IRVINE, Calif. — Paraguay looked subdued while Australia outperformed the competition. Senegal was also torn apart by the US men’s team last month, just as Uruguay was torn apart at the end of 2025. For much of last year, and especially after the September victory over Japan, the USMNT looked formidable against teams from four continents. He advanced to the knockout stages of the World Cup.
Now he meets his kryptonite: Europe.
The US has lost 10 games in a row to European opponents. Over the past decade, as this “golden generation” of American players has been forming, they have recorded just one win in 18 attempts against full-fledged European teams – a victory over Northern Ireland in 2021.
Now they may have to win five European opponents in a row to win the world championship.
At the very least, they’ll need to break that ominous streak when they meet Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Round of 16 on Wednesday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (8 p.m. ET, Fox).
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Bosnia is not the type of noble blood that first comes to mind when you think of European football prowess. Much of the U.S.’s poor performance against Europe has come from powerhouses like Germany and Portugal, or even second-tier teams like Switzerland.
It was extended by U.S. squads that weren’t at full strength last June and last Thursday against Turkey. In many ways this seems strange. This is not something that weighs heavily on American players. Some were surprised when they were told the statistics last week. “It is what it is,” Capt. Tim Ream said. “There’s really nothing we can control.”
But this is something they will have to face.
“If you want to win this World Cup,” American defender Sergiño Dest said Sunday, “you have to be able to beat everyone.”
On Wednesday they will have to beat a European team at the World Cup for the first time since 2002, the second time since 1950 and the first time in a knockout match.
In many ways, the statistics sound more extreme than the actual struggle. This is USMNT has beat good teams from other continents; at the last World Cup he drew 0-0 with England; its predecessors have occasionally shocked European powers, such as Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup semi-finals.
But the multifaceted drought against Europe helps put the scale of the USMNT’s task into perspective. To make history, Americans will have to end it.
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USMNT’s terrible streak against European opponents
Much of the history of football revolves around European dominance. The sport has a cultural presence almost everywhere on the continent, from the British Isles to the Balkans, east to south to west. The depth of talent is unparalleled. Most of the sport’s top 100 players almost always come from Europe. Over the past 60 years, 21 of the 30 men’s World Cup finalists and 44 of the 60 semi-finalists have been European. Seven of the top 10 teams in international football and 13 of the top 20 teams according to Elo rankings come from the continent.
This is the root cause of the USMNT’s problems – in other words, European teams are generally good.
The specific reasons are more subtle.
The drought dates back to the 2022 World Cup, when the US learned a lesson total football and a clinical finish from the Netherlands, who lost 3-1 in the round of 16. This was loss #1 of 10.
Nos. 2 and 4 occurred in January of the next two years, during a training camp once called “Camp Cupcake.” Because these January camps are outside the FIFA window (meaning professional clubs are not required to release players to their national teams), neither the USMNT’s top players nor those of their opponents participate.
Defeat to Serbia in January 2023 and defeat to Slovenia 12 months later saw the US 2026 World Cup squad include a total of two players – reserves Miles Robinson and Alejandro Zendejas.
Losses No. 3 and No. 9 came to Germany, a perennial power that struggled with USMNT dynamism in 2023 and 2026 but punished them for lapses.
Defeats at numbers 5 and 6 were coach Mauricio Pochettino’s first tests against European teams. The first game, with the score 2:1 in favor of Turkey, was relatively even. The second, a 4-0 rout at the hands of Switzerland, was an embarrassment but featured the U.S. B and C teams. Most of the USMNT’s starting lineup missed the June 2025 friendlies due to injury, the Club World Cup or other circumstances.
Losses Nos. 7 and 8 occurred in March when the full USMNT faced Belgium and Portugal. And these friendly matches, more than any other, spoke of what awaits us in July.
The road ahead could be surprisingly European
The 2026 World Cup playoff bracket after Canada’s first victory over South Africa in the round of 16 (Athletic)
It’s not just Bosnia. Five days later, the most likely opponent in the round of 16 will be Belgium. After this, the quarter-final options will be Spain, Portugal, Austria and Croatia. And the top three teams heading to the semi-finals from the top left quadrant of the bracket are France, Germany and the Netherlands.
