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Missing the World Cup May Be Good For the USMNT

Published

9 years ago

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The U.S. Men’s National team is set to finish off World Cup qualifying Oct. 6 vs. Panama and Oct. 10 away to Trinidad & Tobago in a situation we’re not all too used to. The U.S. currently sits in third with a +4 goal differential over a Panama side with the same amount of points (5). While ESPN’s SBI still gives the Yanks a very good chance at qualifying for Russia, by this point we’re usually talking about being first or second, not the potential of missing out. Even if the U.S. manages to claim the fourth-place spot, we could be looking at a tough playoff match against Australia in an intercontinental playoff that would feature two usual World Cup attendees.

So, with the U.S. on the brink of missing out on its first World Cup since 1986, I thought it would be interesting to debate myself — because I’m clearly mental — on what it would mean if the U.S. misses out on 2018. But instead of going at this from a pro/con discussion, I’ve actually come to see that there are potential positives to either outcome. For the first part of the conversation, I’m going to look at what the positives are if we miss the World Cup.

The Executive Level Would Reset

It’s no secret that the United States Soccer Federation presidency is up for grabs next February at the annual general meeting in Orlando. Sunil Gulati faces his toughest test yet with contenders like Steve Gans and Eric Wynalda in what is already a tenuous situation for Gulati amidst USMNT struggles, the Klinsmann era failure, and the continual issues with the USWNT.

A missed World Cup would certainly doom Gulati and that may be exactly what the USSF needs. Gulati has done about as well as we could hope for. In his tenure, we’ve seen the NWSL flourish, the creation of the Development Academy, and many other positives to the soccer culture in this country. But it’s time for him to go. We need fresh blood that’s hungry for the position and U.S. Soccer, not something else.

Wynalda recently spoke out about Gulati’s grasp for power and I, for one, agree. I’m sure not many of you stayed up from 1 to 9 a.m. to watch the FIFA presidential vote, but I certainly did. And to say Gulati was working the room is an understatement. At times he was flying around the conference hall like Usain Bolt in the 100-meter dash, talking to various federation presidents, haggling for votes, and continuing what Wynalda — and myself — assume is for his eventual move to higher positions in football (I’m writing from London, so today it’s football).

I want a president focused on U.S. Soccer first, and not himself, and that tendency has reared its ugly head over the years. A missed World Cup just might be the tipping point we need to reset this level.

We Can Find the Right Coach

Hand in hand with the above goes the coaching staff. I like Bruce Arena, always have, but this would give us the opportunity to get a head start on recruiting some of the best in the world for this new opportunity. While all the other countries are currently competing, we get the opportunity to snag the best available while leagues aren’t in session. This is a major advantage and one I hope we take if the situation arises.

With an influx of young players coming through the ranks, having a coach come in with a fresh eye could be just what the U.S. needs as it looks forward to some of the best young talent to come out since that famous U-17 group of Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, and company. The future coach could come in and mold a system to the players coming through and not placating veterans past their prime.

I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to have your national team coach from your country and I think if the USSF is smart, it’ll look elsewhere, quickly, to go after the top candidate on the market.

Urgency is Created Again

This might be my top reason why the U.S. needs to miss the World Cup. If you’ve watched the last two matches, you’d see the USMNT looks like it’s walking around with the swagger of a Spain or Germany, despite not really earning that right. On the pitch, the Yanks look sluggish and disinterested to the point where their opponents look like the USMNT teams of old with fight and grit that made us who we are.

Are the Americans the best in CONCACAF? Debatable. Am I happy the team has some cockiness to it? Absolutely, but at the expense of results? No way in hell.

The U.S. has lost itself between coaching changes, Gold Cup success, and a natural complacency that comes with making the past seven World Cups with ease. We need that fight back, that known expectation that we have to work hard to get results, not this entitled bunch of babies going through the motions. Alexi Lalas may have been over the top, but I agree that something is lost in this team. A missed World Cup would bring that fire back.

Youth Gets Priority Moving Forward

As previously mentioned, the youth coming through is absolutely unbelievable. Names like Christian Pulisic, DeAndre Yedlin, Cameron Carter-Vickers, John Brooks, and the recent U-17 and U-20 national teams boast the best collection of talent we’ve seen. If you thought the golden boys of Donovan, Beasley, Clint Dempsey and co. were great, you haven’t seen anything yet.

A missed World Cup would put the priority of getting the youth ready for 2022 and Qatar. We could focus from the beginning of 2018 onward, solely on new faces and youth as we look to retool a failed national team.

That youth driven initiative could set the United States up for 2022 in a way that we haven’t seen in a very long time. It would be an exciting time for us soccer nerds who have been watching these youth players. Experience to a young group would be invaluable to a revamped side looking to rebound.  

The Current Culture is Strong Enough to Survive

If this was 10 years ago, hell even five, this might be a different scenario. There’s going to be people that are going to argue — and could be right — that this couldn’t be a worse time to miss out as soccer is on an unbelievable high and the momentum can’t handle a setback.

But why can’t it survive? Last week, Atlanta had the highest attendance for an MLS match in history. Mind you, this was on a random Saturday, against a flailing Orlando City, in what was supposed to prove as nothing spectacular in a match.

The Gold Cup featured multiple locations hitting all-time highs in attendance. The USWNT continues to provide healthy crowds and records consistently. MLS actually has the third-highest average attendance, above both the NBA and MLB.

The U.S. viewership for the World Cup will barely falter, if at all. The USMNT set multiple records for the World Cup final and its match against Portugal. And with the melting pot here, it’s not as if people are just going to stop tuning in. If we give people a reason to watch, then the momentum can continue.

We are a soccer nation now. Our leagues are strong, the youth is strong, and we are strong enough to survive missing a World Cup.

In closing, the current landscape of the USMNT might do very well to have a total reset brought on by a missed World Cup. Whether it be the executives, coaches, or the need for youth integration, the U.S. may actually gain a very strong opportunity to revamp what I believe is a squad set up for its best finish ever in 2026. A missed World Cup may be the tough medicine we all need to take right now.

 

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

4 days ago

on

July 22, 2026

By

Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

3 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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