The last time the United States hosted the World Cup, Bill Clinton was in the White House, Nirvana was on the radio, and most Americans couldn't name a single player on their national team.

Thirty-two years later, the tournament is back — co-hosted with Mexico and Canada — and so is the question that has haunted American soccer ever since: is this finally the moment the sport breaks through?

The short answer, according to nearly everyone inside the game, is: it had better be.

"We can no longer have low expectations," said Alexi Lalas, the red-bearded defender who became one of the unlikely faces of the 1994 tournament and is now an outspoken TV commentator.

"The opportunities and the infrastructure we've built since 1994 have gone into producing better soccer players — anything less than the round of 16 is ultimately a failure."

The US takes the next step towards the World Cup when it faces Belgium in a friendly on Saturday.

Speaking at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, players, executives and broadcasters painted a picture of a sport at an inflection point.

Much has changed in three decades. When FIFA awarded the 1994 World Cup to the United States, it came with a condition: the Americans had to establish a top-tier professional league. It was, at the time, a leap of faith.

That faith has been rewarded — slowly, and then all at once.

Major League Soccer has attracted superstars like Lionel Messi and has better average attendance than many leagues in Europe.

"It's actually the third most popular sport in the US — it beats baseball," said Bettina Garibaldi, chief marketing and communications officer for the 2026 FIFA World Cup New York New Jersey Host Committee.

"That officially came out as of January. So you can see how much the sport, in and of itself, is growing."

100 million strong

In the decades since the 1994 finals, US soccer fans have begun to show a keen interest in the game around the world.

Nuria Tarre, chief marketing officer at Manchester City and the City Football Group, said: "There are already 100 million people interested in soccer in the United States.

"Some 32 million say they're interested in Manchester City. The numbers are crazy."

Her club's ownership of New York City FC means that fan conversion — from casual World Cup viewer to committed supporter — has direct commercial stakes.

"It's just going to be more eyeballs into the game, probably some newcomers," Tarre said.

"The hope for everyone in the ecosystem is to translate these new interests into club fans."

The 1994 World Cup did something that no marketing campaign could have engineered: it made Americans care, at least briefly, about a sport their country had long ignored.

Packed stadiums carried a shock of excitement that reverberated through youth programs for many years afterward. Five years later, the women's team delivered something more lasting.

The 1999 Women's World Cup, played on US soil and culminating in Brandi Chastain's iconic penaltykick celebration, proved that soccer could capture a nation's imagination.

Messi factory

But, enthusiasm and expectation only go so far.

Former US player Jozy Altidore is clear-eyed about what still needs to change.

"Academies abroad are by far more robust," he said.

"It's almost like a factory — Messi leaves Barcelona, here comes (Lamine) Yamal. It's not an accident."

Building that kind of pipeline in the United States requires more than money.

Altidore said the key was to build environments that challenge players rather than coddle them.

"That's the only way to find out what makes you a special player."

He argued that real infrastructure means grassroots investment, not just elite facilities.

"It's more than just soccer balls and cleats. It's everything attached to it."

Stu Holden, the former midfielder turned broadcaster, said expectations have legitimately shifted.

"We've invested so much more in the game, and our expectations should not be those of the past," he said.

"It's based in realism now, that we should expect this group can get to a semifinal and final."

Carli Lloyd, the two-time women's World Cup winner who knows better than most what a tournament on home soil can mean, frames the stakes differently.

"The measure of success with this team... is going to be how much they inspire the country. That is the power that they have — and that is in their control."

AFP