So not only will the US have to beat the European team; She will likely have to beat European teams ranked in FIFA’s top 10, something she hasn’t done since 2015, when she surprised the Netherlands and Germany in back-to-back friendlies.
In that era, killing giants was part of the US program. At the 2014 World Cup, the Americans were minutes away from beating Portugal in their second group match. A year earlier they had overthrown Germany. In 2012 they beat Italy. In 2011 they drew with Argentina. They were drawn against England at the 2010 World Cup. In 2009, they scored a famous goal against Spain, who were on a 35-match unbeaten run and went on to win the 2010 World Cup. Four days later, the US nearly stunned Brazil as well, going up 2–0 before falling 3–2.
So what’s changed?
Well, first of all, the international football calendar. In 2018, the European Confederation UEFA established the Nations League, which largely prevents its 55 members from calling friendlies. While the US has played 16 games against European opponents in FIFA windows throughout the 2014 World Cup cycle, it has only played six this cycle. The irregularity of these games resulted in fewer opportunities for outright victories and left the U.S. team unfamiliar with the European style.
Tyler Adams celebrates Florian Wirtz in the USMNT World Cup friendly against Germany (Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
“When you have the opportunity to play maybe twice a year against European opponents, it’s tough,” American midfielder Tyler Adams said. Athletic. “And the flow of games, understanding these kinds of things, the rhythm, is difficult.
“But we have a lot of high-quality players who play (for professional clubs) in Europe. So this shouldn’t happen.”
There is no single, monolithic European style that unites all of these top teams, but many of them share common traits. “When you play against these teams, it’s a lot less chaotic than you think and a lot more controlled,” American midfielder Sebastian Berhalter said in March after the USMNT’s poor run against the Europeans stretched to an eighth straight defeat.
“The guys have great first touches. So pressing makes it even harder. You wait and wait and then when you get a chance you’re going to (press)… (but) any ball you give them, their first touch is dead. It doesn’t matter if they put pressure on them, it’s right at their feet.”
Considered by many to be more talented than previous versions, this American team tried to actively put pressure on their arch rivals more than past US teams; he tried to be their equal. Some believe the lack of an underdog mentality has caused damage.
But the prevailing answer is that talent wins.
After losing to the Netherlands in 2022, then-coach Gregg Berhalter said: “The difference between these two teams is that they have a certain quality in execution that we don’t have.”
In March 2026, history repeated itself. “In these kinds of games,” Pochettino said after the 2-0 defeat to Portugal, “players like (Pedro) Neto, (Gonçalo) Ramos, Bruno (Fernandes), João Felix – if you give them an inch, it’s quite possible they can score.”
American striker Max Arfsten, who played in five defeats to European teams over the past 13 months, said Athletic: “They have a slightly better offense than other teams.”
This is something the US will have to neutralize – or measure against its own quality – in the coming weeks.
Cole Bassett celebrates his latest winner in the USMNT’s victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2021 (John Todd/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
What to expect on Wednesday
However, years of fruitless struggle with Europe have not undermined the confidence of Americans entering Wednesday.
The eight European teams that defeated the United States, starting with the Netherlands in 2022, were ranked 3rd, 5th, 10th, 13th, 18th, 21st, 23rd and 25th in the world by Elo rating at the time. Bosnia ranks 58th.
And coincidentally, the USMNT’s last win over a European team came in December 2021, outside the FIFA window, against Bosnia.
Cole Bassett, then a 20-year-old Colorado Rapids midfielder, came off the bench that day in his first USMNT career appearance to score the only goal of the game in the 89th minute.
“It feels like a long time ago,” Bassett said. Athletic on Friday. It was, and when Bassett said it was the last time the USA would beat a European team, he said, “That’s very surprising. I can’t say I like hearing that!”
But then he echoed the optimism that still swirls around this team as the elimination rounds begin.
“Hopefully the boys will change that on Wednesday.”
Tom Bogert contributed reporting for this story.