KANSAS CITY — It wasn’t the storybook ending American soccer fans had hoped. But the U.S. Men’s National Team is on the right path.

That’s the consensus among many pundits, including 2002 Madison graduate Ryan Pore.

Pore is entering his seventh season as the head coach at Division I Kansas City. He led the Roos to the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons.

“We’re all disappointed with the way it ended, but I think this World Cup was a success,” said Pore, the two-time reigning Summit League Coach of the Year. “It was arguably our best start to a World Cup campaign ever.”

USMNT went 2-1 in group play

The Americans were 2-1 in group play, winning Group D and advancing to the expanded 32-team knockout stage. The Stars and Stripes opened group play with an impressive 4-1 win over Paraguay in Los Angeles.

“My son and I flew out to our first game in L.A. against Paraguay,” Pore said. “That was one of the most dynamic, athletic, ball-playing teams I’ve seen from the U.S. 

“We had Paraguay on the ropes almost the entire game.”

The long-standing — and unsubstantiated — claim is America’s top athletes don’t play soccer, instead gravitating to baseball, basketball and football.

Not so, Pore said.

“I thought throughout the tournament our athleticism really showed,” said Pore, himself a multi-sport star and still Madison’s career scoring leader in basketball. “We have good athletes playing soccer and that shown through in our first four games.

“Our athleticism stood out.”

Knockout matches started well, ended badly

Team USA beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in the first round of the knockout stage before suffering a disheartening 4-1 loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 in Seattle on Monday.

“I don’t know if it was playing in a knockout game in our own country, but I felt like there was some pressure there for the guys,” Pore said. “They didn’t replicate the same type of performance they had the four games prior.

“It was unfortunate the way it played out against Belgium.”

The U.S. fell behind 1-0 early after a defensive error, but equalized on Malik Tillman’s free kick in the 31st minute.

The Red Devils reclaimed the lead 61 seconds later on Charles De Ketelaere’s second goal and never trailed again. The Americans conceded a bad goal to Hans Vanaken in the 57th minute when goalkeeper Matt Freese failed to clear the ball after leaving the box.

“You can’t give up those types of goals in a World Cup, in a knockout game,” Pore said. “I think it comes down to experience in those situations.

“Those guys have to play in those environments more.”

United States development landscape changing

Pore played four years of high school soccer at Madison, scoring 154 career goals — sixth on the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s unofficial all-time list. 

He ranks second on the OHSAA’s single-season list after scoring 62 goals as a senior for the Rams.

The greatest soccer player in program history likely wouldn’t have played a minute of high school soccer today.

Instead, Pore would have probably been steered into an academy setting.

U.S. soccer introduced the development academy model in 2007. The nationwide network of club teams disbanded in 2020, but by then Major League Soccer franchises had adopted the academy model.

All 30 MLS franchises have their own youth academies, designed to identify and develop top young players.

One of the stipulations of academy soccer is players can’t compete for their high school teams.

Pore’s son, Luca, plays for Sporting Kansas City’s 15U academy team. He is an incoming freshman.

“He’s on the professional pathway,” Pore said. “We try to tell Luca there are some good aspects about high school sports — about being a part of a team and being part of the school spirit. He lacks a little of that, but he tells us this is what he wants to do and we try to be supportive.

“I would have loved to have the opportunity to play soccer year-round, but I probably would have missed basketball a little bit. The model that existed when I was playing worked for me, but we probably needed to make some changes to develop our top players,” he said.

The youth development piece is still a work in progress, Pore said. 

“We’re still trying to figure out the youth development level,” he said. “The pay-to-play model is not great, but people can make a lot of money off youth sports. I think we lose a lot of kids.

“How do we find a way to bring the costs down so we’re not losing talented young players to pay-to-play?”

College soccer is still a pathway

After graduating from Madison, Pore played three collegiate seasons at Tulsa. 

He was a two-time All-American and a finalist for the Hermann Trophy in 2004 before declaring for the 2005 MLS draft. He was selected by the then Kansas City Wizards with the 16th overall pick in the second round.

Pore played four seasons with the Wizards and spent three seasons with the Portland Timbers as the franchise transitioned to the MLS. He retired after the 2011 season and began coaching collegiately in 2013.

He was an assistant at Tulsa from 2013 to 2016 and served as the associate head coach from 2017 to 2019 before taking the top job at Kansas City.

With the nation’s top players migrating to academies and then directly into pro soccer, what role does collegiate soccer play?

“We’re still a pathway,” Pore said. “I think there are five or six guys (on the USMNT) who went to college.”

Pore’s roster at Kansas City has a distinctively international feel. His 2025 team included players from 12 countries.

“Ideally, we want to get Kansas City kids,” Pore said. “The international players see the value of playing at a high level and going to college. It’s really hard in Europe to do both, so they like our model.

“We have a lot to sell here for international players. “

Will the USMNT be ready for the next World Cup?

This year’s World Cup will conclude July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. 

The 2030 event will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco with the opening matches in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup.

Will the Stars and Stripes be ready to hoist the coveted gold trophy by then?

“I think we’re down the right path,” Pore said. “(Mauricio) Pochettino is the right coach. He’s embraced our culture and our country. 

“I would like for him to get at least four more years to continue that pathway.”

The 2030 roster will likely look significantly different from the 2026 edition.

“There are some areas where we need to improve,” Pore said. “Freese showed a little bit of his naivety playing at that level and (Tim) Ream is phasing out.

“We have a lot of key players in place. We need to replace a couple of guys but again it’s how do we find a way to continue to invest in the youth and … develop better players. It’s a fine line.”