‘A Responsibility’—USMNT Legend Predicts 2026 World Cup Run, Reflects on 1994

The U.S. men’s national team are gearing up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in less than two weeks’ time, a tournament that will see a record 48 teams compete across North America this summer. It marks the first time in over 30 years that the U.S. will host the men’s edition of soccer’s grandest tournament.

To state the Stars and Stripes are feeling pressure to perform would be an understatement, but that sentiment also means that glory is somewhere within their reach. Sure, the U.S. has not advanced farther than the quarterfinals in the modern era of the World Cup, and even that was over 20 years. That just means it’s a stage ripe for the taking.

As USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino tersely repeats, “Why not us?” The 26 men on his squad—this “Golden Generation”—will be front and center this summer, chasing history on home soil and enrapturing the hearts of Americans along the way.

As for winning hearts, fortunately the USMNT have the squad of 1994 to reference, the rugged Americans who were the first to bring the excitement of the men’s World Cup stateside. Donning an iconic, faux washed-denim Adidas kit, they enthralled a nation that was still largely learning the rules of the sport and coming to appreciate it in its most competitive form.

24-year-old center back Alexi Lalas was the breakout star of that team, earning fame throughout the summer for a personality that was almost as big as his long, curly, bright-red hair and bushy goatee.

“The identity of our team back then was one of pioneering, cowboy-esque types of things, where we recognized that we were doing things for the first time,” Lalas, now 56, tells Sports Illustrated. “There was a belief that we could something that was going to last, relative to a legacy for the sport that we loved in our country, and that if we did it, if we did it right, we would be able to harness that energy, that magic, that would benefit the game and future generations. I think we did that. I think we made a mark.”

It is on the new generation of U.S. soccer stars to carry that legacy forward, and Lalas has every belief in the squad to do so this summer.

Lalas on USMNT’s Opportunity, Responsibility

Alexi Lalas started all four World Cup matches for the U.S. | Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images)

The “Summer of ‘94,” a new documentary available to stream on Fox One and Tubi, chronicles the story of Lalas’s team, how a group of largely amateurs—as the U.S. did not have a top flight domestic league at the time—famously upset South American heavyweights Colombia 2–1 en route to the round of the 16. It was an unprecedented run for an unlikely squad competing amongst soccer’s most legendary talents, a true underdog tale that encouraged many Americans to fall in love with the sport.

“I think of opportunity and responsibility,” Lalas says, comparing his experience to that of the USMNT stars today. “The opportunity to bring a lot of people into the [fold], once again. I know it’s been 32 years, but we’re still trying to bring people into that soccer [fold], and here’s another opportunity this summer.”

“And responsibility—it’s happening on our watch, and in the documentary, it becomes very apparent that there was a pressure. It depended upon how you looked at it, but a pressure to do well for the actual sport. Now soccer isn’t going anywhere regardless of what happens this summer, but there is a responsibility to, again, entertain those people that are coming into the fold.”

He adds, “America wants to celebrate America. We’ve seen it recently with hockey and with baseball ... if the USMNT play well, and they are endearing both on and off the field, they can again provide the mechanism, if you will, to celebrate our country. Oh, and not for nothing, but on our 250th birthday. There’s a lot to be celebrated this summer if they can catch that lightning in a bottle.”

Lalas’s USMNT World Cup Prediction

USMNT huddle — The USMNT are hoping for a deep run this summer. | Omar Vega/USSF/Getty Images

The talent pool of and the opportunities and pathways for the USMNT have come a long way since that scrappy 1994 team took the pitch, and for those reasons alone, Lalas expects bigger success from the Stars and Stripes in front of home supporters this month.

The No. 16 globally-ranked U.S. enter Group D as the favorites, first opening play against Paraguay before clashing with Australia and late-qualifiers Türkiye. The top two teams from every group, as well as a select eight third-place finishers, will advance to the round of 32, a brand-new stage of the tournament given its expanded team format.

“My pragmatic answer is that this is a group we should win,” Lalas says. “So we get out of the group. We finish first in the group, at which point we’re playing in a round of 32, a new round because of the size of the tournament, and we’re playing a team that we’re better than, so we will be expected to win. We should win that, and now we’re back at the round of 16 where we have kind of always been, probably playing a team that people look at as better than, or at least equal, to us.”

When not eliminated in the group stages, the U.S. has advanced to the round of 16 five times in the modern era of the World Cup, including at the most recent 2022 Qatar tournament and the 1994 edition; however, of those five occasions, it has only won once, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2002 Japan/South Korea.

USMNT celebrating — The USMNT advanced to the quarterfinals in 2002. | Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images

“You need a little help from the soccer gods in that moment and hope that the magic is there,” Lalas adds about competing in the round of 16. “You’re into rarified air. That’s the reality of what I see happening for this team. Ultimately, Pochettino and this team will be judged from a competitive perspective on that round of 16 game. If they don’t get there, then it’s a failure.”

Although making it past the round of 16 would be a great start, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what success would mean for the USMNT this summer. It may materialize as a feeling, rather than a certain stage of the tournament.

“You know it when you see it,” Lalas says. “It will be coursing through your veins. You’ll feel it in your heart.”

What’s for certain, though, is if the team can catch that “lightning in a bottle,” whatever it may be, then it will leave a lasting legacy for the sport in the U.S. for many years to come, similar to the effect those rugged Americans created back in 1994 that still permeates over 30 years later.

READ THE LATEST USMNT NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FC

Add us as a preferred source on Google