COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Twenty U.S. players trained on a whitened field in 22-degree (minus-6 Celsius) weather the team dubbed
Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie were among the players due to arrive after Sunday matches — Pulisic from England, Adams from Germany and McKennie from Italy.
Snow fell during training Monday and more was forecast for Monday night, with the temperature dropping to 9 degrees (minus-13 Celsius) by Tuesday morning's training session. The expected temperature for kickoff Thursday night was 25 degrees (minus-4 Celsius).
“It's something I think everyone is looking forward to. Growing up in England, I'm not a stranger to snow,” left back Antonee Robinson said. “It kind of takes me back to when I was younger — I remember Boxing Day was a big thing in my Sunday elite team. We used to play dads vs. lads, so all the sons would be playing against the dads on the snowy pitch, and that's some of the happiest football I've ever played, so taking it back to that it's going to be. So enjoy it. I haven't played on snow in a long time, so I'm really looking forward to it, and I think a lot of the lads are going to embrace the conditions.”
El Salvador's team released a video of
“They’re playing places where it’s really warm, it’s humid,” American midfielder Brenden Aaronson said after arriving from Austria. “I was just outside today training and it's really cold and my feet felt cold. But, listen, I’m used to it. I just got back from where it was snowing last game.”
U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter hopes his team will have a homefield advantage. He picked the sites to minimize travel heading into Sunday's match in Hamilton, Ontario, against Canada, which will be traveling from Honduras, and the Feb. 2 game against Honduras in even chillier St. Paul, Minnesota.
“The conditions are going to be difficult for both teams, so it might not end up being the prettiest game of football,” Robinson said. “It could up end being a grind, and that's where you've got to sort of just switch your mentality over to ‘I just want to grind it and I want it more than the other team.’”
The U.S. is second in the North and Central American and Caribbean region with 15 points after eight of 14 games, one point behind Canada. Mexico and Panama have 14 points each, followed by Costa Rica (nine), Jamaica (seven), El Salvador (six) and Honduras (three). The top three teams qualify and fourth team advances to a playoff, likely against New Zealand.
“There’s no really way of getting around how cold you’re going to be. I think it’s just kind of coming to terms with it and having a little kind of things you can do, like getting hand warmers or maybe wearing double socks in the game,” Aaronson said. “You’ve got to get warm as fast as you can on the field and then all the adrenaline starts to kick in and then you’re ready to go in the game.”
NOTES: CBS, which holds U.S. English-language television rights to U.S. road qualifiers, said it will stream Sunday's match at Canada on Paramount+, a subscription service, and will not broadcast it on an over-the-air or cable network. The only qualifier CBS says it will televise during this window is Thursday night's match between Mexico and Jamaica. The Thursday night home match against El Salvador is on ESPN2 and next week's home game against Honduras is on FS1. ... Aaronson declined to discuss a report Leeds is trying to acquire him from RB Salzburg. “I’m focused on this World Cup qualifying,” he said.
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