USA

Early years

The first U.S. national soccer team was constituted in 1885, when it played Canada in the first international match held outside the United Kingdom. Canada defeated the U.S. 1–0 in Newark, New Jersey. The U.S. had its revenge the following year when it beat Canada 1–0, also in Newark, although neither match was officially recognized. The U.S. earned both silver and bronze medals in men's soccer at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Olympics through Christian Brothers College and St. Rose Parish, though the tournament is declared official only by the IOC (FIFA doesn't endorse tournaments held before 1908). The U.S. played its first official international match under the auspices of U.S. Soccer on August 20, 1916, against Sweden in Stockholm, where the U.S. won 3–2.

The U.S. fielded a team in the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, the first ever World Cup to be played. The U.S. began group play by beating Belgium 3–0. The U.S. then earned a 3–0 victory over Paraguay, with FIFA crediting Bert Patenaude with two of the goals. In November 2006, FIFA announced that it had accepted evidence that Patenaude scored all three goals against Paraguay, and was thus the first person to score a hat trick in a World Cup. In the semifinals, the U.S. lost to Argentina 6–1. There was no third place game. However, using the overall tournament records in 1986, FIFA credited the U.S. with a third-place finish ahead of fellow semifinalist Yugoslavia. This remains the U.S. team's best World Cup result, and is the highest finish of any team from outside of South America and Europe.

The U.S. qualified for the 1934 World Cup by defeating Mexico 4–2 in Italy a few days before the finals started. In a straight knock-out format, the team first played host Italy and lost 7–1, eliminating the U.S. from the tournament. At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the U.S. again lost to Italy in the first round and were eliminated, although this time with a score of 1–0. Italy went on to win both tournaments, being a dominant team of that era.

The 1950 World Cup in Brazil was the next World Cup appearance for the U.S., as it withdrew in 1938 and the tournament wasn't held again until 1950. The U.S. lost its first match 3–1 against Spain, but then won 1–0 against England at Independência Stadium in Belo Horizonte. Striker Joe Gaetjens was the goal scorer. Called "The Miracle on Grass", the result is considered one of the greatest upsets in the history of the World Cup. In their third game of the tournament, a 5–2 defeat by Chile saw the U.S. eliminated from the tournament. The U.S. would not make another appearance in the World Cup finals for four decades.

1960s–1980s

The national team spent the mid-to-late 20th century in near complete irrelevance in both the international game and the domestic sporting scene. There was only one World Cup berth for CONCACAF during this period until 1982. The emergence of the North American Soccer League in the 1960s and 1970s raised hopes that the U.S. national team would soon improve and become a global force. However such hopes were not realized and by the 1980s the U.S. Soccer Federation found itself in serious financial struggles, with the national team playing only two matches from 1981 to 1983. U.S. Soccer targeted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1986 World Cup as means of rebuilding the national team and its fan base. The International Olympic Committee declared that teams from outside Europe and South America could field full senior teams, including professionals (until then, the amateur-only rule had heavily favored socialist countries from Eastern Europe whose players were professionals in all but name). The U.S. had a very strong showing at the tournament, beating Costa Rica, tying Egypt, losing only to favorite Italy and finishing 1–1–1 but didn't make the second round, losing to Egypt on a tiebreaker (both had three points).

To provide a more stable national team program and renew interest in the NASL, U.S. Soccer entered the national team into the NASL league schedule for the 1983 season as Team America. This team lacked the continuity and regularity of training that conventional clubs enjoy, and many players were unwilling to play for the national team instead of their own clubs when conflicts arose. Team America finished the season at the bottom of the league, with U.S. Soccer canceling the experiment and withdrawing the national team from the NASL after one season. By the end of 1984, the NASL had folded, leaving the U.S. without a single professional-level outdoor soccer league.

The U.S. bid to host the 1986 FIFA World Cup after Colombia withdrew from contention due to economic concerns, but FIFA selected Mexico to host the tournament. In the last game of CONCACAF qualifying for the 1986 World Cup, the U.S. needed only a tie against Costa Rica to reach the final qualification group against Honduras and Canada. U.S. Soccer scheduled the game to be played in Torrance, California, an area with many Costa Rican expatriates, and marketed the game almost exclusively to the Costa Rican community. Costa Rica won the match 1–0, and kept the U.S. from reaching its fourth World Cup finals.

