US team before the second World Cup game: They fear for the irreplaceable

Oh, how wonderful this World Cup would be for the US team – if it weren’t for the Scots. The Norwegians. Or Freddy from Germany. They are all the stars of this Party in the USAwhich is also one Party in Mexico is because the Colombians celebrate there with the Koreans and the Uzbeks. “I got World Cup fever,” says Dave Portnoy. American sports and pop culture seismographer, founder of the podcast empire Barstoolis enchanted by the World Cup guests, by the atmosphere in stadiums and cities and by how the country people behave. Yes, he now also thinks Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé are great, the driving forces of world football also deliver moments of ecstasy at the World Cup. “I have World Cup fever,” says Portnoy – and adds what could shock the home national team players: “I don’t necessarily have US Soccer World Cup fever.”

I’m sorry, what? You kicked things off with the Patriots Party last Friday in Los Angeles. 4-1 against Paraguay in the Red-White-Blue Stadium with “USA! USA! USA!” and “I believe that we will win” in a constant loop, between A-list celebrities as football fans. It’s going well, that was the message from the host team. And US midfielder Weston McKennie sent another one to his compatriots: “We showed how exciting football can be. Five goals in total! How spectacular we play! What an atmosphere creates, how electrifying it is for everyone in the stadium.” They did all this and even impressed Latin Americans: 15.9 million people in the USA saw the broadcast in English, nine million the Spanish version.

But that 4:1 was a long time ago. And after everything that has happened since then, it just seems like a prelude to the appearances of the mega stars and the international fan festival. US coach Mauricio Pochettino’s task before the second game, this Friday in Seattle against Australia, is to inform the Americans that Americans are also playing in this tournament. And that fans may celebrate with all the World Cup guests, but now it’s time for the “Patriot Party” again, complete with roars of compatriots for victory. The best way to do that in this country is with a saying that could have come out of the mouth of Stallone or Schwarzenegger in the 1980s: “We are Americans, we don’t take shit.”

Yes, Pochettino actually said that, Sebastian Berhalter, the goalscorer in the final 4-1 win against Paraguay, just revealed. The coach said it during the break in the game against Australia last October. It was 1-1 at halftime, but what was worse for Pochettino was that the tough Australians had worked on his top US attacker Christian Pulisic so badly that he had to leave the field. “They come here and fight. When are we going to do something about it?” Pochettino began his speech, which can also be seen in every documentary and is shown in every game preview. And then he says this sentence, which is now shown all the more passionately because Pochettino is Argentine. In that moment, with that sentence and with the 45 minutes that followed (the US team won 2-1), the coach became a US citizen, says Berhalter: “That’s who we are, that’s what this country is about.”

Training again without Pulisic! Again just 20 minutes of running exercises!

The sportingly relevant parallel: This time it’s also about Pulisic; he has apparently been suffering from an injury to his left calf since shortly before the start of the tournament. In the game against Paraguay, a blow made things worse, says Pochettino. “But there is no reason to worry,” he reassured – but the more he did this, the more certain the US reporters, who were well connected to the team, became: Something was wrong! Training again without Pulisic! Again just 20 minutes of running exercises! For them, Pulisic’s calf is like Roberto Baggio’s thigh before the 1994 World Cup final, or like the overall condition of Brazil’s Ronaldo four years later. The expert of New York Times presents six possible options in the event of a Pulisic failure, including a mood killer: “He cannot be replaced.”

The World Cup is now becoming a pressure intensifier for the US team. Yes, at the beginning the mood party was enough, as mood expert Portnoy explains: “I didn’t have the World Cup on my radar, and I’m not a believe-we-will-win type of person either.” Someone like him needed the very sweet hint from the US broadcaster Fox that Lionel Messi was under contract with Miami, but as an Argentine he was playing for Argentina. Portnoy now also knows that an Argentine coach, on the other hand, can look after the US team – and can become an American in mentality through an 80s muscle film saying.

But he also knows: The 4-1 win was against Paraguay, and France, Argentina, England and Germany are also playing at this World Cup. The harsh judgment of the New York Times after the first match day: 17th place for the USA. Enough has been explained to people about football, guests and the structure of the tournament so that they, like Portnoy, are gripped by World Cup fever – but the US team now has to continue to deliver spectacle and results. If she doesn’t do that, then the Americans will have realized that they can also celebrate with fans from other nations. The Scots just told them that there would be no party without them: “No Scotland, no party!”

Therefore the must „Patriot Party“ be rekindled, probably with Giovanni Reyna, who comes from a soccer dynasty (father Claudio and mother Danielle were US internationals), as Pulisic’s replacement – and not Tim Weah, son of Liberian soccer legend George Weah. Of course, this also keeps you interested in the simmering: Reyna or Weah? And you can use the quote from a US journalist during the World Cup group draw as a motivational aid. “Layup” is what he called Australia, a compulsory exercise. This statement has been seen on Australian TV for months about the opponent and host, and these days in every preview of the game. Looks like the Australians aren’t putting up with too much either. The best conditions for a game that both nations – known for their respective preference for disciplines such as rugby and football – would be happy to watch.