A True Representation of America: USMNT Balances Independence Day and Continued World Cup Push
Preparing for Belgium with familiar intensity, the United States is using Independence Day to reflect on World Cup journey, fervent national support
SEATTLE – The United States of America celebrates its 250th birthday today. Last night, the U.S. Men’s National Team took in the time-honored tradition of America’s pastime, as head coach Mauricio Pochettino threw out the first pitch at the Seattle Mariners baseball game. This evening, the players will join their friends and families atop a rooftop in downtown Seattle to watch the fireworks show over Puget Sound.
Between the Independence Day festivities, the team resumed training at Husky Soccer Stadium on the campus of the University of Washington. On Monday, the USMNT will face a talented Belgium side in the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup 2026, as the Stars and Stripes push to advance to the Quarterfinals for the second time in the modern era.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy July fourth! 🇺🇸🦅 pic.twitter.com/sPnyLXqlB0
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) July 4, 2026
The USMNT progressed to the Round of 16 following its Group D-topping 2W-1L-0D group stage performance followed by a 2-0 victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32.
All three of the Stars and Stripes’ victories have been distinctly different. From a full-strength squad against Paraguay, to a Christian Pulisic-less team against Australia, to a 10-man group that hung on to defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina, the USMNT has found several different ways to win. On Monday, they’ll need to find yet another way to win, as leading goalscorer Folarin Balogun will be serving his one-match suspension after picking up a red card last time out.
"If you look at how we've won, every game has been a little bit different,” USMNT captain and defender Tim Ream said. “When teams can win in different ways, when teams have to win in different ways, it gives you that mental boost. It gives you the understanding that sometimes the game isn't going to be nice or pretty. You're not going to have everything go your way, but you find ways to finish games.
"To have that under your belt in the group stage and then in the game against Bosnia [and Herzegovina] in the knockouts, to do it with 10 men for 30-plus minutes is a great sign of the group, the resilience, the grit and the attitude we've approached every game with."
The common thread throughout the USMNT’s month-long World Cup journey has been belief, embodied by head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s constant query: ‘Why not us?’
"I don't think we can have more belief than we have already,” midfielder Sergiño Dest said. “We've worked so hard for this moment. Everybody tried to make this squad. Everybody worked for this moment, and we're the ones who can represent the country on this big stage. The belief and the motivation is there.”
That belief will be key as the United States faces the ninth-ranked team in the world on Monday at Seattle Stadium. The Stars and Stripes and Red Devils possess an intertwined World Cup history dating back to the inaugural 1930 edition in Uruguay.
The USMNT has faced Belgium on seven previous occasions. The first meeting—the United States’ lone victory—came via a 3-0 victory at the inaugural World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay. That contest nearly 100years ago was the joint inaugural World Cup match and still stands as the joint-largest margin of victory for the Stars and Stripes at the World Cup, recently matched by the USMNT’s three-goal victory against Paraguay to open this year’s tournament.
Since then, though, the United States has lost six consecutive matches against Belgium, with the two most recent encounters coming in the Round of 16 of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil—featuring that magical 16-save performance from goalkeeper Tim Howard—and a pre-World Cup tune-up in Atlanta earlier this year. Despite the USMNT’s recent struggles against the European side, Ream says his side isn’t worried about the past.
"It’s not about personal [feelings] or opinions or feelings,” he said. “We're not thinking about stats or first meetings or games in 2014. It's about here and now. It’s about what are we willing to do? How much are we going to have to do to move on? It’s not about what’s happened as recently as March, it’s about this game, and this game only."
"Belgium is a great opponent, but we also see opportunities for ourselves to win that game because we're also great team,” Dest added. “We've grown a lot during this tournament and over the last few years, we’vegrown a lot as a team. At the moment it's really difficult to beat us."
Of course, Belgium will be a test, as Dest alluded to, but the USMNT has faced plenty of talented sides: Türkiye, Australia, Paraguay and Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup and Germany, Portugal, Uruguay, Senegal and Belgium before the tournament.
The difference at this tournament has been the support of an entire nation, not only in packed stadiums on home soil but also through record-breaking television viewership. The match between the U.S. and Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1 drew 33.5 million viewers to become the most-watched soccer match in American television history.
“We're all just so motivated,” Dest added. “The country believes. Everybody believes at the moment. The support is huge."
The team absolutely feels the belief. From supporter-lined streets filled with fans waving American flags and cheering on the team bus to several Stars and Stripes kits popping out in a sea of blue inside the Mariners’ T-Mobile Park last night, the support is palpable.
"The reception, the fans outside the hotel, the baseball game last night—it's so impressive,” Ream said. “It makes this feel so much more special when you have that level of support. It gives you even more motivation to put in performances, to win games and do everything you possibly can to make things happen."
What it means to play for this country. ❤️#UnitedStates | @FOXSoccer pic.twitter.com/FlH6MmLM90
— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) July 4, 2026
On the 250th anniversary of the United States' independence, captain Tim Ream reflected on what it means to represent every American and how this team reflects an entire country.
"First and foremost, it is special,” he said of representing his country. “It's doubly special because it's during a World Cup, and triple special because it's here in the U.S. We've said this as a group—with all our different backgrounds and where we've all grown up—it's a true representation of what America is. It's a melting pot of people, personalities and characters. It's a perfect representation of what the U.S. is and what it's about."