In 1988, U.S. Soccer attempted to re-implement its national-team-as-club concept, offering contracts to players to train with the national program full-time while occasionally loaning them to club teams as a revenue source for the federation. This brought many key veterans back into the program and allowed the team to begin playing more matches which, combined with an influx of talent from new youth clubs and leagues established across the nation in the wake of the NASL's popularity, allowed the national team to end the 1980s with optimism and higher hopes of qualifying for the 1990 World Cup than had existed for previous tournaments.

1990s

On July 4, 1988, FIFA named the U.S. as the host of the 1994 World Cup under significant international criticism given the perceived weakness of the national team and the lack of a professional outdoor league. The success of the 1984 Summer Olympics played a major role in FIFA's decision. Criticism diminished somewhat when a 1–0 win against Trinidad and Tobago, the first road win for the U.S. in nearly two years, in the last match of the 1989 CONCACAF Championship, earned the U.S. its first World Cup appearance in 40 years, although their journey was significantly eased by the disqualification of CONCACAF powerhouse Mexico.

The team was coached by Bob Gansler, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and U20 national team coach, in preparation for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, with two of the team's more experienced players, Rick Davis and Hugo Perez, recovering from serious injuries and unavailable for selection. Rather than fill out his team with veteran professionals from U.S. indoor soccer leagues, Gansler and his assistant Stejem Mark chose to select many younger players with better conditioning for the outdoor game, including several collegiate players such as Virginia goalkeeper Tony Meola. The U.S. entered the tournament as massive underdogs and suffered defeats in all three of its group games to Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Austria. Defenders Jimmy Banks and Desmond Armstrong became the first African Americans to appear in a World Cup match for the United States.

In a noteworthy match, in the 1993 U.S. Cup, the U.S. beat England 2–0. After qualifying automatically as the host of the 1994 World Cup under Bora Milutinović, the U.S. opened the tournament schedule with a 1–1 tie against Switzerland in the Pontiac Silverdome in the suburbs of Detroit, the first World Cup game played indoors. In its second game, the U.S. faced Colombia, then ranked fourth in the world, at the Rose Bowl. Aided by an own goal from Andrés Escobar, the U.S. won 2–1. Escobar was later murdered in his home country, possibly in retaliation for this mistake. Despite a 1–0 loss to Romania in its final group game, the U.S. made it past the initial round for the first time since 1930. In the round of 16, the U.S. lost 1–0 to the eventual champion Brazil. Despite this success, the team fired Bora in 1995, reportedly because he was not interested in administrative duties.

In a 1995 friendly, the U.S. came back from 3–0 to win 4–3 against Saudi Arabia, the biggest comeback in the team's history. That same year, the team participated as guests in the 1995 Copa América, where they finished first in their group after beating Chile and Argentina, advancing to the quarterfinals. In that stage, the U.S. defeated Mexico on penalties, and then lost to Brazil 1–0 in the semifinals. The United States finished fourth after losing to Colombia 4–1.

In the 1998 World Cup in France, the team lost all three group matches, 2–0 to Germany, 2–1 to Iran, and 1–0 to Yugoslavia, finishing dead last in the field of 32. Head coach Steve Sampson received much of the blame for the performance as a result of abruptly cutting team captain John Harkes, whom Sampson had named "Captain for Life" shortly before, as well as several other players who were instrumental to the qualifying effort, from the squad. Thomas Dooley became the captain at that point. It emerged in February 2010 that Sampson removed Harkes from the team due to Harkes allegedly having an affair with teammate Eric Wynalda's wife.

2000–2019

The U.S. qualified for the 2002 World Cup; under Bruce Arena, the U.S. reached the quarterfinals, its best finish in a World Cup since 1930. The team advanced in the group stage with a 1W–1D–1L record, beginning with a 3–2 upset win over Portugal, followed by a 1–1 tie with co-host and eventual semifinalist, South Korea. The third and final match was a 3–1 loss to Poland; the team still got to the round of 16 when South Korea defeated Portugal. This set the stage for a face-off with continental rivals Mexico, the first time they met in a World Cup. The U.S. won the game 2–0. Brian McBride opened the scoring early, and Landon Donovan doubled the lead in the 65th minute. In the quarterfinals, where it met Germany, the U.S. lost 1–0 after being denied a penalty when Torsten Frings handled the ball to prevent a Gregg Berhalter goal. All of the U.S. games in the 2002 World Cup were played in South Korea and all their victories came wearing the white uniform, while their only defeats came while wearing the blue uniform. Donovan won the Best Young Player for the tournament.

