An ancient transatlantic rivalry is heating up again, thanks to the World Cup

There have been a few tense moments between the US and UK over the years. They kicked us out of their country. We burned down their White House. We tried to give them Piers Morgan. They gave him back. Rivalries are set to resume on 25 November as the US men’s national soccer team (USMNT) takes on the Three Lions in the second group B match of the World Cup in Qatar. The group also includes Iran and one of Wales, Scotland or Ukraine. (No prizes for guessing where loyalties will lie there.)

As for American participation, don’t assume that no one in the States cares just because the US already has international bragging rights in American football, baseball and basketball (and, to be fair, the Olympics, which is actually played by other countries).

Or that fans of soccer − as the Brits used to call it and the Americans still do − are just happy to accept they have the best women’s national team in the world with four World Cup wins, four Olympic wins, and plenty of household names, drawing a veil over the men’s valiant efforts to catch up.

Americans are deeply competitive and sports-mad. When there are no professional sports on, you’ll find bars, clubs and homes watching the exploits of college teams. Even children’s softball gets screentime. And soccer is rising in popularity here. In December, it overtook ice hockey to become the country’s fourth most popular sport.

The US men’s leagues may not be up to the standards of the big European countries yet, but there’s plenty of soccer around: NBC has a $2bn (£1.5bn) deal to show Premier League matches, while Paramount Plus streams all of Italy’s Serie A matches.

A study in December found that 49 per cent of Americans claim to enjoy watching soccer on TV, compared to 37 per cent watching ice hockey, which is all just as well, as the 2026 World Cup will be held in the US, Mexico and Canada.

As for this year’s draw, US pundits don’t seem too unsettled at the prospect of facing the nation that came second at Euro 2020 and fourth in the World Cup two years earlier along with the Golden Boot, despite the Americans making relatively heavy weather of their own qualification this time around.

ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle said the USMNT had avoided a “doomsday scenario”. Doug McIntyre of Fox Sports said the team “could have done worse than England”. Former US defender Alexi Lalas told The Herd: “I am just salivating here at the opportunity to play against England because they think they’re so good – and they are in a lot of different ways. But there’s this back and forth that goes on and there’s this snobbery that exists, so the opportunity not just to beat them but to beat them at a World Cup – it’s mouthwatering like I said.”

He added it would not surprise him “in the least” if the current US team were able to go to Qatar and beat England “and shut them up”. The team certainly isn’t lacking in quality, with Christian Pulisic of Chelsea, Weston McKennie of Juventus, Sergino Dest of Barcelona and Josh Sargent of Norwich City available.

Whether that will be enough for Gregg Berhalter’s men to make progress remains to be seen. But one statistic that should encourage the Americans and worry Gareth Southgate’s team is this: the USMNT has never lost to England at a World Cup. They drew in 2010 and the US won 1-0 in 1950, knocking England out. Could national pride in England survive history repeating itself? Well, we got over the return of Piers Morgan so anything’s possible. Let’s just trust it doesn’t come to that.

Yours,

Phil Thomas

Assistant editor (US)