Colin Cowherd & Landon Donovan react to World Cup Draw: USA Is Group D favorite
The Colin Cowherd Podcast
iHeartPodcasts and The Volume
4.4 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2025
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
Colin is joined by U.S. Men's soccer legend Landon Donovan and host of the “Unfiltered Soccer” podcast with Tim Howard to preview the 2026 World Cup.
They start with the current USMNT and their more extensive experience in playing overseas, at a higher level than prior teams and the advantages it provides in preparing them for a cup.
Landon argues that due to their early superstar status & big contracts, they lost some grit, but if they are focused can exceed expectations (1:30).
They discuss the tension between star player Christian Pulisic and head coach Mauricio Pochettino after Pulisic declined an invite to the national team, and how Pochettino has brought a real sense of pride and accountability in playing for USMNT(3:30).
Finally, they preview Group D and discuss whether the U.S. got a favorable draw, and the enormous pressure that comes with being a favorite and playing at home during a World Cup (7:45). They discuss how the expanded field of 48 teams has changed the definition of success for the United States (10:00), and debate whether the U.S. will play a more conservative defensive style or whether they’ll be aggressive and looking to attack (13:30).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Volume. |
| 0:02.0 | Today's World Cup Draw Reaction is presented by Haleon, the maker of Advil, Centrum, Tums, |
| 0:08.0 | Sensadine, and Voltaren. |
| 0:10.0 | They've teamed up with U.S. soccer for the assist, a campaign celebrating all the moments |
| 0:15.0 | of support that make the big goals possible, because every goal starts with an assist. |
| 0:19.0 | In the history of the every goal starts with an assist. |
| 0:29.3 | In the history of the United States men's national team, the man you're looking at has the most goals and most assists in the history of our country. |
| 0:34.2 | And we have ourselves a World Cup on American, Canadian, and Mexico's soil. It will |
| 0:41.8 | shatter every record from television revenue to television ratings ever. Lannon, you know, |
| 0:50.8 | I've talked multiple times before, but I think the thing that's exciting to me is you |
| 0:56.5 | were one of the rare Americans that could go overseas and be prominent and dominant in the states. |
| 1:05.0 | This group of players, and they've grown up in a different reality, right? |
| 1:10.9 | We've got multiple players playing overseas. |
| 1:14.0 | It's the most intense soccer. |
| 1:16.0 | Most of the best basketball is in the States. |
| 1:18.9 | Most of the great soccer is in, let's say, Europe. |
| 1:23.5 | I believe you're just more battle tested. |
| 1:26.7 | I feel like this group of players has faced greater competition. It's almost like they're more mature kids than you had the opportunity. Clint Dempsey or Alexi. Our soccer has grown. It does feel like a little bit more |
| 1:45.5 | European. Take me to your history that how you changed as a player, the more you faced |
| 1:51.8 | international players. Because I feel this group, they have an advantage over your era, is that |
| 1:59.3 | they've been more international consistently, and I think that |
| 2:02.3 | helps us in bigger stages, in bigger tournaments like the World Cup. |
... |
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