USMNT legend Jozy Altidore reveals why America isn’t a World Cup power

Jozy Altidore is bullish on the United States men’s soccer team. 

Maybe more bullish than any other player with scar tissue from actually wearing the shirt of the red, white, and blue should be. 

Altidore is one of the only people on the planet that believes the USMNT should reach the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He says that, not to add pressure to the team, but to pass them a compliment. 

“To me, it’s a compliment to how good this team is,” Altidore told The California Post in an exclusive interview. “I think the team is that good that they can win a World Cup.”

That is the shiny part of the interview that you dangle to the world. The part you put in headlines and clip for social media. 

But we already knew that part. Altidore has been one of the loudest vocal supporters of this iteration of the USMNT for months. But he also understands that this country has a problem when it comes to soccer, and it’s that problem the U.S. still needs to solve. 

Altidore, the third-leading scorer in USMNT history, believes the problem is not talent, athleticism or ambition. It’s identity.  

“Our under-17 team plays differently than our full team,” Altidore said, citing an example of not having one true identity throughout the national team’s program. “I think it’s all about environment and mentality creation.”

Altidore sees a country that is still trying to decide what kind of soccer nation it wants to become. He points to the ground level, the youth academies that are all about winning their club tournaments and not about teaching and building fundamentals to be able to one day play at the national level. And he’s including MLS front offices and the U.S. Soccer decision makers as part of the problem. 

He pointed to Argentina and the Netherlands as examples of countries with a common thread from youth teams all the way up to the senior national team. Similar principles. Similar language. Similar expectations. The U.S., he argued, is still too scattered. 

“There’s a lot of players that get lost,” Altidore said, “Because we don’t have that structure and way of playing. There’s a lot of players with talents that we misunderstand because we don’t have a system in which they have to understand in order to succeed and perform in it.”

Altidore is pointing out that even though America is hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the host nation is still under construction. He sees some progress being made. U.S. Soccer’s new training facility in Fayetteville, Georgia is one important building block. But we’re still a long ways away from consistently competing with the top teams in the world. 

“It’s going to take some time. It’s a slow burn, unfortunately,”

That’s probably not what a fan base wants to hear with the world arriving in a matter of days, but it is the truth. 

Inside the team, though, the pressure is already here. Altidore said the public sees the games, the anthems and the flags, but not the mental drag of waiting for it all to start. Something he remembers from his playing days in the 2010 and 2014 World Cup.

“You have to battle some boredom,” said Altidore of what the current mentality of the players is before the team’s opening match. “It’s a tough period because it’s here, but it’s also not here.”

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The toughest part, he said, is trying to keep your concentration and focus in all of the in-between times: weigh-ins, breakfast, training, recovery, etc. But once that whistle bows on June 12 against Paraguay in Los Angeles, “it’s a soccer game again.” Until then, he says the players are stuck inside the loudest quiet room of their careers. 

Asked what players he thought would have a breakout campaign in this World Cup, Altidore’s eyes lit up as he pointed at one specific position.

Goalkeeper. 

“It’s by far the most important position,” Altidore said, adding the U.S. will need “timely saves” and full concentration to survive the tournament’s biggest moments.

That is not exactly a comfort blanket. It is a warning. If America is going deep, somebody in goal may have to steal a night.

Altidore’s semifinal picks included the United States, France, Argentina and Portugal. His dark horse came with heart attached: Haiti, the country of his parents.

“They have an incredibly talented team,” he said. “They’re going to surprise a lot of people.”

For all the tactical talk, Altidore also understands this World Cup will be lived through culture as much as soccer. He praised Toronto’s soccer scene and shouted out Randy’s, which serves Jamaican patties, as a must-try restaurant  He pointed to Miami’s Haitian, Cuban, Mexican and Colombian food as part of the tournament’s soul. And for Mexico City, he did not bother pretending to be neutral.

“The food is so good, I miss it all the time,” he said.

That is the beauty of this World Cup. With 48 teams playing in 16 different cities, across three countries, it’s a loud, messy, global melting pot for culture, cuisine, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.