United States - Team Profile World Cup 2010

Appearances at finals
1930: Third place
1950: First round
1990: First round
1994: Second round
1998: First round
2002: Quarter-finals
2006: First round

Overall record at finals: Played 25, Won 6, Drawn 3, Lost 16.

Best performance: Finishing third at their first World Cup in 1930. The Americans opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over Belgium and added another 3-0 win over Paraguay before losing to Argentina 6-1 in the semi-finals.

Most appearances at finals: Cobi Jones (1994, 1998, 2002), Earnie Stewart (1994, 1998, 2002) - 11.

Most goals at finals: Bert Patenaude (1930) - 4.

World Cup high: Beating England 1-0 in the first round of the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. USA went into the match on a seven-game losing streak and it is said that readers in England assumed the score was 10-1 and had been misprinted. The match has been labelled the 'Miracle on Grass'.

World Cup low: Having failed to qualify for a World Cup for 40 years after the 1950 event, USA made their return in 1990 and were promptly thrashed 5-1 by Czechoslovakia. They lost their other two group games by one-goal margins to Italy and Austria.

World Cup legend: Bert Patenaude scored four goals in three games at the 1930 tournament, including the first ever World Cup hat-trick in a 3-0 victory over Paraguay. Despite only winning four full caps, he scored six goals for his country.

The story so far: Despite a 40-year absence after 1950, USA has become a regular fixture at World Cups since 1990 and South Africa will mark their sixth consecutive tournament.

Their best result came in the first World Cup as they finished third, losing 6-1 in the semi-finals to runners-up Argentina. It's still the best showing for any team outside the European and South African confederations. However, they were unable to repeat the feat in 1934, exiting after a 7-1 defeat against hosts Italy in the first round.

After missing the 1938 World Cup, USA returned in 1950 when the competition resumed following World War II and were drawn against England, who bookies had rated as the 3-1 tournament favourites. USA, meanwhile, were rated as 500-1 outsiders and had lost seven games in a row by a combined score of 45-2.

In one of the biggest shocks in football history, USA won 1-0 thanks to a 37th-minute goal from Joe Gaetjens, although both sides failed to escape the group stage.

In their next tournament, in 1990, there would be no miracles. USA lost all their matches, first going down 5-1 to Czechoslovakia, 1-0 to Italy and 2-1 to Austria.

There was hope for the sport in America, however, as they earned the right to hold the 1994 World Cup. The venues were East Rutherford, N.J., Detroit, Orlando, Dallas, Boston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Pasadena. The average attendance for the tournament was 69,000 with a total attendance of 3.6 million.

The hosts enjoyed a good showing, drawing with Switzerland, beating Colombia - with the help of Andres Escobar's ultimately tragic own goal - and lost to Romania, sneaking into the second round as one of the best third-placed sides. In the knockout stages, they lost 1-0 to eventual champions Brazil at Sandford.

Bringing the World Cup to American soil was supposed to generate more interest in the sport and, although it took some time, it seems to have had the desired effect.

After making the second round in 1994, they endured a miserable France 98, losing all three games including a 2-1 defeat to Iran. They bounced back in 2002, though, with a shock 3-2 win over Portugal before drawing with co-hosts South Korea and then losing 3-1 to Poland. Having made the knockout stage, they beat local rivals Mexico 2-0 before going down to a 1-0 defeat to finalists Germany.

Again, though, they were unable to build on a successful tournament as, despite a 1-1 draw with Italy, they finished bottom of their group, losing to Czech Republic and Ghana. However, there are high hopes for a successful tournament in 2010, and there is a genuine expectation among many Americans that Bob Bradley can lead the side into the quarter-finals and perhaps even go further.

Qualification: USA finished first in the final round standings in CONCACAF, one point ahead of Mexico, but it was not without drama. Trailing Costa Rica 2-1 in their final qualifier, defender Jonathan Bornstein scored an equaliser deep into injury time to ensure they topped their group.

However, they had already booked their place in South Africa when they edged out Honduras four days earlier, winning 3-2 as a Conor Casey brace and a crucial goal from Landon Donovan proved enough.

Qualifying record: P10, W6, D2, L2, F19, A13, 20Pts.

Qualifying record: - P 10, W 7, D 1, L 2, GS 22, GA 8, Pts 22.

Most appearances: Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Bradley (15).

Top goalscorer: Jozy Altidore (6). [via]