Well, we are just weeks away from the first men's World Cup on U.S. soil in more than 30 years.

There's great anticipation around it, plenty of complaints about high prices, and questions about how the U.S. team will fare with a home field advantage.

The squad was finalized earlier this week with a 26-man roster for the first match on June 12th.

We care so much and yeah, it means a lot to us. We want to do our best, represent this country best we can. And yeah, the nerves are there. You get the excitement, you feel those jitters. And now that we're here, hopefully we can just try to live in the moment and do the best we can. For a preview of the men's prospects, we are joined now by veteran soccer

writer Leander Charlochans. He's the author of the new book, The Long Game, U.S. men's soccer,

and its savage four-decade journey to the top, or thereabouts. He's also a columnist for the

Guardian. Leander, I got to say that the book's subtitle is extraordinary. Thank you.

Thanks for being with us. So let's start with the basics. Where this U.S. men's team stands right now?

What are the realistic expectations? I think if they make it to the quarterfinals of this World Cup,

they'll have done very well. And that's not a thing Americans always necessarily like to hear

that making it to the last

eight means that you've succeeded. But you have to consider that there's 211 countries that have

national soccer teams. Only eight of them have ever won the World Cup. And the tournament's been

expanded to 48 teams. So for the U.S. to get to the quarterfinals,

they have to not only survive the group stage, but they have to make it through two

knockout round games. And in all of their history at the World Cup, they've only won one of those.

So that would make it a successful tournament, I think. But to add on to that, what's also

important here is that the country cares and that they move to sport forward in a significant way, the way the 1994 World Cup did.

And so that means not only doing well on the field, but kind of catching the country in a soccer fever and to really bring them along and to really get them to invest in this sport

and really help it break into the mainstream long term.

Well, who are the players that casual fans should keep an eye on and why?

So you had Christian Polisic there in the little clip.

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