of their awakened soccer-loving nation.
“It’s one of those things where you need to appreciate the moment that you’re in at the moment,” Tyler Adams said last week. “I feel like in my head, it’s do the job, focus on the next one. Do the job, focus on the next one until you’re out of games to play, because then you did something right.”