In the 2006 World Cup, after finishing top of the CONCACAF qualification tournament, the U.S. was drawn into Group E along with the Czech Republic, Italy, and Ghana. The United States opened the tournament with a 3–0 loss to the Czech Republic. The team then tied 1–1 against eventual winners Italy, and then were knocked out of the tournament when they were beaten 2–1 by Ghana in its final group match, with Clint Dempsey scoring the U.S.'s only goal in the tournament (the goal against Italy had been an own goal by Italian defender Cristian Zaccardo). Following the tournament, Arena's contract was not renewed. After the national team remained dormant for the rest of 2006 while negotiating with various coaches, the federation hired former Chicago Fire, MetroStars and Chivas USA head coach Bob Bradley in early 2007.

Bradley began his competitive career with the national team with the 2007 Gold Cup. In the final, the United States beat Mexico 2–1, which qualified it for the 2009 Confederations Cup.

The U.S. had a notable performance at the 2009 Confederations Cup, defeating top-ranked Spain, who were on a 35-game undefeated streak, 2–0. With the win, the United States advanced to its first-ever final in a men's FIFA tournament. The team lost 3–2 to Brazil after leading 2–0 at half time.

The United States then hosted the 2009 Gold Cup. In the final, the United States was beaten by Mexico 5–0. This defeat broke the U.S. team's 58-match home unbeaten streak against CONCACAF opponents, and was the first home loss to Mexico since 1999.

In the fourth round of the 2010 World Cup qualification, the U.S. began by beating Mexico 2–0. The February 2009 loss extended Mexico's losing streak against America on U.S. soil to 11 matches. Jozy Altidore became the youngest U.S. player to score a hat-trick, in a 3–0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago. Near the end of the summer of 2009, the United States lost 2–1 to Mexico at Estadio Azteca. On October 10, the U.S. secured qualification to the 2010 World Cup with a 3–2 win over Honduras. Four days later, the U.S. finished in first place in the group with a 2–2 tie against Costa Rica.

In the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the U.S. team was drawn in Group C against England, Slovenia and Algeria. After drawing against England (1–1) and Slovenia (2–2), the U.S. defeated Algeria 1–0 with a stoppage-time goal from Landon Donovan, taking first place in a World Cup Finals group for the first time since 1930. In the round of 16, the U.S. was eliminated by Ghana, 2–1. On FIFA's ranking of World Cup teams the U.S. finished in 12th place out of the 32-team field.

The U.S. again hosted the Gold Cup in 2011. The U.S. advanced past the group stage, then defeated Jamaica 2–0 in the quarterfinals and Panama 1–0 in the semifinals before losing to Mexico 4–2 in the final. Later in the summer, Bob Bradley was relieved of his duties and former German national team manager Jürgen Klinsmann was hired as head coach.

The U.S. had some success in friendlies in 2012 and 2013. The U.S. team won 1–0 in Italy on February 29, 2012, the team's first-ever win over Italy. On June 2, 2013, the U.S. played a friendly against Germany at a sold-out RFK Stadium in Washington D.C., with the U.S. winning 4–3. In July 2013, the U.S. hosted the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup where it went undefeated in the group stage and won with a 1–0 victory over Panama in the final, with Landon Donovan winning the tournament's golden ball award.

A 4–3 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in an international friendly match in Sarajevo represented the 12th straight win for the USMNT, the longest winning streak for any team in the world at that time. The 12 game winning streak ended September 6, 2013, when the U.S. lost to Costa Rica 3–1 in San José. In 2013 the national team played the final round of qualification, and by defeating Mexico in September, the U.S. clinched a spot in the 2014 World Cup.

The U.S. absorbed many German elements leading up to the 2014 World Cup. U.S.'s German head coach Jürgen Klinsmann surprised the U.S. soccer world by calling up five "Jürgen Americans"—half-blooded Germans born and professionally trained in Germany—to the 23-men squad in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The U.S. was drawn into Group G, along with Ghana, Germany, and Portugal. The U.S. took revenge on the Ghanaians, winning 2–1. They tied their second group game against Portugal 2–2. In the final game of the group stage, the U.S. fell to Germany 1–0, but moved on to the knockout stage on goal difference. This was the first time that the team made two consecutive trips to the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup. In the round of 16, the U.S. lost 2–1 to Belgium in extra time, despite goalkeeper Tim Howard making a World Cup record 15 saves during the match.

