Exclusive: 1998 World Cup winner explains why home advantage is crucial for USMNT

Hosting the FIFA World Cup after almost three decades, the USMNT, Mexico, and Canada share a common advantage. While all the other 45 nations have travelled from across the world, Mexico, Canada, and the USMNT are playing in their home countries and home conditions.

Recently, in an exclusive with Clutchpoints, 1998 World Cup winner Frank Lebouef opened up and explained why the home advantage is crucial for the USMNT this year. Almost two decades ago, France won the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France itself.

The former Chelsea star explained his statement by sharing his own example of France winning the 1998 World Cup with the crowd’s support. “It’s always an advantage when you play at home. You have the fans with you,” he said.

However, he further opened up and expressed his concerns over USMNT might not find the desired support due to the lack of soccer culture in the country. “My concern about the US is that soccer, as they call it, is not their main sport, and it’s not part of their culture.”

Although he also explained the diverse demography of the USA, the soccer culture is indeed rooted in them. “So it’s mostly people, well,  even if everybody except the Native Americans comes from abroad, most people in America are coming from Italy as well, you know, Scandinavia, England, Ireland. They have that in their blood. They have that culture. People are coming from South America as well, so you have that culture,” he shared.

“I lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, and I found the spirit of craziness about football, and I loved it. And when you go to New York as well, I went to Seattle as well, you have that spirit. So hopefully the USMNT will be supported by their fans, and they’re gonna find the 12th man, as we say, as we did during ’98. We would have never won the World Cup without the fans. I wish for the US  to find the same happiness.”

Frank Lebouef addresses the growing culture of soccer in the USA with MLS

In the same interview with Clutchpoints, presented and arranged by World Cup Betting, Lebouef discussed how MLS has contributed to soccer’s increasing popularity in the nation. While the MLS is experiencing a boom period with all the foreign players in the league, most of them have already reached the near end of their careers. When asked if the league has already reached its ceiling, Lebouef shared his opinion.

“No,  no, of course there is more. I mean,  all the players that you just named [Lionel Messi, David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimović] are players at the end of their careers, but they can bring a lot. [Antoine] Griezmann is going to Orlando City as well. We saw Messi, with Jordi Alba, for example, [Rodrigo] De Paul bringing a lot because they’re still competitive and they wanna bring something. It’s players who already play Ligue 1 or in the Premier League but wanna go to the MLS and are in their mid-20s that will bring something better.”

He further opened up and added how MLS has been trying to boost the country’s soccer league, but it still has a lot left to do. “Everything that has been done has been done in a good way. But they [MLS] have to accelerate the process. The US national team is quite good. I think if they reach the quarterfinal, it will be a success for them. And maybe more will be a surprise, and a good surprise for the world.”

Although Lebouef believes the USA’s soccer level should be better than what it is now. “But it’s unacceptable to me that a big country like that is not capable of  having one of the best teams in the world. But it’s like India, it’s like Mexico. We have Brazil. Brazil is one of the first countries in the world because everybody plays football. In Mexico, everybody plays football. You have, like, I think, 30 million people playing soccer in the States.” However, a report from NBC states that around 24 million people play soccer in the USA, which includes both indoor and outdoor.

At the end of the conversation, the 58-year-old legend also shared his thoughts on why soccer isn’t growing in the USA. “We are two million in France. And we played four finals in seven World Cups. So it’s possible. You have to put the right ingredient to make sure you’re gonna grow. Right now, it’s a sport for almost rich people. That’s the problem. So you have to create something different to go and find pearls like [Diego] Maradona, [Zinedine] Zidane, [Alan] Shearer, and others. I mean,  those players, they don’t come from, uh, Beverly Hills.”

With an extremely young team, the USMNT finished in the Round of 16 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup; however, this year, they boast some of the best players in the world and have already begun their campaign on a high note. The USMNT defeated Paraguay 4-1 in their opening round game, and they are yet to play Australia and Turkey later this month.

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