US Soccer Fans Outraged Over Team's Ranking After World Cup Win

Apparently, the United States men's national team hasn't done enough yet to turn their skeptics into believers.

The U.S. kicked off its World Cup campaign with a 4-1 win over Paraguay last Friday. Christian Pulisic stepped up in the first half, setting up two goal-scoring opportunities for the USMNT. However, it was Folarin Balogun who stole the show with his two goals.

"Yeah, it was definitely a statement, three goals in the first half opening game," Balogun said. "I felt like it was a real statement, and that's what you wanted to do. So I'm very, very delighted with the overall performance, especially the first half."

Despite the USMNT's convincing win over Paraguay, The New York Times isn't ready to crown Mauricio Pochettino's squad.

The New York Times has re-ranked all 48 teams in the World Cup based on their performances so far. The U.S. are currently ranked 17th in the world, which is just behind Egypt, Senegal and Uruguay.

"Why do I suspect that if this was anything but the New York Times, the United States is somewhere around No. 10," one person commented.

"I guess we'll have to see if this is correct, the US feel awfully low considering the performance they gave last Friday," a second person wrote.

"So Team U.S.A wins 4-1 and stays in the 17th position?" another person asked.

Bulletin-board material for U.S.

No one is demanding for the USMNT to be in the same conversation as Argentina and France's national teams, but a spot in the top-15 would've been nice.

The USMNT could use this as motivation heading into Friday's match against Australia.

We'll see if the U.S. improve to 2-0 in Group D.

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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 12:43 PM.