Dave Portnoy posted a video on June 17 asking “Why can’t the U.S. have cool songs like every other team in the World Cup?” – racking up over 500,000 views and igniting a debate about American soccer fan culture that could not have come at a more consequential moment. The clip landed weeks into World Cup 2026, with international supporters already flooding host cities. The timing is significant: the USMNT is playing on home soil for the first time in a major tournament, and the question of what Americans actually sing in the stands has never mattered more.
What Dave Portnoy Actually Said
The Barstool Sports founder followed his viral clip with a second post that went even further. “And don’t say ‘I believe we will win’ because that’s the dumbest stupidest chant of all time. It holds the US back and anybody who sings it is a loser,” Portnoy wrote, pulling no punches. That follow-up drew over 215,000 views and more than 1,000 likes – outperforming the original on engagement rate.
This is not a casual observation from someone who dabbles in soccer. Portnoy has described experiencing genuine World Cup fever for the first time, sparked specifically by watching approximately 20,000 Scotland Tartan Army fans fill the streets of Boston – singing, dancing, and chanting in unison for hours. He praised supporters from Scotland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Japan for the same reason: they save for years to travel, then sing all day. The contrast with American chant culture clearly hit him hard.
The Chant He’s Torching Has a Complicated History
“I Believe That We Will Win” traces back to a 1998 creation by a Naval Academy prep student, later popularized by Utah State basketball fans before the American Outlaws supporters’ group turned it into the default USMNT anthem. By the 2014 World Cup, ESPN had built promotional spots around it and U.S. Soccer sold official merchandise bearing the phrase – cementing its status as America’s soccer chant whether fans wanted it or not.
The chant’s reach even sparked a legal fight. In 2011, San Diego State attempted to trademark the phrase for commercial use, drawing a challenge from Utah State organizer Bob “The Wild Bull” Enfield. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the bid, ruling the phrase was too widely used to be owned by any single school. That ruling effectively locked the chant into public domain – and into American soccer culture, for better or worse.
European Fan Culture Is Built Differently
The gap Portnoy is reacting to is real and well-documented. European supporter culture runs on club and national anthems with specific melodies sung continuously – Liverpool’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” West Ham’s “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles,” Scotland’s “Flower of Scotland.” The Tartan Army specifically carries an extensive songbook, including adaptations of “Loch Lomond” and original chant routines that have dominated fan zones across Europe. You can read more about Scotland’s World Cup 2026 campaign and the traveling support driving that energy.
American fan culture leans on short, sporadic chants rooted in college sports tradition – a fundamentally different architecture. MLS clubs in Seattle, Portland, and Atlanta have developed closer-to-European atmospheres inside their stadiums, but that energy has never cohered into a genuine national team songbook. The American Outlaws and local ultras are actively working on new material ahead of 2026, borrowing melodies from punk, classic rock, and Latin American terraces. Progress exists – it just does not have a viral anthem yet.
Why Portnoy’s Following Promotes The USMNT
Portnoy commands 3.86 million Twitter/X followers and a massive young male sports audience – exactly the demographic that will fill watch parties across the country this summer. This is not simply a hot take. It is a cultural inflection point for American soccer identity arriving at precisely the right moment. The USMNT’s World Cup 2026 campaign gives U.S. supporters a home stage to get this right – or to chant the same four words again and prove Portnoy‘s point for him.
No formal Barstool Sports-backed anthem push has launched yet. But with Christian Pulisic leading the squad – his fitness status worth monitoring throughout the tournament – and international fans like the Tartan Army setting the standard in U.S. host cities, the pressure on American supporters to level up is not theoretical anymore. It is happening in real time, on American streets, with the whole world watching.
