Welcome to the life of a US Soccer fan

Just two days after the 4th of July parade in Ennis where an unusually large number of rather new looking US Soccer jerseys were on display within the crowd, US Soccer did… well, what they have always done. 

Hosting the World Cup is a very big deal for not only the soccer community, but usually the entire host country. I remember 1994, when the USA last hosted and I watched Robeto Baggio blast a shot over the crossbar to give Brazil their fourth World Cup title. It was the first time that I had ever really paid attention to soccer and the experience led me on to a career as a terrible player and later a half decent broadcaster for the Seattle Sounders. 

It was no coincidence that my first World Cup memories didn’t involve the US National Team. They were eliminated by Brazil in their first trip to the round of 16 in the modern era. Hardly something that captured the imagination. But Brazil, with the legends Ronaldo and Romario and Roberto Baggio's Italian swagger and long hair were kinda cool. I noticed and filed that information away for after my time in the Marine Corps ended. I was one of hundreds of thousands of Americans who noticed the game for the first time in 1994 and like many I found a way to be part of soccer culture in the United States. 

Fast forward to 2002 when the World Cup was in Korea and Japan and I was pretty fresh out of the Marine Corps and working as a journalist in Honolulu. Brazil won its fifth title, but, to me, the talk of the tournament was team USA winning a match against Portugal and eliminating arch-rivals Mexico from the tournament before losing a well played and controversial quarterfinal to Germany. 

The tournament inspired me to move to Seattle and take a position with the Seattle Sounders as their media relations director and color commentator. I poured myself completely into the game and for many years experienced the joys of the soccer community in Seattle and being a fan of the Seattle Sounders. I also experienced the disappointment of being a US Soccer fan. 

For 20 years US Soccer failed to improve or even match their result from 2002. Each World Cup was a new adventure (except for 2018 when they didn’t even qualify for the final tournament.) Each one promised beforehand to take the next step forward. Each one was a “moral victory.” While the Sounders and the rest of Major League Soccer (MLS) were building a legacy of rivalries and record attendance numbers, US Soccer was mired in mediocrity. 

Here we are in 2026, once again hosting the World Cup and taking advantage of all of the work of the Sounders and MLS to create environments not even dreamed of in 1994. US players ply their trade around the globe in historic clubs. Every major league in Europe has some sort of TV deal with a United States Network. The days of having to get up in the wee hours of the morning and go to the Irish pub to watch the matches are long gone. The game is bigger than ever in America. 

With all of those changes, one thing has not changed. US Soccer continues its pursuit of moral victories. This time in an especially painful fashion. In other World Cups, the team was average from the beginning. Their ability to compete at the highest level was never really in doubt. Moral victories were all we had. 

This year, there was hope. The team performed well. Better yet, they were fun to watch. US Soccer was finally exciting and looked to be in their element among the top teams in the World. In Seattle, with a rabid set of fans and stadium that shakes when goals are scored, the team embarrassed themselves. It happens. Belgium was the higher ranked team. No matter what the pundits said, the US was the underdog. The smart money was on the European side. 

With that in mind, it wasn’t the loss that hurt. It was the pitiful performance by a team that had wowed through the first four games of the World Cup that was like a gut punch. Worse yet, in front of a whole army of new fans with their new jerseys that they proudly showed off at America’s 250th birthday parties all over the country, they laid down one of the worst showings of any team in the tournament. Here we are again with a moral victory and an amazing rest of the tournament to watch that won’t include our team, yet again. 

So, welcome to the cult of the US Soccer fans. We’ve got four years before we get to (hopefully) experience this again. In the mean-time, enjoy the rest of the World Cup, go Norway. Then pick a league in Europe to watch and make friends with an MLS team. 

I highly recommend the Sounders. They have their fair share of more than moral victories and their coach, Brian Schmetzer, played for the team in the 1970s and coached them to the United Soccer League Championship while I was their media relations director in 2007. He’s still the face of the franchise today. You won’t find a team with better history and culture in MLS than that. Learn more at www.SoundersFC.com.