A win or a draw against England would ramp up the American fan interest in the World Cup immediately.

“I think expectations on the team have skyrocketed,” Howard said.

“We’ve shown that we can compete at a very high level against some of the top teams in the world.

“We lifted the bar for ourselves, which is always important. The World Cup is the toughest tournament in sports to win.”

A successful World Cup for the US squad would do wonders to increase fan support for the Beautiful Game!