SEATTLE (AP) — For all the growth in American soccer over the past quarter-century, the U.S. men’s national team remains stagnant.Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie fared no better at the World Cup in 2022 and 2026 than Tim Howard, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore did in 2010 and 2014.“We want to be able to go and compete with some of the best in the world and we just still have that next step to come,” Pulisic said after Monday night’s error-filled 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16.For all the billions of dollars invested with the goal of boosting the national team into the world’s elite, the Americans remain soccer plebians.After reaching the semifinals of the first World Cup in 1930, the U.S. didn’t even qualify between 1950 and 1990. Since then, the Americans were eliminated in the round of 16 in 1994, 2010, 2014, 2022 and this year, failed to advance past their group in 1990, 1998 and 2006, and flopped in qualifying for 2018.
“It’s not like you are in a rocket and you improve and you grow. ... It’s not linear,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said.The U.S. won three games in a World Cup for the first time, beating Paraguay, Australia and Bosnia-Herzegovina while losing to Turkey and Belgium. The Americans benefited as host, a seeded team that didn’t face a top-10 nation before the Red Devils.By the next World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco (with three games in South America), Pulisic, McKennie and Adams will be 31.
