With an eye on the next World Cup, the USMNT is relishing its rare chance to face Germany

FIFA Men’s World Cup

Published Oct. 10, 2023 9:16 p.m. ET

When U.S. Soccer lined up four-time world champion Germany as the men’s national team’s first of two opponents for a pair of friendly games this month, it was considered a coup.

Because the Americans are already assured of a berth at the 2026 FIFA Word Cup as one of the tournament hosts (along with Canada and Mexico), challenging preparation games like Saturday’s exhibition in Hartford, Connecticut (kickoff at 3:07 p.m. ET) will be hard to come by for the USMNT over the next two-plus years.

There will be no trip this cycle to Mexico City’s cavernous Estadio Azteca or the National Stadium in San Jose, Costa Rica — venues where the USMNT have still never won a competitive game. Securing top European and South American foes for friendlies won’t be easy, either, because of global calendar that is becoming more crowded every year.

As FOX Sports reported in July, long-held plans to host Argentina and Brazil last month were scrapped after CONMEBOL, soccer’s governing body in South America, moved the start of its qualifying tourney for 2026 forward to September. Meantime, the expansion of both the CONCACAF and UEFA Nations Leagues has drastically reduced the number of available dates to play squads from other parts of the world.

Even with the next World Cup on these shores, convincing elite national teams to travel stateside can be a tough sell: the DFB, Germany’s federation, has drawn intense criticism from Bundesliga clubs for scheduling Saturday’s contest (and another against Mexico next week in Philadelphia) across the Atlantic in the middle of the domestic season. Given all that, the chance to take on Germany is not one that can be taken for granted for the U.S., which will get another valuable test against frequent World Cup nemesis Ghana on Tuesday in Nashville.

“We all know they’re a world-class team,” U.S. defender Joe Scally, now in his third season with Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, said Tuesday of Germany.

That’s true even if the visitors will arrive at one of the lowest points in its history. After winning a fourth World Cup in 2014, Die Mannschaft failed to advance to the knockout stage both in 2018 and last year in Qatar.

Last month, on the heels of an embarrassing 4-1 loss at home to Japan, the DFB fired coach Hansi Flick and replaced him with ex-Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann. Saturday marks Nagelmann’s first game at the helm. But next summer’s European Championship being staged in Germany, the entire country is desperate for immediate results. Friendly or not, the visitors will be determined to win.

“Obviously there’s a challenge because there is a new coach and a very good coach, a coach that will definitely have his team organized,” U.S. assistant coach B.J. Callaghan said Monday.

“But at the same time,” he added, “We believe in the group that we have here, every player can make an impact.We talk about that all the time, about how everyone’s going to play a role in the match. And it’s just a great opportunity for all of us to challenge ourselves against a team like Germany.”

Accepting that challenge is all well and good. Rising to it is more difficult, but the Americans want to win, too. While Germany holds a 7-4 lead in the all-time series, the U.S. stunned them the last time the nations met, in 2015 in Cologne. Another victory on Saturday would be a significant achievement for the hosts.

“I don’t think anybody looks on the schedule, sees Germany and thinks, like, it’s gonna be an easy win,” said U.S. defender Chris Richards, who came through Bayern’s vaunted youth system and played briefly for Nagelsmann before transferring to Crystal Palace of England’s Premier League last year. “Regardless of what team Germany puts out there, regardless of what’s going on in the background, we know they’re gonna field a strong team. And having played in Germany for four years, you kind of tend to learn the German mentality: They’re all work, no play. So we expect a game like that this weekend, and we’re really looking forward to winning.”

After reaching the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup before falling to the Netherlands, proving that they can beat top teams regularly — or at least on those rare occasions when they get the chance — is the next step for the USMNT.

“We talk about how young our group is but we’re starting to get older now, so these experiences are really important,” goalkeeper Matt Turner said. “If we want to do well in the World Cup in ’26, we need to learn how to win games like the ones we have ahead of us.”

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.