The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) has participated in twelve editions of the FIFA World Cup, an international soccer competition contested by men's national teams representing members of FIFA. The tournament is held every four years by the top qualifying teams from the continental confederations under FIFA. The United States is a member of CONCACAF, which governs the sport in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, and has the second-most World Cup appearances from the confederation behind Mexico.
The United States participated in the inaugural World Cup in 1930 and finished in the semifinals, which was later declared a third-place finish, their best result to date and the best-ever result for a non-European and non-South American nation. The tournament also featured the first hat-trick scored at a World Cup, awarded to American striker Bert Patenaude following recognition by FIFA in 2006. After the 1950 World Cup, in which the United States upset England in group play 1–0, the U.S. was absent from the tournament until 1990. The United States participated in every World Cup from 1990 through 2014, but did not qualify in 2018, marking the first time the team had missed a World Cup since 1986. They returned to the World Cup by qualifying for the 2022 edition and hosted the World Cup for the second time in 2026.
Overall record
FIFA World Cup recordQualification recordYearResultPositionSquad 1930 Third place 3rd 3 2 0 1 7 6SquadQualified as invitees 1934 Round of 16 16th 1 0 0 1 1 7Squad 1 1 0 0 4 2 1938WithdrewWithdrew 1950 Group stage 10th 3 1 0 2 4 8Squad 4 1 1 2 8 15 1954Did not qualify 4 2 0 2 7 9 1958 4 0 0 4 5 21 1962 2 0 1 1 3 6 1966 4 1 2 1 4 5 1970 6 3 0 3 11 9 1974 4 0 1 3 6 10 1978 5 1 2 2 3 7 1982 4 1 1 2 4 8 1986 6 3 2 1 8 3 1990 Group stage 23rd 3 0 0 3 2 8Squad 10 5 4 1 11 4 1994 Round of 16 14th 4 1 1 2 3 4SquadQualified as hosts 1998 Group stage 32nd 3 0 0 3 1 5Squad 16 8 6 2 27 14 2002 Quarter-finals 8th 5 2 1 2 7 7Squad 16 8 4 4 25 11 2006 Group stage 25th 3 0 1 2 2 6Squad 18 12 4 2 35 11 2010 Round of 16 12th 4 1 2 1 5 5Squad 18 13 2 3 42 16 2014 15th 4 1 1 2 5 6Squad 16 11 2 3 26 14 2018Did not qualify 16 7 4 5 37 16 2022 Round of 16 14th 4 1 2 1 3 4 Squad 14 7 4 3 21 10 2026 12th 5 3 0 2 11 8SquadQualified as co-hosts 2030To be determinedTo be determined 2034Total 42 12 8 22 51 74 —168844044287191
*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out
United States' World Cup recordFirst match 3–0 (July 13, 1930; Montevideo, Uruguay)Biggest win 3–0 (July 13, 1930; Montevideo, Uruguay) 3–0 (July 17, 1930; Montevideo, Uruguay) 4–1 (June 12, 2026; Inglewood, United States)Biggest defeat 7–1 (May 27, 1934; Rome, Italy)Best resultSemi-finals in 1930 (0 titles)Worst resultGroup stage in 1934, 1950, 1990, 1998 and 2006
By match World CupRoundOpponentScoreResultLocationUSA scorers 1930Group 43–0WMontevideoB. McGhee, T. Florie, B. Patenaude3–0WMontevideoB. Patenaude (3)Semifinals1–6LMontevideoJ. Brown 1934Round of 161–7LRomeA. Donelli 1950Group 21–3LCuritibaG. Pariani1–0WBelo HorizonteJ. Gaetjens2–5LRecifeF. Wallace, J. Maca 1990Group A1–5LFlorenceP. Caligiuri0–1LRome1–2LFlorenceB. Murray 1994Group A1–1DPontiacE. Wynalda2–1WPasadenaA. Escobar (o.g.), E. Stewart0–1LPasadenaRound of 16 0–1LStanford 1998Group F0–2LParis1–2LLyonB. McBride0–1LNantes 2002Group D3–2WSuwonJ. O'Brien, J. Costa (o.g.), B. McBride1–1DDaeguC. Mathis1–3LDaejeonL. DonovanRound of 162–0WJeonjuB. McBride, L. DonovanQuarterfinals 0–1LUlsan 2006Group E0–3LGelsenkirchen1–1DKaiserslauternC. Zaccardo (o.g.)1–2LNurembergC. Dempsey 2010Group C1–1DRustenburgC. Dempsey2–2DJohannesburgL. Donovan, M. Bradley1–0WPretoriaL. DonovanRound of 161–2 LRustenburgL. Donovan 2014Group G2–1WNatalC. Dempsey, J. Brooks2–2DManausJ. Jones, C. Dempsey0–1LRecifeRound of 161–2 LSalvadorJ. Green 2022Group B1–1DAl RayyanT. Weah0–0DAl Khor1–0WDohaC. PulisicRound of 161–3LAl RayyanH. Wright 2026Group D4–1WInglewoodD. Bobadilla (o.g.), F. Balogun (2), G. Reyna2–0W Seattle C. Burgess (o.g.), A. Freeman2–3LInglewood A. Trusty, S. Berhalter Round of 32 2–0 W Santa Clara F. Balogun, M. Tillman Round of 16 1–4 L Seattle M. Tillman
