Let Pulisic recover

Pulisic, the face of the team, hasn’t played since he was taken out at halftime of the 4-1 romp over Paraguay on June 12. He was kicked in his left calf, and he has been rehabilitating it since.

For the past week, he has been undergoing modified training by himself with a staff member.

We don't know the 27-year-old forward's condition. But with so much at stake in the Round of 32 and beyond, it would be wise not to use Pulisic.

Sitting out the yellow card players

Four starters who have made big impacts were awarded yellow cards - midfielder Tyler Adams in the first game against Paraguay, and defenders Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson, and forward Folarin Balogun vs. Australia.

According to tournament rules, players who accrue two yellow cards in the group stage must sit out a Round of 32 contest.

It would not be surprising if Pochettino decided not to use those players.

Using that quartet in what is essentially a useless game would be playing with fire. For the USA to go deep in the tournament, it needs every available player at full throttle and not relegated to the sidelines.

How about the rest of the starters?

Pochettino has two options. He might want to start many of the reserve players to give them some action. Or, he might want to continue the momentum and not let the team get rusty. No doubt it is a delicate balancing act. It should be noted that no other USMNT coach in the 96-year history of the competition has the luxury of those many options.

The path in the knockout round

The Americans are guaranteed at least one more game after their group finale on June 25. They will play a third-place team from either Group B, E, F, I, or J.

The team’s schedule is locked in. Here is its path to the final:

Round of 32 - Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif., July 1

Round of 16 - Lumen Field, Seattle, July 6

Quarterfinal - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif., July 10

Semifinal - AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, July 14

Final - MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J., July 19

A bit of host history

We certainly would be way getting ahead of ourselves to think about the U.S. winning World Cup as a host team. There are plenty of quality teams that are vying for that honor. And remember, there are two other host countries in this competition, Mexico and Canada.

It is a rare occurrence when a host team has paraded around with the FIFA World Cup trophy after a final.

In the previous 22 editions, only six host teams have won the World Cup: Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), West Germany (1974), Argentina (1978), and France (1998).

Success can be relative. Going deep in the competition can be considered a great success. For example, before the 2002 tournament, very few observers gave South Korea much of a chance of going deep. The co-host Koreans reached the semifinals, losing to Germany, 1-0. It was considered quite an achievement for a country that did not have a great soccer reputation.

Michael Lewis, the sixth recipient of the Clay Berling Media Career of Excellence Award in 2025, can be followed on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky at @Soccerwriter. His 10th soccer book, Around the World Cup in 40 Years: An American sportswriter’s perspective, has been published.