Soccer in the United States is an emerging sport that is captivating more and more Americans. The perception of a purely European competition is losing steam and the American football following is growing. As a consequence, the level of American players is also growing. The US national football team is one of the most historic.
They never miss a World Cup and are always contenders to win the Gold Cup. Their best talents have triumphed in Europe and will continue to do so thanks to their current golden generation. We take a closer look at the US national team.
United States at the World Cups
The best yardstick for a national football team is its role in World Cups. The United States is very much in the limelight. The Americans are one of the strongest teams in their region, along with Mexico.
As a result, they are regulars at World Cups. However, in their long history as a national team, they have one long blot on their copybook. Between 1950 and 1990, they failed to qualify for a World Cup. In those years, CONCACAF had only one place available. Mexico was the monopoliser of that World Cup quota, with the exception of surprise package Haiti at Germany 1974.
Rankings and historical ceiling
The 1930 World Cup in Uruguay was the first World Cup tournament. The United States took part in it. In fact, its best-ever finish at a World Cup was third place, losing in the semi-finals to Argentina and winning after Yugoslavia resigned in protest at the refereeing in the other semi-final against hosts Uruguay.
They then reached the Round of 16 at Italy 1934 and lost in the first round at Brazil 1950. After the long drought they began to qualify regularly from Italy 1990 – due to Mexico’s expulsion – to Brazil 2014. They reached the quarter-finals in Korea and Japan 2022 as the best record in recent years. Russia 2018 was the tournament that stopped the streak of consecutive qualification.
Top scorers at World Cups
The United States has grown exponentially at the national team level. The American team’s top scorers at World Cups are from the last great generation. The top American scorer at World Cups is Landon Donovan, with five goals. He is followed by the legendary Clint Dempsey, with three goals, and Brian McBride, with the same number. In addition, DaMarcus Beasley is the only player in the history of Team USA to compete in four consecutive World Cups (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014).
United States national team players
The players of the US national team have grown in level and form. The Americans are beginning to feed talent into Europe’s big five leagues, following the path blazed by former soccer stars back home. The explosion of talent in MLS has been largely to blame. Still, it is worth remembering that the US national team has been at its best for more than 20 years. America’s former golden generation has topped the country’s all-time rankings.
America’s greatest historical players
The legendary Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan are the most recognised American players in the world. So is veteran goalkeeper Tim Howard. All of them have a history in English football, having made their mark at Everton, Fulham, Tottenham and even Bayern Munich.
Other top American talents include Jozy Altidore, a former Villarreal and Hull City player who is still active, and Claudio Reyna, who has played for Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester City and Wolfsburg. Cobi Jones and DaMarcus Beasley complete the ranking of historic US players.
Best current players in the United States
Without detracting from the prestige of the former US golden generation, the future that awaits Team USA is much brighter. They will compete in the Qatar 2022 World Cup with players of the talent of Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Tim Weah (Lille) and Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig). Yunus Musah (Valencia), SergiñoDest (Barcelona) and Weston McKennie (Juventus) also stand out. All of them compete in the elite of world football and will put together a US national team ready to make history in Qatar.
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