he days of Team USA entering the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations as favorites are long gone. The American contingent’s 2018 blowout loss on home soil added a seventh year to their winless streak, and the European sand of this year’s host track in Assen, Holland, makes the task look even more ominous.

A Team USA press conference before the Ironman National helped boost spirits, though. Team members Zach Osborne, Jason Anderson, and Justin Cooper have a plan to right some of the wrongs, starting with pre-race prep. Anderson will leave for Holland on September 1 and spend an entire month acclimating to the conditions and working with the European arm of Rockstar Energy Husqvarna. Osborne will take an extra week to rest a sore shoulder and then head over; Cooper will arrive two weeks in advance. This is much more prep than normal, and further, there are rumors that Anderson and Osborne may end up using some of the works parts Husqvarna deploys in the GPs. The team is also making arrangements to pit together at the race, work more closely, and at least give themselves the best possible chance.

“I know there’s a lot of doubters as to why we’re even going, but I think we’re in a much better position than that,” Osborne says. “I think we have a really good chance at doing really well.”

Underdog status could reduce the pressure, but Anderson doesn’t see it that way.

“For the past six years, maybe you could say we’re the underdog, but people are still really curious as to how we’re going to do against them,” he says. “So there’s a lot of attention on us at all times. At the same time, it’s nice not having [the pressure of] 14 wins in a row coming in. But being on Team USA, there’s a lot of attention on you no matter what.”

While European sand throws an additional wrinkle at the team, Assen’s manmade layout is expected to be slightly less bottomless and difficult as, say, Lommel in Belgium, where Team USA struggled in 2012.

“Just from watching, I feel like it’s a little bit flatter, and they prep it for the most part in every moto for the GPs,” Anderson says.

“It changes the dynamic a little bit,” Osborne adds. “It can only get so deep because there’s pavement underneath. It doesn’t really build those big holes, which is really hard to find for us, technique-wise.”

Still, we’re past the days of expecting the Americans to outright dominate motos. The hopes for a unified, consistent team could still prevail.

“What I saw last year is that the winning team scored 30-something points,” Cooper says. “It takes being consistent, so we’re going to put in all we can, and hopefully it all works out.”