DOHA, Qatar — Eight years ago, Jurgen Klinsmann famously said it was impossible for his United States men’s national team to win the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He said it to me in an extended interview for The New York Times Magazine a few months before the tournament, then doubled down on it in a news conference in Sao Paulo just before the USMNT opener. Klinsmann felt it was important to be blunt, but many American fans — and some of Klinsmann’s own players — were troubled by what felt like a defeatist attitude.
On Saturday, in an exclusive interview with ESPN two days before his US team opens the World Cup, head coach Gregg Berhalter considered the same question. He paused, just a for a moment, then smiled.
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“What I do believe,” he said, “is that on our best day we can beat anyone in the world. Anyone.”
That’s the mentality Berhalter has ingrained in his young team, pushing them to embrace the idea that the only way they’ll make history is if they believe they can. To help advance that way of thinking, Berhalter recently organized a team meeting in which Eric Thomas, a popular motivational speaker with a remarkable personal story of rising up from homelessness, talked with the players about the incredible power of belief.
