USA have come a long way since the final months of 2017.
In October of that year they failed to reach the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ after losing to Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 on the final day of Concacaf qualifying. It was the nadir for a national team that had qualified for the previous seven global finals.
That next month, though, a glimmer of hope appeared. Under interim coach Dave Sarachan, a mostly young and inexperienced group of players were called up for a friendly in Portugal, among them 19-year-old Weston McKennie.
He stood out from the beginning. The energy and enthusiasm he brought to training was infectious, and off the pitch his outgoing personality quickly took root, highlighted by him rapping an entire Lil’ Wayne song at the team’s first dinner.
Days later, the pain and frustration felt by USA fans at missing out on Russia 2018 was temporarily wiped away when McKennie scored the opener in the 1-1 draw against a Cristiano Ronaldo-less Portuguese side.
In front of just a few USA supporters in Leiria, McKennie wheeled away in celebration, yelling “Let’s go!” to team-mates. Fast forward more than eight-and-a-half years later and McKennie is still leading celebrations, but they look a lot different.
Following a in the Round of 32 of the , a packed house at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium happily sang along to the John Denver classic Country Roads, McKennie giddily conducting them. With McKennie at the heart of things, USA are flying high.
“America is built on belief, we expected this of ourselves and it doesn’t really matter what anyone on the outside says, we’ll always believe in ourselves and believe in each other,” said McKennie.
But McKennie is way more than just a 'vibes guy.' If anything, he has been USA’s most indispensable player in these finals. The 27-year-old native Texan and Juventus man is the only player to have started all four matches for the co-hosts, and has played all but five minutes.
He is vital at both ends for coach Mauricio Pochettino. Against Bosnia and Herzegovina alone, he made five defensive line-breaking passes, giving him 13 for the tournament, four more than any other player. While he doesn’t have any goals or assists thus far, his presence going forward has helped USA score ten goals, the first time a Concacaf team has reached double digits at a World Cup.
"I think he deserves the full credit because the talent that he has and the capacity, the quality, I think it's him,” said Pochettino in the run-up to the Round of 32 affair. “He realized in some moments, 'I can be better. I can cope with the demands of the game.' That is why I congratulate him because he needs to keep going in this way because he's a fantastic player and he's an important player for us.”
In defence, McKennie is just as valuable. Whether it was the two aerial duels won against Bosnia and Herzegovina, or the tireless running while USA played down a man for the final half-hour, McKennie’s ability to disrupt an opponent going forward is paying massive dividends.
"I think he's really important for us," said defender Sergino Dest. "He's kind of a box-to-box player. He runs a lot. He helps a lot. He goes into the duels with all his efforts so that's really helpful for the team because that's also something we need. We need balance and I feel like we have a lot of different type of players and he's just a really important player for us."
Winning a knockout round match for the first time since 2002, USA will try to make history on 6 July against Belgium in Seattle. If they can achieve that feat, you can best bet that McKennie will have a big hand in both the victory and celebration.
Sources: FIFA Official
