The U.S. men’s national team beat Paraguay 4-1 on Friday, and the result pushed its odds of advancing from Group D to 97 percent. But the larger argument around the team was not about the scoreline. It was about whether the United States has a true star on the level of the best soccer player in the world conversation.
That question is why Christian Pulisic’s No. 39 ranking on The Athletic’s list of best players in the World Cup landed with so much force. He is the lone American near the top of that discussion, and even then he sits outside the game’s elite tier. For a country that is co-hosting the 2026 World Cup and is trying to sell itself as a serious force, the gap between rising results and star power is the part that still draws attention.
In April at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Mauricio Pochettino drew a hard line. Belgium and Portugal, he said, have players in the top 100. The U.S. does not. He framed it simply: “We are USA,” but the point was less about pride than ranking reality. The message from the U.S. coach was that the team can compete, but it cannot yet claim the kind of individual quality that changes how opponents prepare.
That is what makes the current American case so unusual. The U.S. has won four World Cups, including one at home, and five Olympic gold medals. It has produced a Ballon d’Or winner and, at different points, been ranked the best in the world. Yet the article’s central claim is that the players who truly transcended the sport are not in this men’s tournament at all. Their World Cup is next summer in Brazil at the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The split matters because it exposes a familiar problem for the men: progress has come late, and late in soccer carries a cost. By the time the U.S. men developed enough structure, money and coaching education to look competitive, other nations had already spent generations building habits that begin when children in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil can barely walk. That delay created handicaps that no amount of investment can fully unwind.
There is also a sharper contrast inside the program itself. Days before the men arrived, the U.S. women beat Brazil 1-0 in Fortaleza, and Emma Hayes again brushed aside the idea that individual awards define greatness. She said the team game matters more, and that trophies matter more than personal prizes. It is a useful reminder of how the U.S. women have long carried the country’s global soccer reputation, while the men are still searching for a player who can do the same.
For now, the men keep winning enough to stay in the hunt. Pulisic’s place near the top of the list is evidence of progress, not completion. The next step is not another flattering ranking, but a real answer to whether the U.S. can turn a strong tournament start into the kind of reputation that no longer needs defending.
