{"id":3381,"date":"2026-06-22T18:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=3381"},"modified":"2026-06-22T18:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:02:07","slug":"world-cup-2026-former-u-s-goalkeeper-tim-howard-believes-its-literally-impossible-for-usmnt-to-win-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/?p=3381","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Former U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard believes it&#8217;s &#8216;literally impossible&#8217; for USMNT to win tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Legendary U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard is not impressed with the USMNT&#8217;s chances of winning the\u00a02026 World Cup\u00a0despite winning its first two matches versus Paraguay and Australia in group play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On his &#8220;Unfiltered Soccer&#8221; podcast with former teammate Landon Donovan,\u00a0the Hall of Famer\u00a0was skeptical of the U.S. being able to continue its success in the tournament&#8217;s round of 32.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"mb-4 border-l-2 pl-5 italic text-tertiary\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The U.S. cannot, unequivocally, win the World Cup,&#8221; Howard said while discussing the USMNT&#8217;s chances with Donovan. &#8220;The U.S. will have to play the greatest game they&#8217;ve ever played &#8230; four games in a row \u2014 round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, finals.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It is literally impossible for the U.S. to win the World Cup,&#8221; he added. &#8220;That&#8217;s just the reality.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"mb-4\">\n<div class=\"iframely-embed\">\n<div class=\"iframely-responsive\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/iframely.publishing.yahoo.net\/lQKN7JSq?v=1&amp;app=1\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In its first two matches in Group D play,\u00a0the U.S. defeated Paraguay 4-1\u00a0and\u00a0Australia 2-0. In both instances, the Americans looked impressive and confident. Perhaps even\u2026 dominant? However, those performances did not come against the top teams in the world, which will change after the group stage.<\/p>\n<div class=\"max-md:faux-bleed mb-4 bg-accent\/2 pb-5 md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Donovan was more optimistic about the USMNT&#8217;s prospects of advancing in the World Cup, but ultimately agreed with Howard&#8217;s conclusion.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"mb-4 border-l-2 pl-5 italic text-tertiary\">\n<div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Can we? Yes. Has this group proven they can beat a top team? No,&#8221; Donovan said. &#8220;If they play the way they&#8217;re playing, they can absolutely compete with any team in this World Cup. For sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve said this over and over. Can you do it four times in a row?&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Can you do it in the round of 16, the quarter, the semi, the final. That is where it gets really hard. But momentum gets going, you never know.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative rounded-lg bg-primary shadow-elevation-2 dark:bg-tertiary\">\n<div class=\"left-0 top-0 h-2 w-full rounded-t-lg bg-gradient-to-br from-grape-jelly via-starfish to-blurple\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"p-4 pt-3\">\n<div class=\"flex items-start justify-between\">\n<h3 class=\"text-lg\/6 font-bold md:text-xl\/6\">More on the 2026 World Cup<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"text-xs font-medium text-tertiary\">June 11 &#8211; July 19 | Canada, Mexico, United States<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"flex flex-col pt-4 md:flex-row\"><a class=\"aspect-video w-full pb-4 md:w-2\/5 md:pb-0\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/soccer\/article\/from-rocafonda-to-rock-star-at-the-world-cup-the-rise-of-lamine-yamal-171628693.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-ylk=\"ct:story;elm:hdln;elmt:ct;g:efdc074e-eac3-4f51-9aff-09554daac32d;itc:0;sec:link-package-module;\" data-rapid_p=\"25\" data-v9y=\"1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full rounded-lg object-cover\" role=\"img\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/D0C6486E64090E4D17EDEF606E0CFC262601C68ACDDBCC81FFF8198D8B7C91F6\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w496_h280;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fs.yimg.com%2Fos%2Fcreatr-uploaded-images%2F2026-06%2F8ce56130-65a8-11f1-b7c1-f597943a07b9\" alt=\"From Rocafonda to rock star at the World Cup: The rise of Lamine Yamal\" width=\"496\" height=\"280\" data-nimg=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul class=\"flex flex-col space-y-3 md:pl-4 w-full md:w-3\/5\">\n<li class=\"cursor-pointer border-b border-tertiary pb-3 text-sm font-medium last:border-none last:pb-0 hover:underline\">From Rocafonda to rock star at the World Cup: The rise of Lamine Yamal<\/li>\n<li class=\"cursor-pointer border-b border-tertiary pb-3 text-sm font-medium last:border-none last:pb-0 hover:underline\">Lionel Messi breaks all-time World Cup scoring record with a stellar strike vs. Austria<\/li>\n<li class=\"cursor-pointer border-b border-tertiary pb-3 text-sm font-medium last:border-none last:pb-0 hover:underline\">Too hot to host? World Cup cities are heating up<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The U.S. has already advanced to the knockout round with its two victories. But the Stars and Stripes have one last group stage matchup,\u00a0facing T\u00fcrkiye on Thursday\u00a0at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Christian Pulisic, who missed the match with Australia\u00a0due to a calf injury, could be available versus T\u00fcrkiye. However, with the USMNT&#8217;s place in the round of 32 already assured, the team staff may opt to give its star more time to recover.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legendary U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard is not impressed with the USMNT&#8217;s chances of winning the\u00a02026 World Cup\u00a0despite winning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports","category-us"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3383,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381\/revisions\/3383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedritech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}