American soccer still has a global stigma: Can the USMNT at this World Cup change that?

playGomez loved what he saw from 'excellent' USMNT vs. Germany (2:37) Eric Wynalda had reached his breaking point. The year was 1992, and "everybody" at then-Bundesliga side FC Saarbrucken, including Wynalda's teammates, had regaled him with taunts of "scheiss Ami" or German for "s--- American." After six weeks of hearing this, he decided to take matters into his own hands. "It resulted in me finally having enough and throwing one of my teammates to the ground and telling him that if he calls me that one more time, he's going to the dentist," Wynalda told ESPN. "And then everybody kind of backed off and said, 'Right, let's stop calling him that.'" They quickly did, though what helped Wynalda's cause even more was scoring both of Saarbrucken's goals in a 2-0 win over local rivals Kaiserslautern. Was the treatment Wynalda received simple banter, or did it speak to the stigma that American players have found themselves subjected to when they try to compete in the upper echelons of soccer abroad? Ultimately, it's probably a bit of both. Although Wynalda's recollection falls at the extreme end of the spectrum, it wasn't unusual for Americans making their initial forays into Europe to endure such treatment, be it from teammates, coaches, fans or media. Former Hannover 96 and U.S. men's national team defender Steve Cherundolo said once he arrived at the German club in 1999, he was treated equally by players and staff, but he noticed a difference in the media. This was particularly evident in the dreaded player ratings, especially if he was playing more defensively from his outside back position. "I don't think there was ever a period where I didn't" feel that stigma, Cherundolo told ESPN. This from a man who was dubbed "The Mayor of Hannover" and made over 400 appearances for the club. USMNT great Landon Donovan felt the same during his days at Bayer Leverkusen, which signed him in 1999. "This was not a personal thing against me or anyone else, but in the early days, you didn't have to be as good as the player you were competing with. You didn't even have to be a little better. You had to be significantly better," he said. "If you were competing with a Turkish guy or a Brazilian guy or a German guy, you just had to [be much better] because they just assumed that Americans didn't know how to play soccer." Not everyone buys the stigma argument. Current Chicago Fire manager Gregg Berhalter, who managed the U.S. from 2018 to 2024, spent time as a player in Europe in the Netherlands, England and Germany. To him, it was less of a stigma than it was ignorance -- there was just a lack of awareness that Americans even played soccer. "We'd just come off the [1994] World Cup, so everyone recognized Alexi Lalas and Tony Meola," Berhalter said. "But other than that, they had no idea that the U.S. was even playing soccer. So, it was like, this is just a total new frontier. But it wasn't like fans or coaches really held it against you." In the past, there was some justification for the skepticism of American players. The sport in the U.S. has gone through some excruciatingly lean periods. For huge swaths of the 20th century, soccer barely existed at a semiprofessional level. The U.S. endured a 40-year period between appearances at the World Cup. Between 1985 and 1995, the U.S. was without what would be considered a topflight domestic league. Even following the advent of MLS in 1996, although the U.S. men's national team has won seven Concacaf Gold Cups and reached the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup, the U.S. has never come close to winning a World Cup. The quarterfinal run in 2002 remains the furthest the U.S. has progressed in that tournament during the modern era. As a result, it was down to the likes of Wynalda, Kasey Keller, Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey to break down the doors, perform on the field and gradually improve the reputation of American players. Solid performances at World Cups -- the U.S. reached at least in the second round in the 2002, 2010, 2014, and 2022 tournaments -- have helped raise that perception further. But other players toiled in relative obscurity, their presence helping to make incremental -- but still important -- gains. "People forget how good Tony Sanneh was. They just do," said Wynalda about the former Nuremburg and Hertha Berlin defender. "So, I mean, I think all those guys, I salute all of them. It used to be the one thing that they could say about America, 'You might be good at everything, but you're not good at this game. This is our game.' And we've finally proven that we deserve to be in that conversation." Download the ESPN app and enable Jeff Carlisle's news alerts to receive push notifications for the latest updates first. Opt in by tapping the alerts bell in the top right corner. For more information, click here. Thanks to the current group of American players performing overseas, the assessment of American players has never been higher. Players such as AC Mi

American soccer still has a global stigma: Can the USMNT at this World Cup change that?

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American soccer still has a global stigma: Can the USMNT at this World Cup change that?

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