Team USA eyes World Cup quarterfinals in John Harkes full-circle moment
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The United States men’s national team has an opportunity to make history by reaching the World Cup quarterfinals on home soil Monday night.
With a win over Belgium on Monday, Team USA will be one of the “elite eight” remaining teams in the World Cup, the most since 2002.
The popularity of football increased greatly in 1994, when the US team reached the knockout stage on home soil and John Harkes, one of the members of this team and the focal point of football, emerged. FOX ONE’s “Summer of ’94” The docuseries believes this year is a “full circle moment.”
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USA’s John Harkes (6) faces Switzerland’s Marc Hottiger (2) in the Group Stage match at the Pontiac Silverdome. Pontiac, Michigan. (John Biever/Getty Images)
“I was at the (Round 32) game with my son, his wife, our grandson and my wife, and the national anthem always gets me and the emotions come back. You look back at the years we played and what we brought to the game in 1990 and ’94. It was huge to be here. Thirty-two years later, it’s really important for us to tell the stories because these are new audiences and they need to know the stories. Harkes told Fox News Digital in a recent interview: “Knowing the history of the game and that’s something that continues in our country. It’s part of education.”
“We always try to tell these stories the right way, and we have these platforms. The best way to do that is to win. And now we have guys all over the world competing and playing with great talent, great skill, and we see them now. But the emotions that come out in the stadium in these games are unreal for me to really control. But I love it. I’m so excited and happy that it’s happening.”
Harkes admitted feeling the added “pressure” of trying to grow football in his home country as he competes for football’s most coveted trophy. But this was something they had to “accept”. They did so with the help of beating Colombia to advance to the knockout stages, and this year’s team are on course to do the same after last week’s thrilling 2-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
USA fans celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between the USA and Bosnia and Herzegovina at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on July 1, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Alex Pantling – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
LANDON DONOVAN REMEMBER HIS LIFE-CHANGING WORLD CUP MOMENT Amid PLAYERS’ ‘RESPONSIBILITY’ OF THE GROWING GAME IN THE USA
“When you do something like this, it wakes up a nation,” Harkes added.
Harkes currently serves as the coach and assistant coach of the USA U15 team at McLean Youth Soccer in Virginia and wants to see respectful coaches grow as the sport grows.
“Yes Coach!” Harkes, who was a part of the event, said, “We are creating platforms for these kids to not only have fun and compete, but also to gain life skills. We are supposed to be mentors. It is a mentorship that you take on, and when you take on that responsibility, you are there for the player, you are there for the kids, and you are also there for the parents.” said the team. “We’re in a really good position right now across the game in this country where coaches have to come in with full responsibility, communicate openly and be good role models. “If you can be that good of a role model and help mentor other coaches to be good coaches where they put the player first, those are the life skills they need and they need to be able to understand the game and respect the game.
“We see too many coaches wanting the win-at-all-costs mentality. I see them yelling at kids from the sidelines and kids second-guessing everything. They’re not even having fun. It’s not business. It’s supposed to be sports. It’s supposed to be fun, they need to be together as a team, they need to build camaraderie, they need to understand what sacrifice means for the player next to you, for your friend and for you to grow in those relationships. So how many times can we mentor coaches to understand that part, their role and what they’re doing with these kids is the most important part of the game, and that’s better than doing it right now.” It can’t be a good platform.”
Harkes knows what the 1994 World Cup did to football and he also knows what more this year’s event can do.
The United States celebrates victory after the FIFA 2026 World Cup Round of 32 match between the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on July 1, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (François Nel/Getty Images)
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“That summer of ’94 was incredible. Honestly, what we did in ’94 was unprecedented…” Harkes said. “And now we have this opportunity, we’ve created a lot of passion around the men’s game. Those stories are now preserved from the past. People know who they are. We’re bringing that to the game today and what they’re doing on the field. It’s just a perfect match. It really is. So there’s a lot of success coming out of that. I’m really excited about what we’ve done in the past and what we’re doing now. So let’s continue to support our USA team and push them forward. As far as they can go.”
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