Tyler Adams sets World Cup semifinals goal for USMNT after draw - ESPN

WASHINGTON — Tyler Adams has set a bold goal for the United States men's national team, aiming to reach the World Cup semifinals for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1930.

«Everyone's going to want us to say winning it is obviously the goal,» the American midfielder said Friday after the World Cup draw, «but I think setting the benchmark of the furthest the U.S. team has gone is also realistic.»

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The 14th-ranked U.S. will start Group D against No. 39 Paraguay on June 12 in Inglewood, California, and then play 26th-ranked Australia six days later in Seattle. The Americans conclude the group stage on June 25 back at SoFi Stadium against the winner of playoffs among Türkiye (25), Slovakia (45), Romania (47) and Kosovo (80).

«Getting three points right off right off the bat like that would be would be an amazing start for us and just put us in a great position in the group,» Christian Pulisic said.

It appears to be among the less difficult of the 12 groups. The top two in each advance to the new round of 32 along with the best four third-place teams.

«Listen, we all want to win a World Cup,» defender Tim Ream said. «You don't play a tournament just to be there and so we've had conversations, Chris and I have had conversations about, yeah, we wan to win. I think people can laugh and say whatever they want.»

In recent friendlies, the U.S. lost 2-1 to Türkiye in June, beat Australia 2-1 in October and defeated Paraguay 2-1 last month.

«Potentially we played all three of these teams in the last six months but that can be a little bit of a false