{"id":18368,"date":"2026-06-27T15:01:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T15:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18368"},"modified":"2026-06-27T15:01:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T15:01:35","slug":"alexander-has-the-world-cup-exceeded-our-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18368","title":{"rendered":"Alexander: Has the World Cup exceeded our expectations?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Who had ranch dressing or Waffle House or pantomiming rowing a boat among the topics of discussion when the World Cup initially touched down on these shores?<\/p>\n

Read more World Cup: Pochettino has instilled belief within his soccer team, and across the country<\/a><\/p>\n

I will admit it: I certainly didn\u2019t expect much 2\u00bd weeks ago, before this tournament began its 39-day run in North America. Here in the U.S., little was expected of the men\u2019s national team, which has been traditionally second fiddle to the four-time women\u2019s World Cup champions and usually would be considered a success if it merely got out of group play.<\/p>\n

Who could have guessed, for example, that Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentinian who had been hired to lead the national team this World Cup cycle \u2013 and already has an offer of a contract extension for the next four years, according to The Athletic \u2013 could turn out to be a Spanish-speaking Herb Brooks?<\/p>\n

That Fox ad depicting what a World Cup championship celebration in this country might look like ended with Mike Eruzione, one of the architects of the 1980 Winter Olympics hockey gold medal, telling a USMNT skeptic, \u201cWhat, you don\u2019t believe in miracles?\u201d And after Our Boys\u2019 convincing group-stage victories over Paraguay and Australia put them in the Round of 32, people actually have been daring to dream.<\/p>\n

Not to throw cold water on the whole Miracle on Sod scenario, or Pochettino\u2019s \u201cWhy not US\u201d mantra. But the USMNT still needs two victories in the knockout round to get to the quarterfinals, thanks to the bloated 48-team field that fulfilled FIFA president Gianni Infantino\u2019s vision of more teams, more games and more money. It\u2019s a steeper hill than it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n

That said, the 3-2 loss to T\u00fcrkiye on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium \u2013 on a score at the very end of stoppage time, the closest thing soccer has to a walkoff goal \u2013 ended an intense game but really wasn\u2019t that much of a negative from the USMNT standpoint.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t change the Round of 32 opponent, Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara. And it (a) got some players who haven\u2019t been playing some time on the pitch, (b) specifically enabled Christian Pulisic to get back in action and demonstrate that he\u2019s back in good health, and (c) shielded the four players who had yellow cards from possibly incurring another and missing that first knockout round game.<\/p>\n

Plus, a loss always gets a team\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

ALSO READ:<\/strong> What have we learned so far at this World Cup? Not much<\/p>\n

So what really are the chances of a deep USMNT run? It might come down to just how much belief Pochettino has instilled in these players. (And yes, some fans held up a huge \u201cBELIEVE\u201d sign behind the north goal Thursday night at SoFi. Thanks, Ted Lasso!)<\/p>\n

But some history: The USMNT finished third in the very first World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay, but there were only 13 teams entered and Argentina smoked the U.S. 6-1 in the semifinal before losing to the hosts. In the more modern iteration of the World Cup, the Americans have reached the quarterfinals only once, in 2002, by beating Mexico in the round of 16. (Ah, yes, dos a cero.)<\/em><\/p>\n

As much as I\u2019d like to believe they can get to the quarterfinals or even beyond, my first reaction is, \u201cWell, good luck with that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Los Alamitos consensus picks for Saturday, June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s how we\u2019ve been conditioned. Like it or not, in worldwide soccer we are still a developing nation.<\/p>\n

Yet there is another side to this World Cup, one equally as unexpected before the tournament began, when there were doubts as to just how welcoming this country and its government actually would be to its international visitors.<\/p>\n

Some of those fears were realized early, with travelers \u2013 including a tournament referee \u2013 denied entry and the Iranian team switching its training base to Tijuana, for obvious reasons, even though its three group-play matches would be in the U.S.<\/p>\n

But as the tournament has progressed, there have been the other, quirkier stories that have highlighted the human side of this World Cup. For example, overseas tourists becoming obsessed with ranch dressing. (I find that puzzling, actually. I can\u2019t stand the stuff.)<\/p>\n

Or visitors to a certain region of the country who were exposed to Waffle House restaurants \u2013 or Buc-ee\u2019s (if you know, you know) \u2013 have come away impressed. Some have come away dazzled by the spacious (and opulent) NFL stadia used for this World Cup, which may say something about the facilities they\u2019re used to back home.<\/p>\n

Even the generic yellow school bus appears to have impressed them. Go figure.<\/p>\n

And there are any number of YouTube videos describing our international visitors as shocked about the difference between what they expected and what they\u2019ve experienced in the United States. In other words, people are a lot friendlier than they expected. Even fans vigorously singing along to \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d impressed them.<\/p>\n

My reaction? Too bad Scotland\u2019s Tartan Army didn\u2019t make an appearance in SoCal. Or the Norwegian fans who pantomime rowing a boat, in unison, by the dozens. Our international visitors may be enjoying our culture, but they\u2019ve given us things to smile about as well.<\/p>\n

Which means that we had less reason to be apprehensive about this World Cup than we thought. Maybe the 2028 Olympic Games in L.A. will have the same sort of effect, showcasing the best of our culture instead of our fractured politics.<\/p>\n

Read more Beach crowds, big surf call for increased safety measures at beaches ahead of July 4 weekend<\/a><\/p>\n

And who knows? It\u2019s not likely, but why not<\/em> root for a Miracle on Sod?<\/p>\n

jalexander@scng.com<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The columnist has been pleasantly surprised by the U.S. men’s national team’s play and visitors delighting at our culture’s quirks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion-columnist","category-represents-the-opinion-of-the-author-who-is-either-a-paid-columnist-or-an-unpaid-guest-columnist"],"yoast_head":"\nAlexander: Has the World Cup exceeded our expectations? - 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=18368\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alexander: Has the World Cup exceeded our expectations? 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