‘Mixed feelings’ is all we can say when reminiscing about the US Men’s National Team’s 2022 FIFA World Cup run. Inches away from securing a win over Wales until a penalty led to a 1-1 draw, followed by a stalemate against England and a narrow win over Iran, many believed Christian Pulisic and Co. had a chance to do something special. But forget the latter stages; Tony Meola has reminded US fans how easily they ‘forget‘ that they never had a chance to beat a team like the Netherlands in just the Round of 16.

Of course, they didn’t win against the Dutch, who had thrashed then-Gregg Berhalter’s side 3-1, dashing all the American dreams. However, judging by their performance on the group stage, every USMNT fan wondered if they could do something magical in the last 16. Then again, Meola insists that even today, despite a new manager like Mauricio Pochettino, the ‘Golden Generation’ may struggle to defeat the Oranje.

“This is still a young team,” began Meola on the recent episode of SiriusXM FC. “I’m not using it as an excuse, it’s just something we forget,” he added, recalling that despite him being an expert on knowing more about the MNT, how absurd it was for him to see people question, “Why can’t we compete against the Netherlands?”

“That team [2022 USMNT] was never gonna beat the Netherlands. 10 games, they’re gonna beat them one time. There isn’t a guy in our group, not even Christian Pulisic, that would’ve started on the Netherlands in that particular group that played in 2022,” exclaimed the former goalkeeper.

Though Tony insisted that if Berhalter and Co. hadn’t made back-post mistakes and defended better, they could have been in the game. Then again, it was the overconfidence of the ardent supporters which he didn’t like. “People were like ‘How could you not beat the Netherlands?’ You’re talking about the Netherlands!”

Of course, miracles do happen, but expecting the same from the USMNT against the Netherlands was never meant to happen. Not to remind you that this was the very same Dutch side that made Lionel Messi’s Argentina sweat in the quarter-final stage, where after a 2-2 draw, La Albiceleste had to prevail 3-4 in penalties before becoming the World Champions.

Nevertheless, expectations for the USMNT are to progress and do better. So what can the fans expect from Christian Pulisic &Co, especially with the 2026 World Cup on the horizon?

Mauricio Pochettino’s claims echoed as Christian Pulisic and USMNT’s realistic ‘expectations’ finally revealed!

Tony Meola further shared his own “different realistic expectations” he has from the current USMNT side. While taking into account Mauricio Pochettino and Co.’s recent 5-2 aggregated triumph over Jamaica in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals. However, that doesn’t mean their recent rivals aren’t competitive, as Meola stated, “Jamaica’s not a bad team; they’ve got some players in that group.”

“When I think about expectations, I just look at them a little bit differently than some other people do. It’s just too convenient to go like, ‘Yeah, I expect Jamaica to be 3-0.’ It’s just too easy to say that,” he added, clearly stating that one can’t judge the USMNT over their recent win. This is exactly what Mauricio Pochettino had to say, who himself admitted that “CONCACAF is not an easy competition.”

Easy or difficult, the current USMNT has to keep its bar high as the Pochettino-led side will be hosting the upcoming edition of the World Cup. Let’s see how Christian Pulisic and Co. perform then!