The United States started the 2026 World Cup with a question that had haunted it since before its debut: can a host team, without the history of the great powers, really get into the fight for the Cup? Artificial intelligence had already given a first response, but something changed.

Before the tournament, Opta's supercomputer assigned the United States just a 1.2% chance of becoming world champion. It was a low chance, very far from Spain, France, England or Argentina, but not insignificant: within the universe of teams that are not favorites, the American team appeared as an outsider with room to grow.

Then the games came. And the panorama changed. The team led by Mauricio Pochettino debuted with a 4-1 win against Paraguay and then beat Australia 2-0. With these results, the United States secured its qualification to the round of 32 and transformed a moderate expectation into concrete excitement for the fans.