The national team's next tournament under Klinsmann was the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The U.S. were eliminated by Jamaica 2–1 in the semifinals, before losing to Panama on penalties in the third place match. The fourth-place finish was the worst Gold Cup performance by the national team since 2000, and the first time the team failed to make the tournament final since 2003. In the 2015 CONCACAF Cup playoff to determine the region's entry to the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, the U.S. were defeated 3–2 by Mexico at the Rose Bowl.

In June 2016, the U.S. played as hosts of Copa América Centenario. The U.S. topped Group A on goal difference against Colombia. The U.S. beat Ecuador 2–1 in the quarterfinals, but then fell to Argentina 4–0 and lost to Colombia again 1–0 in the third place match. They finished fourth at the Copa América, tying their best finish ever in 1995.

Following consecutive losses to Mexico and Costa Rica in the opening games of the final round of qualification for the 2018 World Cup, Klinsmann was removed as national team coach and technical director and replaced by previous U.S. head coach Bruce Arena. World Cup qualification resumed on March 24, 2017, where Arena and his team had a record 6–0 win over Honduras. Four days later, the team traveled to Panama City, drawing Panama 1–1. After beating Trinidad and Tobago 2–0, the U.S. got their third ever result in World Cup Qualification at the Estadio Azteca when they drew 1–1 against Mexico. In July 2017, the U.S. won their sixth CONCACAF Gold Cup with a 2–1 win over Jamaica in the final. Following a 2–1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago on October 10, 2017, the U.S. failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, missing the tournament for the first time since 1986. Many pundits and analysts called this the worst result and worst performance in the history of the national team.

Following Arena's resignation on October 13, 2017, assistant coach Dave Sarachan was named interim head coach during the search for a permanent replacement. The search for a permanent head coach was delayed by the USSF presidential election in February 2018 and the hiring of Earnie Stewart as general manager in June 2018. Gregg Berhalter, coach of the Columbus Crew and a former USMNT defender, was announced as the team's new head coach on December 2, 2018.

2019–present

Under Berhalter the team lost in the 2019 Gold Cup Final 1–0 against Mexico, denying them a chance at becoming back-to-back champions. Throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s, an influx of new young talent began to grow into a host of players playing for top European clubs, with Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, Timothy Weah, Sergiño Dest, and Gio Reyna being some of the more notable names. This new group won the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League in 2021 with a classic 3–2 victory against Mexico in the final. An entirely different team also won the Gold Cup against Mexico later that summer. With a 1–0 friendly victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on December 18, 2021, the team set a program record for wins in a calendar year, with 17 wins, 2 losses, and 3 draws. The young group has been widely described as America's golden generation.

The United States qualified for the 2022 World Cup by finishing third in the final qualifying round. The qualifying campaign included an unbeaten record at home and a draw away to Mexico at Estadio Azteca. Grouped with England, Iran, and Wales in Group B, the team advanced to the knockout stage as runners-up with five points and without losing a game. There, they faced the Netherlands, suffering a 3–1 defeat. Midfielder Kellyn Acosta became the first Asian American to appear for the U.S. at a World Cup.

After Berhalter's contract expired in December 2022, the U.S. searched for an interim head coach. Under B.J. Callaghan, in June 2023, the United States successfully defended their Nations League trophy by winning the 2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League. The team conceded no goals in the finals, winning 3–0 against Mexico and 2–0 against Canada in the final. In July 2023, the U.S. with a different squad lost to Panama in a penalty shootout in the 2023 Gold Cup.

The United States automatically qualified for the 2026 World Cup as co-host in February 2023, and secured a spot at the U.S.-hosted 2024 Copa America by defeating Trinidad and Tobago 4–2 over two legs in November 2023. Gregg Berhalter was reappointed as coach of the United States on June 16, 2023, and he will lead the team until the end of the 2026 World Cup. In March 2024, the United States won the 2023–24 CONCACAF Nations League, achieving the team's third title in a row after defeating Mexico 2–0 in the final.