United States men’s national team head coach Bruce Arena spoke on the phone with reporters on Thursday about the state of the squad following the third and fourth matchdays of CONCACAF 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying.
On the heels of the United States, Canada and Mexico’s joint bid for the 2026 World Cup, Arena did not hold back where he expects U.S. Soccer to be nine years from now.
“In 1994 [when the United States last hosted], I think the U.S. was looked at as this emerging frontier in the game, and FIFA wanted to bring the U.S into the world’s game,” Arena said.
“In 2026 we’re going to be fully emerged into the game and a big player. I think 2026 will be the time where we're going to start talking about winning a World Cup. It wasn’t going to be in 1994, it wasn’t going to be in 2010. But 2026 could be our time.”
Arena also discussed his forward options with Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood and the aspects that go into deciding which two will start in the next two qualifiers in June.
“There are so many factors that come into play [with picking a top two],” Arena said. “There’s form, there’s fitness, there’s your gut feeling. And there are two games in a short period of time, June 8 and June 11, where one would assume that you’d make some changes because of it. I think we’re going to find that we don’t have enough forwards.”
Wood and Dempsey’s Seattle Sounders teammate Jordan Morris missed the U.S.’ previous two matches with an injury, so Dempsey started up top with Altidore. Dempsey recorded a hat trick in the United States’ 6-0 home rout of Honduras and then scored again in the U.S.’ 1-1 road draw at Panama.
The United States will host Trinidad and Tobago in the next WCQ at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., on June 8 before visiting Mexico on June 11.
