WASHINGTON (AP) – Tyler Adams has set a bold goal for the U.S. soccer team: to advance to the World Cup semifinals for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1930.
“Everyone would say winning is obviously the goal,” the American midfielder said after Friday’s game. world cup draw“But I think it’s also realistic to set a standard that the U.S. team has come the furthest.”
The 14th-ranked United States will begin Group D on June 12 in Inglewood, California, against No. 39 Paraguay, then six days later in Seattle against No. 26 Australia. The Americans return to SoFi Stadium on June 25th to finish the group stage against the playoff winners of Turkey (25 wins), Slovakia (45 wins), Romania (47 wins) and Kosovo (80 wins).
Star player Christian Pulisic said: “If we can get the three points from the start like that, it would be a great start for us and would put us in a great position in the group.”
It seems to be the least difficult of the 12 groups. The top two teams from each will advance to a new round of 32, along with the top four third-place teams.
“Listen, we all want to win the World Cup,” defenseman Tim Ream said. “Chris and I talked about it because you don’t go into tournaments just to be there. Yeah, I want to win. I think people can laugh and say whatever they want to say.”
In a recent friendly match, the United States lost to Türkiye 2-1 In June, 2-1 win over Australia October and Victory over Paraguay 2-1 last month.
“We may have played all three of these teams in the last six months, but that might be a bit of a false sense of security,” said defender Riem.
In nearly a century of World Cup play, the United States has lost 1-7 in knockout games and 22-7. The Americans’ only victory was a 2-0 win over Mexico in the Round of 16 in 2002, followed by a 1-0 loss to Germany in the quarterfinals. The Americans are winless in their last 12 World Cup matches against European teams, losing 20-10.
“There are no easy games in the World Cup. In fact, I think some of the most difficult games in the last World Cup were against lower-ranked opponents,” Adams said.
USA tied for 2022 Qatar Games Wales 1-1 and England 0-0 in front 1-0 victory over Iran Pulisic’s goal takes us forward.
“It’s fair to say we didn’t set any standards or benchmarks at the last World Cup. We didn’t know what was going to happen,” Adams said. “Looking back now, I think we have more experience. We’ve become more mature. We’ve grown a lot as individuals and as a team.”
Manager Mauricio Pochettino is planning friendlies against Belgium and Portugal in March, and a friendly against Germany just before the tournament, with the team to be determined.
Pochettino thinks about the 2004 film “Miracle,” which he watched last month, as he considers his roster. The film depicts the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s victory over the heavily favored Soviet Union and the gold medal. Manager Herb Brooks’ decision affected Pochettino.
“We don’t need the best players. We need the right players to make the team strong,” Pochettino said. “These are the right players to build a strong team that can compete with any team in the world. What is good and what is right are completely different things.”
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