March 24 – Former United States International Eric Wynalda played for his country 106 times. He also played in three World Cups, becoming the first American to be sent off in 1990, and becoming the first American to score a World Cup goal on American soil against Switzerland in 1994.
After witnessing a weak, timid performances from his national team against Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League, he had plenty to say about the current state of US Soccer to Nick Webster.
IWF: Eric another loss to an opponent who on paper the USMNT should beat. Where is it going wrong?
Wynalda: So, what we need to understand as Americans is this is a byproduct of all our bad work over the last 10 years. Look, I understand that we believe that things are going in the right direction and that there’s growth, but I got news for you, cancer is also a growth, and that’s what we’re looking at. Until we realise how to surgically remove this growth without it spreading to other parts of our country, we’re going to have to continue to endure these kinds of punishing results.
We believe that we deserve to win, simply because we are American, and that Canada is somehow inferior simply because they are Canada!
You and I have talked about this before. The only choice you have in football and in a game like this especially when you’re representing so many people is to try hard, to give everything you have.
You can’t look at it as a scenario where I’m going to play for my country and I’m going to do my thing and it’s going to be great to see everybody and I hope I don’t get hurt and then I’ll go back to my club and continue to earn money.
Let’s face it, these guys are rich. That’s it. But they don’t understand the responsibility of their position. Playing in a game like this when you get to a semifinal of a Gold Cup or a Copa America or the Nations League… you need to understand the responsibility is to get to the final. And there’s a lot of money on the line. But when you’re already rich, seemingly, and what I’m seeing out of these guys is they just don’t give a !@#$.
We need players who want to challenge themselves, who aren’t afraid to have ambition, that it’s OK to play. It’s all part of your development.
Right now, we are developing losers. We forgot how to be a winning culture and this is a byproduct of it. It’s as simple as I can put it to you
IWF: We’re 400 days away from the World Cup. There’s lots of ambition from US soccer about making the deepest run ever. How far can this team go?
Wynalda: Well, it will be interesting to see what effect this performance has on them. I talked a little bit more about responsibility. But when you show up for a World Cup that’s in your country, there’s a responsibility and a legacy in the competition, and you feel that. It’s going to be part of your fabric. You have to understand the gravity of it and how important it is to show up and to play really hard. And you have to play like this is it…the next moment could be your last moment ever and you have to live that way. If you don’t then other teams are going to seize the moment from you.
IWF: In ‘94 the American team was a travelling roadshow, you’re in Europe and you’re playing in Germany. For this team the Gold Cup represents the last opportunity for a competitive game then it’s just friendlies. How can they find this fire, the competitive spirit that the team in the 90’s had?
Eric: Somebody said something about chemistry – they’ve got to have better chemistry – until they have chemistry they can’t win. That is just an excuse. If anybody says to you these guys need more time to play together, that’s not true. Good players figure it out.
Look, if you want to win a war do you really want to know the guy’s name next to you. No, you don’t. He’s wearing a helmet – you’re wearing a helmet and it’s time to kill some people that’s how it works.
IWF: So how do we get these American players to wear helmets when they don’t give a **** about who they’re playing with, but they know who they’re playing for, which is the United States of America.
Wynalda: Well, first of all that’s got to mean something again. Right now, it’s seemingly just a secondary thought. If the players aren’t proud the shirt, it’s not going to magically happen. They have to collectively understand that this is their moment, this is their legacy.
Look I have to endure probably the worst memory of football in this country and that’s the 1998 World Cup and when that happened, I felt like we were a casualty of this mess. We had a completely out of depth manager. We had a lot of politics, and we had a total misunderstanding of what we were. We lost our identity in a crucial moment. It didn’t mean we weren’t good enough. It just meant that politics prevailed.
Our coach didn’t know what he was doing, and we lost. That’s not what’s happening now. We have a coach in my opinion who could really inspire these guys, but it’s kind of like trying to get them to understand that this is important.
Money can’t be the object. They’re all rich. They come here as if they’re doing us a favor. You get to see me play and buy more of my shirts because I’m great. Wait, who told you, you were great? What have you done to earn the right to call yourself great? Did we ever say we were great…No! We were aspiring to greatness. But when you beat Argentina, you beat Colombia, you beat Russia, you beat Brazil, you beat Portugal, you tie Italy, you get to say we’ve done something great. What have these guys ever done?
IWF: Let’s take it from Pochettino shoes. He sees talented players, he sees technical players, he sees players that are playing in Europe at the highest level but he doesn’t understand what it means for the U.S. shirt. Now as an Argentinian I can guarantee you Pochettino would die for the shirt – why can’t he see that in the American players, is it because he’s not American?
Wynalda: Man, he showed up the other night against Panama into an empty stadium that you could actually hear the guys across the field in their warm up saying left, right, left, right, I mean he’s just not used to that.
You know if this is a scenario we’re talking about in Argentina. If you’ve ever been to a Boca/River game or you’ve ever witnessed or seen or ever tried to digest what that means, you see the passion that comes out of the people. It’s really, it’s something, it’s second to none. It’s really contagious.
You won’t see that until everything’s on the line and in our country, we’ll be playing in the World Cup on American soil, and hopefully you’ll see how much it means to the people.
Do all of these games mean enough to our fans probably not but they’re going to show up in the summer of 2026 and you’re going to put your hand on your heart, you’re going to look up, you’re going to see people crying, you’re going to see people screaming at you and you’re going to feel that energy and you’re not a human being if you can’t raise your level.
IWF: You’ve played in the opening game of World Cup on home soil in Detroit. We’re now sitting in SoFi Stadium. This is where the Americans are going to play the first game of the World Cup. What do you expect to feel?
Wynalda: You won’t feel much. It’s such an overwhelming surge of adrenaline and what it really requires is a sense of calmness…to have a silenced anger. It’s a burning fire that’s within you that you can’t show anybody. You have to be totally completely composed in the way you play. You stick to your plan but every single thing that you do, you will do as fast as you’ve ever done it before. And that’s what you have to train for. You have to prepare for it.
But the emotions that you feel and I got that wonderful feeling of scoring a goal in front of our fans in the first game of the World Cup on American soil, and it stayed with me forever. I still can’t describe what that was. It felt like somebody shot me with lightning or electricity and it’s the loudest I’ve ever heard a stadium, and it was because of something that I had done.
And when you look at it, and how that helped us go into the second game to believe in ourselves, and to beat one of the top teams in the world in Colombia, it has to start well. You always have to start well. And you have to build off that and you have to believe.
These guys have no reason to believe that they can’t do something incredible. We’re waiting for them to care and maybe they’re going to be able to turn the light switch on and we’re going to feel that electricity.
I don’t know, I think we’re hesitant to believe that because we haven’t seen it yet. I believe in this team, I believe in my country, I believe in the idea that this team could win a World Cup with a little bit of luck and a little bit of good fortune.
Some good performances and a bunch of guys that just care so much about each other and their collective effort is what’s necessary to do something great.
If they can get there, who’s to say they can’t do something phenomenal but it’s so painful to watch them right now. They think they can turn it on, and then they try to show us that they can, but what they need to understand is every moment matters from here to the beginning of the World Cup. Live it like it’s your last game and just be proud.
The last thing I’m going to leave you with is that every U.S. game is going to start with the national anthem and the last sentence of our song is “home of the brave” – it’s time to be brave!
Contact the worter of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1742960583labto1742960583ofdlr1742960583owedi1742960583sni@o1742960583fni1742960583