The United States Men’s National Team’s summer is done, with Copa America over and the team facing a lot of transition. Gregg Berhalter was fired as USMNT head coach after the team failed to get out of the group stage of the tournament, and the fall approaches with three friendlies on the schedule along with the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals. Still, with less than two years before the 2026 World Cup kicks off, the USMNT are facing the ultimate question: what’s next? There’s a lot of ways the team can adjust to prepare for hosting what could be the biggest sporting event the world has ever seen. Before they step out on that field at SoFi Stadium on June 12, 2026, they have some things they can do in order to get the team and the nation ready.
The USMNT needs a new coach, and they can’t wait until 2025. The coaching search is on for U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker, and so far every coach under the sun has been linked to the job. Crocker has said that the goal is to have a coach hired in time for the September international window, and it’s crucial that this occurs. There’s no time to waste, and you want to get a quality coach installed so that the road to 2026 can begin immediately. If you wait and bring in another interim coach, that’s just kicking the can further down the road…but this cycle is running out of road. And the team needs a coach who can maximize not just the talent level of this squad but also the intensity and urgency with which they play every match, no matter the opponent.
Players need to play at their clubs and push to improve their quality. Gregg Berhalter may have taken the fall for the Copa América collapse, but the players also have stated publicly that they didn’t play up to the required standards to make a run in the tournament. The bigger underlying issue is that on the club level, there are several integral players on the USMNT who just aren’t getting consistent playing time. Whether it was due to injury or coach’s decision, too many guys consistently fail to get on the field. This summer and over the next year, the players should strive to make the moves necessary to be in a position where they are receiving consistent playing time at the highest levels possible. Playing time with their clubs keeps the guys sharp for national team duty, and it helps them improve. And, that improvement can help build the intensity and urgency required to play on the international level.
The schedule isn’t helpful, but they must try to make lemonade where lemons exist. There isn’t a lot of matches left for the USMNT before they roll out on the field for the 2026 World Cup, and it’s easy to say that they should be trying to play the best competition possible in the remaining windows. The issue is that most of the world, beginning this fall, will be entering World Cup qualifying if they haven’t already. UEFA will be undergoing their Nations League this fall, as will Concacaf. Over the next two years, the official windows are full of major competitions which leave the USMNT, Mexico, and Canada with few options. The result of that is the USMNT will have to be creative in trying to schedule some of the best teams they can with the remaining windows.
Here’s a glimpse at the windows between now and the 2026 World Cup, with the regions that are generally available for each friendly window:
- September 2024 – vs. Canada, vs. New Zealand
- October 2024 – vs. Panama (another date open for potential match)
- November 2024 – vs. Concacaf TBD, @ Concacaf TBD (Concacaf Nations League quarters)
- March 2025 – Concacaf Nations League Finals
- June 2025 – 2 Friendlies (CAF, Oceania, Mexico/Canada)
- June-July 2025 – Concacaf Gold Cup
- September 2025 – 2 Friendlies (AFC, Oceania, Mexico/Canada)
- October 2025 – 2 Friendlies (CONMEBOL, Oceania, Mexico/Canada)
- November 2025 – 2 Friendlies (most of AFC, most of CAF, CONMEBOL, Oceania, Mexico/Canada)
- March 2026 – 2 Friendlies (everyone except for UEFA playoff and inter-confederation playoff participants)
- June 2026 – 2 Friendlies (everyone)
This doesn’t include traditional USMNT matches like January Camp or April friendlies that they’ve done in the past. With UEFA basically in competitions until March 2026, there aren’t a lot of teams in the top 30 (as of the June 2024 FIFA rankings) that are available to play the USMNT during these windows:
- AFC – Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia
- CAF – Morocco, Senegal
- Concacaf – Mexico
- CONMEBOL – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador
Plus, there’s no guarantee that those teams will say yes to a match. One of the ways they can build up their competitions is through the January Camp matches, where they may not be fielding or playing full squads but can still test themselves. The other creative option is to petition Concacaf to invite some big European and South American teams to next summer’s Gold Cup, which can help expand the tournament and give it some more importance. Finally, the team may need to hit the road for a window to make it easier to convince some teams to say yes to a match.
Fans need to be realistic with the windows ahead of us and know that some of them will be lean in terms of the teams we face. But, the USMNT has to re-learn how to take care of business against some of these teams and play the same against them as they would one of the top 10 teams in the world. The federation needs to bring in new fans and energize a nation. The fanbase, simply put, is fractured right now. With Gregg Berhalter now out of the picture, the coaching search is a chance to begin to rebuild the foundation that is needed for the nation to get behind this team. But, there is a lot of work to do to get fans back and excited about what’s to come. New fans will want to be welcomed into the fold, and it’s on everyone to make some room for them. U.S. Soccer would do well by placing some games in big stadiums at low ticket price points in an effort to fill the place and try to mimic the atmosphere you will no doubt have at a World Cup on home soil
Part of the process of uniting the fanbase is to finally establish a jersey identity. Of course, it should be the Waldos, a decision that would be widely celebrated even among a fractured fanbase. But, whatever that jersey identity will be for 2026 and beyond, it should be introduced next year. Get the traditions in place that you want in 2026, so that when the World Cup happens it’s commonplace. Get 10 million jerseys and 30 million shirseys and hand them out at matches if you need to. When the World Cup begins, you want to have millions of fans staying ready so they don’t have to get ready. And then this nation will be ready. The USMNT has work to do. The federation has work to do. The nation has work to do. So, let’s get busy.
