Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic thinks the United States can win the World Cup, telling supporters to “start believing” after they topped their group with a game to spare.
Friday’s comfortable 2-0 victory over Australia in Seattle, coupled with Turkiye’s 1-0 loss to 10-man Paraguay later in the day, confirmed the USA as Group D winners.
They are the second team to mathematically confirm their spot in the knockout stages at this year’s tournament after Mexico, and they will now face a third-place finisher in their last-32 tie on July 1, at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.
Having routed Paraguay 4-1 in their first match, this is only the second time that the USA have won back-to-back World Cup games, having only previously done so in their first two games of the inaugural 1930 tournament.
And their six goals in 2026 are just one shy of their single-tournament record, having netted seven times in both 1930 and 2002.
The Opta supercomputer now assigns Mauricio Pochettino’s side a 4.6% chance of shocking the world and lifting the trophy, the eighth-highest probability at the tournament after France (15.4%), Argentina (11.8%), Spain (11.7%), England (11.6%), Germany (6.3%), Brazil and Portugal (both 5.6%)
And when asked by Fox Sports presenter Rebecca Lowe if the co-hosts could go all the way, former Sweden striker-turned pundit Ibrahimovic replied: “Yes.”
— U.S. Soccer Men’s National Team (@USMNT) June 19, 2026
He added: “If you didn’t believe before, I will repeat; start believing.
“They have the country behind them, and when you have this support, it’s difficult to beat you. They had a good performance today. To be honest, Australia was not a threat.
“I said it before, that whatever happened before the World Cup doesn’t matter. It is important what happens now.
“Now, the momentum they have, that is what they need. They just need to continue bringing confidence from game to game.
“The third game, let’s see what happens now. They can rest some players now that they have qualified. It is looking good.”
There is nothing riding on the USA’s final Group D game, against Turkiye in Los Angeles on Thursday, as Vincenzo Montella’s side are already confirmed to finish bottom.
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