'We're coming' - With USMNT chasing history, meet the fans crossing America, building community and dreaming big at the World Cup

They’ve crossed states, built communities and waited decades for this moment. Now, USMNT fans are hoping this World Cup can change American soccer forever.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Crystal Cuadra-Cutler remembers the day she fell in love with U.S. Soccer.

It was the 1994 World Cup, and her grandparents found a way to take her to see Brazil train in the Bay Area. She was a young girl then, captivated by a star-studded Seleção team that included Romário, Cafu and a 17-year-old Ronaldo. Days later, those same grandparents took her to Stanford Stadium on July 4 to watch Brazil face the United States.

Brazil were heavy favorites and had plenty of support in the stands. Cuadra-Cutler, though, was drawn to the other team on the field. The Americans lost 1-0 that day. She was hooked anyway.

"It was a core memory for me," she told GOAL. "[From there I was] growing up and supporting the national team whenever they were in tournaments."

Cuadra-Cutler now hopes the same thing can happen for millions of curious fans discovering the sport as the 2026 World Cup continues to become a defining moment, not just for FIFA, which saw its tournament-record 5 millionth fan attend Tuesday, but for North America as a whole.

Cuadra-Cutler has been part of American Outlaws, U.S. Soccer's largest supporters group, since 2009 and helped build the San Jose chapter. She and her fellow supporters are regulars around the local game, too, showing love to the Earthquakes and Bay FC in equal measure. For her, though, the biggest gain wasn't just finding a sport to follow. It was finding the community that came with it.

"It's really exciting to be a part of the American Outlaws and build a community of soccer fans, very like-minded individuals, friends that have become family," she said. "We support something that's bigger than ourselves, and soccer just unites people, and I've realized that very early on within my experience with American Outlaws. Some of the people I've met on trips have become some of my best friends."

Those ties proved essential in her toughest moments.

In 2020, just three days before COVID shutdowns began across the U.S., Cuadra-Cutler learned she had Stage 4 lung cancer. She was terrified about what the diagnosis would mean for her life and how she would move forward. Isolation was part of the pandemic for everyone, but for Cuadra-Cutler, it often meant going to chemotherapy or immunotherapy appointments by herself.

As she sat through those treatments, she found herself thinking about the 2026 World Cup. The thought brought bittersweet emotions.

"I literally sat in my chemo chair saying, like, I hope, you know, people are talking about the World Cup," she said. "And I was thinking to myself, I just hope I'm alive to see it."

It was the American Outlaws and the U.S. Soccer community who carried her through.

"They supported me through the entire treatment," she said.

The check-ins from her chapter and fellow U.S. Soccer fans were nonstop. She received video calls from American Outlaws members around the world. Current and former players got involved, too.

"I have a video from Charlie Davies, the local Earthquakes and Chris Wondolowski. I heard from them," she said.

That groundswell of support became crucial for Cuadra-Cutler, who was running a GoFundMe campaign to help with her medical bills.

"They amplified it so much that it blew through all my goals," she said.

For Cuadra-Cutler, and the dozens GOAL spoke with Tuesday, this is what U.S. Soccer is all about. It's about supporting the players on the pitch. It's about supporting the national team program. It's about supporting your country through good and bad. And it's about uplifting the community that comes with it.

Six years later, Cuadra-Cutler said her disease is stable. She describes it now as something closer to a chronic illness. One of the clearest signs of normalcy came earlier in this tournament, when she returned as a capo and chant leader for the American Outlaws at a U.S. match.

That is what this World Cup can mean beyond the field. For Cuadra-Cutler, and for dozens of fans GOAL spoke with Tuesday, supporting the U.S. is about more than 90 minutes. It is about country, community, survival, friendship and belief.

The USMNT will need all of that Wednesday night in San Jose, where they face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32. The Americans are chasing just their second World Cup knockout victory of the modern era, and a win would move them one step closer to announcing themselves on home soil.

Ahead of that match, here are three more stories from fans following this team and what a U.S. run could mean to them.

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‘Just pay homage to the man’
The first thing one notices about Dave Romero is the beard.
It is white with shades of dark gray, full and long enough that he could probably moonlight as Santa Claus if he wanted to.
"It used to go all the way down to my chest," he said with a laugh at the American Outlaws' night-before party at Jack's in San Jose.
As vice president of Cuadra-Cutler's American Outlaws chapter in San Jose, Romero has watched the group grow year after year through games big and small for both the U.S. Men's and Women's National Teams. But nothing, he said, has compared to this World Cup.
"We're getting 30,000 to 40,000 fans for our local club, the Quakes, and watch parties," Romero said. "It's like a drug, and you get hooked."
Romero remembers the 1994 World Cup in the Bay Area, too. Back then, from his perspective, the support for the U.S. wasn't really there. Not like this. Not with this kind of belief.
"It's next level now because I'm hanging with my peeps, hanging with my people, and we're all here for the same reason: to watch U.S. Soccer this week," he said.
That belief comes with expectations. Considering the talent, the momentum and the presence of Mauricio Pochettino, Romero said the Round of 16 has to be the minimum for this USMNT. Anything less, in his eyes, would be a failure.
"That's the cutoff point," he said. "We need to build from there."
If the U.S. beat Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday night, Romero already had a celebration in mind.
"Country Roads" by John Denver has become the anthem of the Americans' World Cup run, belted out after wins and embraced by players and supporters alike. So, should the U.S. advance, Romero, Cuadra-Cutler and several members of their chapter planned to make the nearly two-hour drive to Pacific Grove, California, to place flowers near the Monterey Bay crash site where Denver died in 1997.
"With the U.S. embracing 'Country Roads' as an anthem after wins, when we win, we have to go," Romero said. "We just have to pay homage to the man.
"It's the pride of the land, and it's an awesome thing."

