Gregg Berhalter believes his United States team will capture the imagination of viewers at home after drawing on the "American spirit" to reach the World Cup's last 16 at Iran's expense.
Christian Pulisic's close-range finish fired the USA to a 1-0 win over Iran at the Al Thumama Stadium on Tuesday, ensuring the Stars and Stripes leapfrogged their opponents to finish second in Group B, behind England.
Pulisic was forced out of the contest after colliding with Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beyranvand as he scored the goal, but that blow was not enough to dampen Berhalter's spirits.
With the 2026 tournament taking place across the USA, Mexico and Canada, much of the talk around Berhalter's team has focused on their ability to win over new fans at home, and the head coach believes his men have done just that.
"I'm sure there was a bunch of people back home watching, and I think the US reporters have talked about defining this group, and it starts to take shape on these performances," Berhalter said.
"You see how unified this group is, how much energy they put into every game, and along the way there was some good soccer.
"That's the American spirit, and I think people will appreciate that at home.
"There's no need to project how far this team can go. It's great to be in this knockout format, we will relish it, and we'll stick together and enjoy the experience.
"The end of the game is really what I'm most proud of, to hang on in there, to get the win and not buckle. This is the first time in 92 years we've had two shutouts at a World Cup."
Having reached the round of 16 in each of their last three World Cup participations (2010, 2014 and 2022), the USA will take on the Netherlands at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday.
Chelsea attacker Pulisic has been involved in both of the USA's goals at this year's tournament (one goal, one assist), and only Landon Donovan in 2010 (three goals) has ever contributed to more for the team at a single World Cup.
Pulisic's recovery will undoubtedly be a key talking point in the build-up to Saturday's game, but Berhalter was unwilling to speculate on his condition.
"He was taken off due to injury," Berhalter said. "He was taken to hospital as a precaution. It was a blow to his abdomen, an abdominal injury.
"We FaceTimed him after the game from the locker room, we got to see him and he's in good spirits.
"The goal was something we'd been taking about for a while, to get the team to shift over to one side.
"That's the special quality Christian has, as soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity, he crashes the box and makes it very difficult with his change of pace."
The USA have only reached the World Cup's quarter-finals on one previous occasion (in 2002), but Berhalter says they are not content with their achievements to date.
"It's a great opportunity, but we're not going into it thinking it's an honour. We deserve to be in the position we're in, we don't want to go home," he said.
"Now it's about how we recover and prepare to play against this Dutch team, who have a very clear idea and are very well coached. We have to come up with a way to beat them."
Sassuolo 1-0 Inter: Serie A champions suffer surprise defeat
Inter suffered only their second defeat in Serie A this season as a first-half goal by Armand Lauriente gave relegation-threatened Sassuolo a crucial 1-0 victory.
Sassuolo have a unique hold over Simone Inzaghi's side this season, as the only team to beat Inter in the league, having secured a 2-1 victory in the reverse fixture in September.
The result was a big boost in Sassuolo's battle against relegation, as they sit second from bottom on 29 points, with only three points between them and Cagliari in 14th place.
Lauriente got the only goal of the match after 20 minutes when Josh Doig managed to wrestle the ball back from Denzel Dumfries near the corner flag and pulled it back, with Sassuolo's matchwinner on hand to slot into the net from close range.
Data Debrief: Long time coming
This was the first time Inter have lost a league match against a team in the bottom two of the standings since way back in November 2014. On that occasion, they went down 2-0 to Parma.
Lauriente, meanwhile, has scored four Serie A goals since the beginning of April, a joint-record in the period in the top-flight (level with Hakan Calhanoglu).
Xavi insists there is 'no debate' over his Barcelona future
Xavi insisted there is "no debate" over his future at Barcelona after the Blaugrana's title hopes were dashed by Girona.
Barca lost 4-2 to Girona on Saturday, ensuring Real Madrid were crowned LaLiga champions.
Xavi, having initially elected to leave the club at the end of the season, last month performed a U-turn on that decision, confirming he would stay on until at least the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
Yet that did not stop the Barca coach facing questions over his role in Saturday's post-match news conference.
"There is no debate over my future," Xavi told reporters, before expanding on his feelings after the defeat.
"I am sad, disappointed. We have experienced both sides of the coin. Ineffectiveness have killed us once and again.
"I'm the first to be angry, to be p***** off with this situation, I understand the fans. Before being a coach, I was a fan. I understand our people's frustration."
Barca are now in third place and, with four matches remaining, must now rely on Girona slipping up if they are to have any chance of contesting the Supercopa de Espana next season, with a trophyless campaign guaranteed this time around.
Girona, on the other hand, sealed Champions League qualification for the first time in their history.
Portu came off the bench to score twice in Saturday's win, and he gave an emotional interview in the wake of the victory.
"It's incredible to look at your shirt and experience this. There is nothing more beautiful than living this," Portu told DAZN with tears rolling down his face.
"I had a thorn in my side with this club. A few years ago, I experienced the other side, which was relegation and I felt very responsible because I played a lot. Today I made amends with the fans and I can smile again."
New York City FC v Colorado Rapids: Hosts’ morale strong as Cushing aims to extend winning run
The morale in New York City FC’s squad is good, so says coach Nick Cushing, as his team aim to extend their winning streak when they take on the Colorado Rapids.
NYCFC have won their last three MLS games, and are unbeaten in five, heading into Saturday’s fixture.
It is their final game of a five-match home run, with Cushing’s team up to sixth in the Eastern Conference.
"The morale is really good," Cushing said. "As a coach, you like it when the mood is happy and vibrant and everybody is flying but you also want to make sure the feet are on the floor and the eyes are facing forward.
"We looked at the performance [against Charlotte FC], and I agree we have to score more goals. The process of scoring more goals was about how do we create more chances. I think now we're in a place where it is about how do we score more of the chances we create.
"The aim is to make sure that we prepare ourselves well so that we get ourselves mentally to a place where we can perform well and control the game against a really difficult Colorado team.
"We know they’re going to press and be aggressive. The area of development for the team is to take the chances we create and score goals and continue to be an attacking team.
"Every time we’re hard to play against we give ourselves a chance of winning. When I look out at the guys on the training field I see hungry guys."
The Rapids, meanwhile, are sixth in the Western Conference.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
NYCFC – Santiago Rodriguez
Rodriguez assisted on New York City FC’s stoppage-time winning goal on Saturday, his sixth goal contribution of the season (four goals, two assists), all at home. Since the start of last season, Rodriguez has recorded 15 goal contributions in 22 home matches compared to four in 19 away matches.
Colorado Rapids – Rafael Navarro
Navarro is the Rapids’ leading scorer this season, with four goals in MLS. All of those have come from his right foot, with Navarro averaging a goal every 201 minutes.
MATCH PREDICTION: NYCFC WIN
Colorado’s four-match unbeaten run ended last week with a 2-1 loss at FC Cincinnati. The Rapids are winless in their last nine away matches against Eastern Conference opposition in all competitions (D3 L6).
NYCFC have won three straight regular-season matches for the first time since the last three matches of the 2022 season. NYCFC had managed only two wins in their previous 10 matches dating back to the end of last season.
NYCFC are unbeaten in six all-time meetings with the Rapids (W3 D3). The Rapids are one of two teams (San Jose Earthquakes) NYCFC have played more than three times and never lost against.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
NYCFC – 52%
Colorado Rapids – 21.1%
Draw – 26.9%
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