There is a peculiar tension running through the World Cup this summer, one that has little to do with tactics or tournament brackets. The United States men's national team are one victory away from equalling their best run in the competition's modern era, playing with a quality and collective energy that has made even sceptics sit up straighter. Yet, for a portion of their own public, the question of whether to support them at all is not a straightforward one.

That is the subject Alexander Abnos wrestles with in a column for The Guardian, and it is worth examining from a distance — not to adjudicate American domestic politics, which is firmly beyond this column's remit, but because the tension he identifies is a genuinely human one that supporters in many countries will recognise.

A team earning attention on merit

First, the football. The USMNT's win over Bosnia and Herzegovina has propelled them to a stage where history beckons. By all accounts they have played with verve and purpose, producing a standard of football that has surprised even those inclined to be charitable. For long-suffering American soccer supporters — those who kept the faith through the lean years, through the 2018 qualifying failure, through the rebuilding — this moment carries a weight that casual observers may struggle to appreciate.

The host nation reaching the latter rounds of their own World Cup is, in sporting terms, exactly what the tournament's organisers would have scripted. The atmosphere, the noise, the sudden expansion of the casual audience: these are real and significant. American soccer, as Abnos puts it, is in the spotlight in America, and that is a rarity worth acknowledging.

A dilemma shared across borders

The more interesting strand of Abnos's argument, however, is the broader one. He notes that discomfort around national-team allegiance is hardly an American invention. He points to Germany, where generations of supporters carried a complicated relationship with patriotic celebration in the decades after the Second World War. He references Iran, where fans at this summer's games have booed their own national anthem and worn protest garments, yet roared with abandon when their side scored.

This is the essential paradox of international football: the shirt represents the people who wear it and the people who watch it, not merely the government that issued their passports. A fan in the stands has no power over foreign policy. A midfielder shielding the ball on the edge of his own area is not answering for the actions of his country's administration. The two things coexist, imperfectly but necessarily, because sport does not pause for political consensus.

There is something worth holding onto in that idea. Supporting a national team is not an act of uncritical endorsement of everything done in a nation's name. It can be, and often is, something smaller and more personal: a community gathered around a shared hope, for ninety minutes or so, that their collective representatives might do something brilliant.

What this means for the tournament

For neutral observers — and there are plenty across the British Isles watching this particular drama unfold — the USMNT's run has been one of the more compelling subplots of the competition. Their squad's diversity and the manner in which they have carried themselves has drawn admiring commentary well beyond the American press.

Whether they can go further remains to be seen. The market, one suspects, has already formed a view. But the more durable question — how much of yourself you can invest in a national team when your relationship with that nation is complicated — will outlast whatever happens in their next fixture. It is a question football fans in many countries ask themselves rather more quietly than they might admit.

The honest answer, perhaps, is that the sport rarely demands we resolve the contradiction. It simply asks us to watch, and, if we can manage it, to care. There are worse things to ask of us.

Frequently asked

How far have the USA gone in the 2026 World Cup?
The United States men's national team have reached the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup after beating Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are one win away from matching their best-ever run in the competition's modern era.
Why are some Americans reluctant to support the US national team at this World Cup?
Some Americans feel uncomfortable expressing patriotism given their concerns about the actions of the US government, both domestically and internationally. This discomfort is not unique to the US — fans in countries such as Germany and Iran have faced similar questions about national-team allegiance.
Who did the USA beat to reach the last 16 of World Cup 2026?
The United States beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 to advance to the next stage of the 2026 World Cup.