'02 Dream Team

Head coach, Bruce Arena (left) and captain, William Smith (right), two central figures of the United States men's national soccer team that won the 2002 FIFA World Cup

The "'02 Dream Team" is a nickname famously used to refer to the 2002 United States men's national soccer team which, under the management of Bruce Arena and the captaincy of William Smith, came to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which they did so via a historic 5-0 victory over Brazil in what was later nicknamed "The Yokohama Disaster", owing to the unpredictable nature of the United States' victory which contrasted with expectations of an otherwise assured victory for footballing giants, Brazil, whose lineup consisted of the likes of Cafu, Ronaldo Nazario, Ronaldinho, and Roberto Carlos, among others. Meanwhile, on the American side, the lineup consisted of the likes of William Smith, Landon Donovan, Claudio Reyna, and Gregg Berhalter, whom most recently coached the United States men's national soccer team prior to his dismissal shortly after the conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, in which the United States was eliminated in the group stages.

Nicknamed the "Dream Team" given its proximity to the successful 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team, which consisted of the notable likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Larry Bird, the national team's victory at the 2002 FIFA World Cup would come to mark the only time to date where the United States has ever won a World Cup, with previous and subsequent attempts at winning the tournament often ending in much failure.

Formation

Prior to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the United States, which had reached the semi-finals in the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, had largely saw itself unable to qualify for most of the subsequent World Cup editions, including a thirty-two-year-long absence from 1954 to 1986. Moreover, in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, which was hosted in the United States itself, the Americans were otherwise eliminated in the round of 16 via a 0-1 defeat to eventual champions, Brazil. Then, in the following 1998 edition in France, the United States then failed to progress beyond the group stages, instead finding itself eliminated after a woeful fourth place finish through defeats to Germany, Iran, and FR Yugoslavia, with forward, Brian McBride scoring the only goal for the United States in the match against Iran that ultimately ended in a 1-2 defeat for the Americans.

Meanwhile, by the time the 2002 FIFA World Cup rolled around, the United States itself had implemented several notable changes, including a change in management with the firing of Steve Sampson and his subsequent replacement with Bruce Arena. However, perhaps the most significant change would come to be the inclusion of a young and extremely talented William Smith, whom was then quickly rising in popularity as the leading all-time goalscorer in Major League Soccer, as well as being part of the winning team at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria, where Smith himself had scored the winning goal in the finals against Japan. Consequently, the inclusion of such a talented and skilled soccer player into the national team soon aroused much hope of a better performance from the national team, whose international performance, particularly in previous World Cup editions, has come to be largely described as "underwhelming" or "downright subpar".

2002 FIFA World Cup

On 5 June 2002, the United States began its World Cup campaign with a group stage match against Portugal, which they comfortably won 5-2. Following this, the Americans proceeded to pick up another victory, albeit a rather narrow one against South Korea, whom they defeated 2-1 via a tiebreaking goal at the 80th minute by star forward, William Smith, whom had previously scored a brace in the match against Portugal. Nonetheless, they were later dealt a heavy 1-3 defeat against Poland in the third and final group stage match, although this did not ultimately prevent them from subsequently qualifying for the knockout stages.

On 17 June 2002, having qualified for the knockout stages, the United States first began by firmly defeating neighbours, Mexico in the round of 16 to advance to the quarter-finals where early on, following a 39th-minute goal from German midfielder, Michael Ballack that look set to eliminate them from the tournament for good, the Americans later responded via a dramatic hat-trick at the 77th minute by forward, William Smith that effectively saw them reach the semi-finals for the first time in seventy-two years where they went on to defeat hosts, South Korea 5-2 to advance to the finals for the first time ever.

However, given the fact that their opponent in the finals would be four-time World Cup champions, Brazil, whom had then finished as runner-up in the previous 1998 edition, initial hopes for an outright victory were understandably low throughout, with then-President George W. Bush remarking, "While it's already good enough that we've made it this far in the tournament, judging by who our opponents are, I'd say that a loss is something all Americans are already expecting right now". In the end, against all odds, and despite fierce resistance and competition from a star-studded Brazil side, the United States, via goals from Landon Donovan and John O'Brien, as well as a memorable hat-trick from William Smith, would ultimately win the tournament outright by a stunning margin of 5-0, marking the first and only time the United States has ever won a World Cup tournament.

Aftermath

The sheer unexpected nature of the national team's victory, coupled with the magnitude of their victory, namely a 5-0 win over footballing giants, Brazil, quickly proved to be a source of nationwide celebrations across the United States, with President Bush himself even later announcing a period of federal holiday spanning from the following day of 1 July 2002 to 4 July 2002, a date which itself is already a federal holiday as the date for Independence Day celebrations. In the meantime, head coach, Bruce Arena, along with the entire United States squad were then each given a Presidential Medal of Freedom award by President George W. Bush.

Following the national team's historic World Cup victory that year, notable members such as Landon Donovan, Gregg Berhalter, and Claudio Reyna were said to have largely faded into relative obscurity in the years that followed with the sole exception being William Smith whose World Cup triumph with the United States and subsequent move to Manchester United saw him emerge as one of football's greatest talents and well-known superstars, with Smith himself often being considered the "poster boy" or the "face" of American soccer owing to the many further successes that he later came to reap in the subsequent stages of his career.

In a country where football, alternatively known as soccer, is not necessarily the most popular or well-known sport among the public, the national team's unprecedented and historic success soon provided a catalyst for increased attention and further development of the local soccer scene, which even received much public support from the American government itself. However, this would not necessarily translate into further and sustained success, with the United States once more failing to reach the semi-finals in subsequent editions, with their most-recent participation in the 2022 edition in Qatar, exactly two decades after their historic World Cup victory, seeing them narrowly eliminated from the tournament on the group stages by the Czech Republic, whom subsequently advanced to the knockout stages alongside eventual champions, England.