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'You’ve got to start somewhere'
Not everyone at Jack's was based in the Bay Area.
Ray, who declined to give his last name, flew in from Anchorage, Alaska, where he has been trying to get an American Outlaws chapter off the ground. The emphasis is on trying.
"During the World Cup opener, we had about 30 USA fans at the watch party," he said. "And that was probably the best-case scenario. Hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?"
For the 40-year-old, it is a way to stay connected to his Texas roots, where support for the sport is far more visible than it is in Alaska. He moved to Anchorage for the state's natural beauty and the outdoor lifestyle that comes with it. But after years of trying to build soccer fandom in some shape or form in his city, he realized he sometimes had to go where his people were.
So he leaned on the USMNT community he had stayed connected with for more than a decade, landed in San Jose on Tuesday and immediately found himself surrounded by fans who understood exactly why he had made the trip.
"This is going to be our summer," he said.
If the U.S. makes a deep run, could it change soccer fandom back in Alaska?
"There might be 40," he said with a smile. "We might get 40."
Alex Labidou
Stickers to mark the occasion
For some USMNT fans, the way to memorialize this World Cup is through miles traveled, songs sung or friendships formed. For Antonio Borjon and his wife, it is through stickers.
Borjon and his wife have long been soccer fans, but they are newer to the international game. In their club fandom, his wife prints stickers for big occasions. Now, that tradition has carried over to the Stars and Stripes.
"She likes crafting stuff," Borjon said. "Once we saw the memes from the first game against Paraguay, she decided to make stickers."
The designs have ranged from "Country Roads" on Route 66 to stylized illustrations of Sebastian Berhalter, turning each U.S. match into something small enough to hold onto, trade or stick somewhere as proof that this run happened.
It is another reminder of what this tournament has become for the people following the USMNT. Everyone has their own way of marking the journey.

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Labas
Four cars. Five thousand miles.
The American Outlaws weren't the only ones hosting a night-before party for the USMNT. U.S. Soccer held its own official event near "San Francisco Bay Area Stadium," better known as Levi's Stadium, at Clara's Junction.
There were dozens of fans in attendance, but none stood out more than Phil Labas. A towering figure at at least 6-foot-3, his passion for the USMNT is undeniable. And his journey to the Bay Area was just as impressive.
Labas drove 5,000 miles to make Wednesday's game, using four cars along the way. The miles were intentional. The number of cars was not.
"So I started in my truck, got three and a half miles outside of Chicago," he said. "[It] broke down."
Labas and his friend found another car, but then they had trouble fitting the drums. So they had to get another. Then, when his wife joined the group, they needed another vehicle. The trip was originally inspired by the 100th anniversary of Route 66, but Labas had another responsibility, too: making sure the American Outlaws' drums got to each World Cup game.
Throughout his journey across the U.S., from state to state, he has been struck by how the national team can unite people at a time when the country's political divisions are no secret. If you're wearing the kit, he said, you're pulling together for one cause.
"Everyone's wearing the colors, right?" he said. "We're a country that's undeniably rooted in supporting the United States [in soccer]. Regardless of whatever political nonsense, it doesn't matter the climate, right? We are pro-United States.
"There is an innate passion for who we are, right? I don't care who is uncomfortable with it. That's just who we are."
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Focused on moving forward
Upon arriving in San Jose, Labas immediately went to the USMNT hotel downtown hoping to get autographs, take pictures and collect memorabilia. As the team got off the bus, he noticed something.
"Maybe one of every five would smile," he said. "But otherwise, everyone was focused, head down, going into the hotel. It was total FU energy. Like, we're in it to win it, right?
"Would I love an autograph and picture? Sure. But the reality is, let's go deep! I want to see you in Dallas. I want to see you in New York."
And that is the key for fans like Labas, Romero, Ray and Cuadra-Cutler. None of them are expecting the U.S. to lift this thing. They know where the sport still stands in this country. But the dream feels bigger than it ever has before.
They have waited decades for a World Cup like this, for a U.S. team like this, for a moment when the sport feels capable of pulling in the curious and turning them into believers.
Now, they hope Pochettino and his players can give them a little more.
"We're not there yet as a soccer nation," Labas said. "But we're coming."