{"id":13985,"date":"2026-06-10T20:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13985"},"modified":"2026-06-10T20:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:32:27","slug":"pochettino-says-no-americans-among-top-100-players-yet-us-can-win-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13985","title":{"rendered":"Pochettino says no Americans among top 100 players yet US can win World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By RONALD BLUM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mauricio Pochettino was blunt in his assessment of American soccer talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are USA and competing against Belgium, Portugal,\u201d the U.S. coach said after a pair of March losses in friendlies. \u201cI think for sure Belgium and Portugal have in the top 100 players few, or some players playing in that top 100. I think we don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Somali soccer referee denied entry to US for World Cup is welcomed home as a hero<\/a><\/p>\n

No Americans were listed among the top 100 when The Guardian published its annual list in December. Christian Pulisic was 116th in the voting by a panel of 219 former players, coaches, technical staff and media. Tim Weah was next at 183rd.<\/p>\n

Spain placed 14 in the top 100, France 10, Brazil and England nine each, and Argentina and Portugal eight apiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think our talent is far \u2014- or much less than any other country in my humble opinion,\u201d retired American forward Jozy Altidore said. \u201cI think we\u2019re just as talented. So for me, I\u2019m that crazy guy. I believe and I know the players believe, but, why not? Why not us?\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. players and staff are thinking big, hoping the red-white-and-blue can win its first World Cup title or at least reach the semifinals for the first time since 1930.<\/p>\n

Americans still have to prove themselves to much of the soccer world.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe want to do this for ourselves. We want to do this for our own country. We don\u2019t need to prove to anyone else,\u201d Pulisic said. \u201cWe have good players, really good players playing in top clubs in the world. We have a good team and, yeah, we\u2019re going to do the best we can to prove ourselves right more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyler Adams, the captain in 2022 and the team\u2019s top defensive midfielder, sees the goal as to go as far as any team has before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just been a while, I feel like, since we\u2019ve knocked off a big boy,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we need to try and find that in our character and I think that we will.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. has won only one World Cup knockout game<\/h4>\n

Dreams and reality have collided for the U.S. in the World Cup. The Americans are 1-7 in World Cup knockout games, their only win over regional rival Mexico in 2002 before a quarterfinal loss to Germany.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Since then, they lost in the round of 16 in 2010, 2014 and 2022, failed to advance from the group stage in 2006 and didn\u2019t even qualify for 2018.<\/p>\n

Despite the lack of pedigree, Pochettino told players in March they can win the title.<\/p>\n

Read more USMNT\u2019s Folarin Balogun eager for World Cup debut<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not us? Why not us? Why not us?\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to really believe that we can be there. We need to dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only a handful of players on top European clubs<\/h4>\n

Pulisic in 2021 became the first American to play in and win a European Champions League final, helping Chelsea to the title. He is one of six American World Cup-bound players on clubs ranked among the top 40 by UEFA coefficient, spending the past three seasons with No. 30 AC Milan.<\/p>\n

That list includes midfielder Malik Tillman (No. 9 Bayer Leverkusen), midfielder Weston McKennie (No. 25 Juventus), defender Sergi\u00f1o Dest and forward Ricardo Pepi (No. 26 PSV Eindhoven) and defender Alex Freeman (No. 39 Villarreal).<\/p>\n

Decline of American goalkeepers<\/h4>\n

Goalkeeper, once an American strength with Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel and Tim Howard all starting for English teams, is now a weakness. This will mark the first time a Major League Soccer goalkeeper appears for the U.S. at a World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoalkeeping is definitely a concern,\u201d said former American midfielder Stu Holden, now a Fox commentator. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had a standout goalkeeper now for a number of years, but yet you have an opportunity to change the perception of who you are by one tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Freese, the likely starter, made his international debut last June and has just 15 appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really, not really listening to anyone outside of the guys with me and the coaching staff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Home field crowd advantage for a change<\/h4>\n

The U.S. team often plays home games in front of crowds with a majority cheering on the opponent, which happened during games against Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco, South Korea and Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans are some type of fans that show out and show up for the big things even if they don\u2019t love soccer,\u201d McKennie said. \u201cAny big event, we know how to put on a show and we know to show up, so I think it\u2019s a huge advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Knott\u2019s Scary Farm offers sneak peek during preview event<\/a><\/p>\n

AP World Cup: <\/em>https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mauricio Pochettino has been blunt about American soccer talent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"yoast_head":"\nPochettino says no Americans among top 100 players yet US can win World Cup - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13985\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pochettino says no Americans among top 100 players yet US can win World Cup - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mauricio Pochettino has been blunt about American soccer talent.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=13985\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-10T20:32:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=13985#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=13985\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"headline\":\"Pochettino says no Americans among top 100 players yet US can win World Cup\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-10T20:32:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=13985\"},\"wordCount\":814,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=13985#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/702bb7e3f63f9ad2f203c295ced7415d.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Soccer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=13985#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=13985\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=13985\",\"name\":\"Pochettino says no Americans among top 100 players yet US can win World Cup - 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