🇺🇸 After CNL triumph, how good can the USMNT be?

PLUS: Shootouts in GCQ, Honduras skips Bourbon Street

The United States has done it again, defending its Concacaf Nations League crown with a 2-0 victory over Canada in Sunday’s final.

It looked fantastic doing it. Neither Mexico in the semifinal nor Canada in the final really made the U.S. sweat. While Alphonso Davies tried to shift past the U.S. defense and Jonathan David and Tajon Buchanan drew Matt Turner into action, the Americans were clearly the better team, days after they convincingly topped Mexico in the semifinals.

You know that. You probably watched the game or are going to check out the highlights.

So, what to write in the newsletter? Let’s look ahead to the future. With spirits high and optimism raised for fans of the CNL champion, the question becomes how far the U.S. can go. It looked this good under interim manager B.J. Callaghan. How good could the U.S. be with more time?

Here are three reasons the U.S. will ride this wave to its best World Cup ever in 2026 - and a very big reason why that might not happen.

Floarin Balogun

The forward picked the U.S. rather than holding out for England (or Nigeria) and lived up to what every hype video watching, American flag emoji tweeting fan wanted, scoring the second goal in the final with a great finish past Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan.

“As I said after Mexico, it’s going to take time to build relationships with my teammates, but I don’t doubt myself. I saw Gio with the ball, I know his quality and I just made a short run in behind,” Balogun told CBS after the game. “It was a great slide pass, and then I was able to do what I normally do.”

Spoken like a true forward. And that’s the thing. Balogun gives the U.S. something it has been missing: That traditional forward who sees the type of run he makes and finds it to be simple.