Being the best-ever United States’ Men’s Soccer Team (USMNT) of all time is, all told, not that historically mind-blowing a designation. It’s a little like being the best-ever suburb of Omaha, or the best-ever freeway rest area, or the best-ever sports blogger: I mean, congratulations, it’s better than being the worst, I suppose, but let’s just say the hill you climbed was not all that steep in the first place.

But hey, you’ve got to start somewhere. And it’s fair to say that if the USMNT can win its next two games — the first is Wednesday night against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara, Calif. — it will have earned its place as the greatest US men’s soccer team in history. Two more wins, and they’ll reach the quarterfinals for only the third time ever, having previously made it in 2002 and finishing in third place in 1930 (when there were only 13 teams). They’ve already won their group for only the third time ever, and perhaps more remarkably, they’ve been genuinely fun to watch this whole tournament. That’s legitimate surprise after a very wobbly 18 months heading into the World Cup for USMNT, basically starting with the Copa America crapout of 2024. Gone are the dull, park-the-bus teams of US past; that’s been replaced by an attacking, aesthetically pleasing style that points to an even more thrilling future. There is a reason this team has captured the national imagination in a way no men’s team has done in nearly two decades, and it’s just not because they got Edward Norton and Brad Pitt back together.

Maybe this team can swing even bigger. That’s a rather large ask — they’d have to beat juggernaut Spain to get to the semifinals........

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