The US men’s national soccer team is heading to the knockout rounds of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as group winners.
The USMNT finished first in Group D after a dominant group stage that included a 4-1 demolition of Paraguay on June 12 and a clean 2-0 win over Australia on June 19. A 3-2 loss to Turkey on June 25 was ultimately meaningless once the math worked out.
A historic run through the group stage
The US men hadn’t strung together back-to-back World Cup victories since 1930. That’s 96 years of waiting.
The expanded tournament format for 2026 allows the top two teams from each group to advance automatically, along with the eight best third-place finishers, feeding into a Round of 32. By topping Group D, the US earned a more favorable draw in that bracket.