Results Uruguay 1930
Group stage
All times local (UYT)
Semifinals
Italy 1934
Round of 16
Brazil 1950
Group stage
All times local BRT (UTC-03)
Italy 1990
Group stage
All times local (CEST/UTC+2)
United States 1994
Group stage
Ranking of third-placed teams
Round of 16
France 1998
Group stage
All times local (CEST/UTC+2)
South Korea/Japan 2002
Group stage
All times local (UTC+9)
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Germany 2006
Group stage
All times local (CEST/UTC+2)
South Africa 2010
Group stage
All times local (UTC+02)
Round of 16
Brazil 2014
Group stage
Round of 16
Qatar 2022
Group stage
Knockout stage
Round of 16
United States/Canada/Mexico 2026
Group stage
Knockout stage
Round of 32
Round of 16
Player records Most appearances RankPlayerMatchesWorld Cups1Landon Donovan122002, 2006 and 20102Cobi Jones111994, 1998 and 2002Earnie Stewart111994, 1998 and 2002DaMarcus Beasley112002, 2006, 2010 and 20145Brian McBride101998, 2002 and 2006Claudio Reyna101998, 2002 and 2006Clint Dempsey102006, 2010 and 20148Tab Ramos91990, 1994 and 1998Eddie Pope91998, 2002 and 2006Sergiño Dest92022 and 2026Weston McKennie92022 and 202612Marcelo Balboa81990, 1994 and 1998Eric Wynalda81990, 1994 and 1998Michael Bradley82010 and 2014Tim Howard82010 and 2014Tyler Adams82022 and 2026Christian Pulisic82022 and 2026Tim Ream82022 and 2026Antonee Robinson82022 and 2026 -->
Tim Howard world record On July 1, 2014, Tim Howard was named man of the match, despite the United States losing 2–1 to Belgium after extra time in the round of 16. During the match, he broke the record for most saves in a World Cup match with 16. After breaking this record, his performance was celebrated worldwide on the internet, with the hashtag #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave trending on Twitter, and the Wikipedia article for the United States Secretary of Defense was briefly vandalized to indicate that he was the incumbent.
Goalscorers
On July 13th 1930, Bart McGhee made history by scoring USA's first-ever FIFA World Cup goal on their match against Belgium in Montevideo. Player Goals 1930 1934 1950 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2022 2026 Landon Donovan 5 2 3 Bert Patenaude 4 4 Clint Dempsey 4 1 1 2 3 1 2 Folarin Balogun 3 3 Malik Tillman 2 2 Bart McGhee 1 1 Tom Florie 1 1 1 1 Aldo Donelli 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Eric Wynalda 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Giovanni Reyna 1 1 Alex Freeman 1 1 Auston Trusty 1 1 Sebastian Berhalter 1 1 5 1 1 1 2 Total 51 7 1 4 2 3 1 7 2 5 5 3 11
Own goals scored for opponents Jeff Agoos (scored for Portugal in 2002)
Media coverage
ABC FIFA World Cup on ABC is the branding used for presentations of the FIFA World Cup produced by the American Broadcasting Company television network in the United States. ABC first broadcast World Cup matches in 1970, when they aired week-old filmed highlights shown on ABC's Wide World of Sports. ABC next broadcast the 1982 FIFA World Cup Final. Beginning in 1994, ABC was the official American network broadcaster of the World Cup up through 2014. ABC also broadcast the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1999 and 2003; Fox took over the American World Cup TV broadcasts in 2011, which took effect in 2015.
