SEATTLE — Faith is what makes sports great.
Belief. Hope. Trust. All over the United States, for college teams and pro teams, big teams and small teams, good teams and bad teams, there are followers who believe — truly believe — that joy will come in the morning.
But for the U.S. men’s national team, it has always been different.
No one can say for sure why. For some, it might be the relative superiority that Americans have in other sports compared with soccer. For others, it might be the lack of a mainstream international star. A sizable group is universally cynical about a game that’s more popular everywhere else in the world than it is here.
In this country, mediocre results rarely lead to sustained universal doubt from those who love a team — just ask Dallas Cowboys fans in August what they think about the upcoming season — but with the USMNT, skepticism has persisted.
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Until now.
Now, it’s OK to believe. Now, it’s OK to be optimistic, to think big and imagine this group doing something grand. The players are doing their best to stay in the moment, to give the modest quotes that allow them to handle the pressure that comes their way. But even they are considering the possibilities.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the former Sweden megastar, was asked on Fox’s postgame show Friday after the U.S.’s 2-0 win over Australia whether the co-hosts could win the World Cup. His one-word answer: “Yes.” And Chris Richards, the American defender, doesn’t mind hearing that.
“I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that we want to win it,” Richards said. “We want to lift a trophy by the end of this.”
No one is saying that will happen. No one is even saying it’s likely to happen.
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The U.S. has beaten Paraguay and Australia — two solid wins, two comprehensive wins and two very different wins. That said, there is a very, very long way to go.
But here is what the U.S. has done: It has shown that it can play creatively and slickly and also shown it can play gritty and fierce.
The U.S. has shown it can win — and control a game — without its star, Christian Pulisic, who sat out the second half against Paraguay and the whole game against Australia because of an injured calf.
The USMNT has shown that it can enable and empower a true striker, Folarin Balogun, who has scored two goals and forced a third via an own goal.
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The U.S. has shown it can respond to home crowds like it has never seen before. There is a history to host countries making deep runs at World Cups — South Korea in the semifinals in 2002 or Russia in the quarterfinals in 2018, among others — and after the first two matches, it doesn’t feel absurd to imagine the American energy carrying the U.S. even further.
“There’s been friendlies that we’ve played [at home] where we’ve been outnumbered,” Tyler Adams said. “To have a whole nation behind you — that’s something so special.”
Tim Ream, the veteran defender and captain, broke down in tears as the team huddled on the field after Friday’s win. Ream wasn’t sure why he was weeping, but something — the scene, the emotion, the possibilities of what might lie ahead — broke his typical stoicism.
“I’ve told these guys that this is the most fun, special, enjoyable group that I’ve been a part of,” he said afterward. “There’s something about this one that just feels different.”
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We don’t know if, in the end, it will be different. There are so many ways it could go wrong, and U.S. fans surely have them all on the tips of their tongues.
It’s natural. It’s how it has always been. Maybe Pulisic won’t get better or maybe someone else will get hurt or maybe a referee decision goes against the U.S. or maybe a bad day comes and another tournament ends with a whimper against a team that feels as if it could have been beaten. Maybe that is, in fact, how this all goes.
But if nothing else, these two games are license to let go of the distrust. Of the incredulity. Of the doubt. It’s OK to loosen the grip on “just being realistic” and consider that “realistic” might finally mean something else.
Balogun is electric. Richards, Alex Freeman and Ream are stout. Sergiño Dest seems to have fire in every step. Weston McKennie and Malik Tillman are connected. Pulisic never looked better before he had to step aside and doesn’t need to rush back if he’s not ready.
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Adams, understandably, didn’t want to think about winning this tournament but was adamant that “the biggest goal in this whole thing” is to change the way American fans think about their national team. To change the way that they believe.
“I just want every game to matter to the common spectator,” he said. “I know we have the possibility to do that.”
The U.S. does. Minutes after the final whistle Friday, the players gathered on the field and joined with the fans, who were standing and stomping and singing, “Oh, we’re halfway there / Oh-oh! Livin’ on a prayer” as the Bon Jovi anthem rang out in the afternoon.
There was passion. There was wonder. There was, in a way not quite like any other time, belief.
Halfway there? Maybe not even.
