Soccer
USA hoping to usurp the team of 2002 and become the most successful in World Cup history
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The USA got off to the perfect start at their first home World Cup since 1994.
Their possible fortunes at this year's tournament had split opinion, with mixed results from the national team over the past 12 months, but they blew those concerns out of the water with a 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay on matchday one.
Now they'll look to book their place in the knockouts when they take on Australia tonight, where a victory would see them progress from the group stage.
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That was the minimum aim for this group, whose best-ever finish at a World Cup has been a run to the quarter-finals. Much has been made of the 1994 team and their memorable clash with Brazil on Independence Day, but they actually matched that feat in 2002, too.
Eight years on from hosting, America now had its own league, with the MLS in full flow, featuring a different generation of stars. Names such as Brian McBride, Joe-Max Moore, Claudio Reyna and their poster boy, Landon Donovan.
It was still a country seen in its footballing infancy, but more established than it ever had been, and they used the tournament in Japan and South Korea to show how far the national game had come.
It began impressively, too, beating Portugal 3-2 to kick off their campaign before drawing with co-hosts South Korea. The points were enough to mean the defeat to Poland in game three was irrelevant, and they moved on to the Round of 16.
There, it was old foes Mexico, who were no strangers to the USMT, but they saw them off with a comfortable 2-0 victory, thanks to goals from McBride and Donovan.
That set up a quarter-final meeting with Germany, matching their best-ever finish and once again coming up against one of the favourites as they did in 1994.
Unfortunately for the Americans, the result was the same, too. Michael Ballack's goal four minutes from the break was enough to see the eventual runners-up through and end the USA's march on the Asian World Cup.
Since then, the national side has continued to grow. In their last three World Cup appearances, they've made the Round of 16 each time, but it feels like high time they could do better.
The encouraging start to 2026 has given all USMT fans hope that they can go one better than 2002's heroes and cement themselves as the country's greatest-ever team.
USA reach the World Cup quarter-finals
Landon Donovan clinches win against Mexico
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