1970
The first American telecast of a World Cup match was when NBC aired the final between England and West Germany from four years prior. NBC there, aired the contest on a same-day tape delay using the BBC’s black-and-white feed.
In 1970, it was ABC's turn to broadcast the World Cup final. While ABC aired the contest between Italy and Brazil in color unlike what NBC did in 1966, ABC decided to wait until Christmas, six months after Brazil won, to show it as part of an episode of Wide World of Sports.
1982 In 1982, PBS and ESPN provided the first thorough American television coverage of the FIFA World Cup. ABC aired the first live telecast of the final. ABC aired commercials during the live action. Meanwhile, PBS aired same day highlights of the top game of the day.
Commentators Giorgio Chinaglia (studio analyst) Paul Gardner (color commentary) Mario Machado (color commentary) Jim McKay (play-by-play) Jack Whitaker (studio host)
1994 The 1994 FIFA World Cup marked the return of the World Cup on ESPN and ABC and the first time they used their own commentary teams for all matches. Roger Twibell and Seamus Malin were the lead broadcast team. Al Trautwig and Rick Davis were the secondary broadcast team. Other play-by-play announcers were: Bob Carpenter Bob Ley, Ian Darke, Randy Hahn, and Jim Donovan. Other color commentators were: Clive Charles, Ty Keough, Peter Vermes, Ron Newman, and Bill McDermott. Jim McKay was the studio host alongside studio analyst Desmond Armstrong only for games on ABC.
The 1994 American coverage had many firsts: The first with all of the matches televised, the first with no commercial interruptions during live action, and the first to feature an on-screen score & time box.
1998
In 1998, all 64 matches were televised in the United States live for the first time. Bob Ley and Seamus Malin was the lead broadcast team with other broadcast teams include: Roger Twibell and Mike Hill, JP Dellacamera and Bill McDermott, Derek Rae and Ty Keough, and Phil Schoen and Tommy Smyth. Brent Musburger and Eric Wynalda worked in the studio.
2002
Unlike in 1998, when ESPN and ABC paid $20 million for the broadcast rights to the World Cup, the English-language rights for the 2002 and 2006 editions were sold instead to Major League Soccer for $40–50 million. Through an agreement with the Walt Disney Company, ESPN and ABC would air both tournaments at no cost, while MLS would cover production costs and sell advertisements via its newly-created marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing.
In 2002, 59 matches were broadcast live, along with 5 rebroadcasts on ABC, with coverage from Japan and South Korea carried live in the American late night graveyard slot.
Hockey play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards and Ty Keough were the lead broadcast team and called the games live in South Korea and Japan. Other broadcast teams were: JP Dellacamera and Tommy Smyth, Glenn Davis and Shep Messing, and Mike Hill and Shep Messing, and Seamus Malin, however, they were based at the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. Terry Gannon hosted in the studio alongside studio analysts Eric Wynalda and Giorgio Chinaglia.
2006
The 2006 coverage from Germany was fully live as well. Dave O'Brien joined Marcelo Balboa on the lead broadcast team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup coverage on ESPN and ABC Sports, despite having no experience calling soccer matches prior to that year. Because The Walt Disney Company, owner of both television outlets, retained control over on-air talent, the appointment of O'Brien as the main play-by-play voice was made over the objections of Soccer United Marketing, who wanted JP Dellacamera to continue in that role. Disney stated that their broadcast strategy was intended, in voice and style, to target the vast majority of Americans who do not follow the sport on a regular basis. Mispronunciation and incorrect addressing of names, misuse of soccer terminology, and lack of insight into tactics and history plagued the telecasts, resulting in heavy criticism from English-speaking soccer fans, many of whom ended up watching the games on Univision instead.
Other broadcast teams included: JP Dellacamera and John Harkes, Glenn Davis and Shep Messing, Adrian Healey and Tommy Smyth, and Rob Stone and Robin Fraser. Brent Musburger returned for his 2nd World Cup as lead studio host with other hosts Rece Davis, and Dave Revsine. Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda, Julie Foudy, and Heather Mitts were the studio analysts.
2010