I don't often get excited about football but there is an exception and that is when the US men's national team is playing. I am not really a fan of the sport and honestly, couldn't name a single player off the top of my head. So thus far I am speaking from a point of ignorance so my writeup here is going to be based entirely off of past disappointment by international games that have been done by the "Stars and Bars."
In the US opening game vs. Bolivia, the boys in white didn't waste any time pleasing the fans when Christian Pulisic scored a cracking goal in the 3rd minute.
Skip ahead to 1:20 to see this truly amazing goal. The US ended up controlling almost all of the rest of the game as well although, and much to the disappointment of the crowd, it didn't end up being a goal fest as there would not be another scored until the 44th minute and nothing but a bunch of yellow cards getting thrown around in the 2nd half.
Well, honestly, the fast-paced nature of that above highlight reel is all pretty good. You can see that the US is creating a lot of chances on goal but fall just a tiny bit short from completion. This is kind of exciting for people who don't have a huge history with this sport because they might be thinking that the USA could win this thing! As is often the case with Americans watching football of the soccer variety.
Now I am going to break everyone's hearts a bit here. There are many reasons why the US will be just fortunate to make it out of the group stages, let alone make any real progress in the entire tournament.
Ok, so they have already defeated Bolivia convincingly and a lot of people start to think "that's in South America, maybe USA is really good!" Well, yes, Bolivia is in SA, but it is also historically one of the worst teams in the continent for football. Bolivia is ranked 84th in the world behind such powerhouses as Oman, Israel, and countries most people haven't even heard of like Cabo Verde.
People also get excited about the fact that the United States is ranked number 11 in the world with only two teams in the tournament that are ranked ahead of them. Here is why this ranking is bogus: Because the USA plays in CONCACAF, they don't really have to face any real competition to get their numbers up. They face such undeniable talents as almost all the locations mentioned in the Beach Boys' "Kokomo" song. Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas, Key Largo, Montego and only a few of those are actual teams but still. This is the caliber of teams that the USA needs to defeat in order to maintain a high ranking on a global scale. There is really only one team in CONCACAF that the USA should ever lose to and that is Mexico.
Also, Colombia is ranked below the United States in global rankings but in an international friendly that took place earlier this month, Colombia trounced the States 5-1. To be fair USMT also drew 1-1 with Brazil in a friendly this month, but Brazil just doesn't look good this year either. Brazil's 0-0 draw with Costa Rica speaks volumes.
My main reason for presuming that the USA will not win, but maybe will win a game in the knockout stages before being eliminated is because they must best Uruguay to emerge at the top of their group. That seems quite unlikely but you never know! I think the major game for USA is going to take place later this week when they take on Panama. If USA can defeat them like they did Bolivia, I will eat my words but hey, I'm not going to hold my breath.
Regardless of how nonplussed I am about the USA in this tournament, I will still watch the games because this is one of the only football tournaments that is on TV at a time that I can be reasonably expected to watch it. I'll be there, with all my pessimism for every game the US is involved in.