Clint Dempsey Lays Down Intense Challenge for USMNT at 2026 World Cup

The former USMNT star scored 57 goals in 141 caps for the Stars and Stripes, playing in three World Cups along the way.

Clint Dempsey has high standards for the USMNT next summer. / Shaun Clark/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images/USSF

Former U.S. men’s national team star Clint Dempsey says that “anything less” than advancing from Group D at the 2026 World Cup would be a failure for the U.S. men’s national team. 

The now-retired forward outlined his criteria for the USMNT’s success and failure at next summer’s tournament on the Men in Blazers podcast. Dempsey emphasized the need to make American soccer fans believe in the team again and to mount a better finish on the sport’s grandest stage than any past Stars and Stripes squad.

“I’m not going to put a ceiling on their success, but I’m going to put a floor,” the 42-year-old said ahead of the second-ever men’s World Cup to take place on American soil.

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“I mean, we’ve got to get out of the group. Anything less than that is a failure ... they’re going to get to the round of 32. If they don’t get to the round of 32 ... I mean, I don’t even want to talk about that.”

Dempsey, who had 57 goals in 141 caps with the USMNT and played in three World Cups, hopes the team goes further than his best World Cup, which saw the Stars and Stripes advance to the round of 16 at both the 2010 and 2014 editions of the tournament.

The USMNT’s best-ever World Cup finish came in 1930 when they claimed third out of 13 teams at the inaugural tournament. In the modern era, their best finish is a quarterfinal loss to Germany at the 2002 World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan. 

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USMNT’s Group Stage Mission Runs on the West Coast

The pressure is on Mauricio Pochettino to get the USMNT past the group stage next summer. / John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images

Led by manager Mauricio Pochettino, the USMNT will face Australia, Paraguay and one of Türkiye, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo in Group D action. The top two teams in the group, along with the top eight third-place teams, will advance to the knockout stages. 

“Can we make this country believe? Can we inspire the next generation? Can we make soccer where the needle is moved every year for that sport, and it’s a mainstream sport in the States? Those are things that will make it a success,” Dempsey added. 

“Inspire this country with your play and go out there and make us proud … You can win the whole thing. You get to the semifinals, get to the quarterfinals, what have you. But, can you take it further than any national team has done before?”

The USMNT will open its World Cup schedule in Los Angeles on June 12 against Paraguay and then face Australia in Seattle—where Dempsey played for six seasons in MLS—on June 19. Pochettino’s men wrap up Group D action back in Los Angeles on June 25.

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