How far can the USMNT go in the 2026 World Cup?
Vaughn Dalzell and Drew Dinsick look at the USMNT's odds for stage of elimination in the 2026 World Cup, analyzing how far Mauricio Pochettino's squad can go.
Video Transcript
Drew, let's talk the red, white, and blue.
US Soccer, they did win their group, but they're coming off a loss to Turkey that did not mean much.
Entering the round of 32, it's time to talk about what's the stage of elimination for this team.
How far can they go?
They face Bosnia next.
can they make it past them, and where are you betting this team to end their season?
Yeah, this is a fascinating one.
It's really one of two choices, in my opinion.
I have USA as 80-plus percent likelihood to advance past Bosnia and move into the round of 16.
At that point, their most likely opponent would be Egypt.
There's a world where it could be Belgium.
There's a world where it could be someone weaker.
but, in that world, I think the US has a very realistic chance of advancing to the quarterfinals.
So far in this tournament, the United States has clearly been one of the top 10 teams, in my opinion, in terms of the quality of attack especially, which means they can get on the, on the score sheet and not rely on extra time goals or, penalty, you know, penalty wins.
So I'm thinking that we are realistically getting to the quarterfinals.
At that stage, we would likely face Spain.
Spain is a really tough out.
I'm not seeing much hope that we're getting past Spain in a quarterfinal matchup despite the quality of our attack.
their defense and goalkeeping is outstanding, and their midfield is just gonna dominate possession there.
So, stage of elimination for the United States, for me, quarterfinals is the best bet.
