‘Electrifying'-NFL Legend Compares USMNT to Super Bowl Champions
To put it into terms that even the newest of American soccer fans can understand, the U.S. men's national team has the ‘magic' of Super Bowl champions.
The USMNT has dominated the 2026 World Cup on home soil so far this summer, cruising to two group stage victories to cement the top spot in Group D and a place in the knockout stages, all with a match to spare. The squad faces Türkiye on Thursday, but the game holds no significance for tournament standing, allowing the team some sweet respite before clashing with a more formidable foe in the round of 32.
It's hard to pinpoint the exact reason for the Stars and Stripes' recent success, something the team has previously struggled to find in soccer's showpiece event.
Former NFL All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Freeman claims its the very same element that turns an American football team into Super Bowl champions. He know what he's talking about, too.
Freeman not only made back-to-back Super Bowl runs with the Green Bay Packers (1996, 1997), winning Super Bowl XXXI with a 35–21 victory over the New England Patriots, but he also has a deep familiarity with the USMNT. He is the father of star defender Alex Freeman, after all.
"I've had the opportunity to be around these guys, at their hotel and I got the chance to stop by practice," Freeman said about the USMNT on the Rich Eisen Show Wednesday. "... Man, what I see is magic. I don't like to compare a lot, but the love and camaraderie we had in that locker room when we were winning Super Bowls and making Super Bowl runs, [it's there].
"It's almost electrifying when I walk into his team hotel. They all like each other. They all get along. They all just want to win, and they want to win for this country."
That Super Bowl-Caliber ‘Magic'
After the Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl LX this past February, defeating the Patriots 29–13, star linebacker Ernest Jones got up to the microphone ahead of the victory parade through downtown.
"If you got anything to say about my quarterback, if you got anything to say about my defense, if you got anything to say about our o[ffensive]-line, and you got anything to say about the city of Seattle, I got two words for you: F--- you!"
Jones's so eloquently-worded speech harkened back to the several times throughout the NFL season that he and his teammates had rushed to each other's defense, especially quarterback Sam Darnold who had struggled in big moments earlier in the fall.
It was this fierce brotherhood that characterized the entire Super Bowl-winning team and allowed them to defy everyone's expectations. A similar fire stokes within the USMNT.
It isn't just proven by the lockstep that the U.S. plays in on the pitch, shifting seamlessly, interweaving with fluidity and often connecting passes of 30-plus in a row. It's proven in the way star player Christian Pulisic's teammates vehemently defended him amid his long goal-scoring drought.
It's the way the players celebrate when they score, encompassing even those on the bench and 54-year-old Pochettino in the hearty dogpile.
It's the way Pulisic pep-talked striker Ricardo Pepi, who replaced him in the starting lineup against Australia amid his leg injury. It's the way the team has been unwavering in its belief that it could actually win the entire tournament, when every history book suggests otherwise.
"This is the best team in the U.S. that they have put together, and all of these guys just want to win. Their camaraderie, it glows, whether they know it or not," Freeman said. "It glows. Not only on the field."
The USMNT has already begun rewriting history, winning two group stage matches for the first time since 1930 and the first time ever in the modern era of the World Cup, and the team appears poised to set even more records.
"I just hope that these guys continue to glow, keep that energy, play hard, play physical and believe in themselves because they are right there on the cusp of doing something great," Freeman added.
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This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 7:30 PM.