U.S. Men's National Team preparing for critical match on road to World Cup qualifying
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
It doesn’t matter when the U.S. Men’s National Team meets its historic nemesis Mexico on the soccer field.
Whether in a meaningless friendly or a competitive match, bragging rights are always on the line. The emotion on the field and in the stands is always off the charts.
So when these neighbors face off in a FIFA World Cup qualifier — as they will for the first time in more than four years Friday in Cincinnati (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2/Univision/ESPN+/TUDN) — the colossal stakes involved are enough to send the intensity into orbit.
"No matter what demographic you are, this is the date you're circling," U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said Thursday during his pregame Zoom with reporters. "You can't wait to get in the stadium and see this game because you can get behind your team, against their biggest rival, with the World Cup on the line."
A spot at the 2022 tournament in Qatar isn’t exactly on the line Friday. Not mathematically, anyway. Yet as a practical matter, a win would go a long way toward ensuring that the Americans return to the greatest stage in sports next year after missing out on the 2018 event in spectacular fashion.
Conversely, anything less than victory — a loss or a tie — would all but remove any margin for error during the business end of the 14-game marathon, putting the U.S. team in exactly the sort of hole it couldn’t dig out of last time around, when a home loss to Mexico in the opening game of the final qualifying round foretold the disaster ahead.
USMNT vs. Mexico preview: The greatest international rivalry
This time, the Americans at a glance appear to be in decent shape. Berhalter’s squad sits second among eight teams and three points behind El Tri going into Friday’s contest. When the qualifying slate wraps in March, the top three finishers will automatically make the cut for Qatar 2022. The team that places fourth will still have the chance to claim an additional berth.
Looked at that way, the USMNT is on pace to qualify. Viewed through a different lens, however, things aren’t quite so rosy. The Americans’ schedule is back-loaded. And so far, they haven’t played particularly well. The U.S. left attainable points on the table in three of their first six games: a scoreless draw in El Salvador, another tie with Canada at home and a loss in Panama. Those sorts of results can come back to burn a team.
On the flip side, an unexpected triumph in Honduras — thanks in large part to a match-winning performance by 18-year-old forward Ricardo Pepi — offset some of those disappointments. But now the U.S. faces its stiffest challenge yet, and anything less than a dub against Mexico also risks torpedoing team morale ahead of Tuesday’s tricky trip to Jamaica, where the U.S. has won just once in six qualifiers all time.
The most daunting games, at Costa Rica and Mexico, loom on Match Day 12 and 14. The U.S. has never won a qualifier in San Jose or Mexico City. As such, they can’t go into the three March games needing to make up ground. Beating Mexico in Cincy is pivotal.
It won’t be easy. Not without Barcelona fullback Sergiño Dest (back), the star of last month’s comeback win over the Ticos, and not without another key starter in winger Giovanni Reyna (hamstring). Christian Pulisic, the top American player, isn’t fit enough to start after logging just 20 minutes since September for reigning European champ Chelsea because of a lingering ankle injury.
"Hopefully we can get him on [as a substitute] in this game," Berhalter said of his captain.
On Friday, the USMNT’s other core players — central midfielders Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie — will be counted on even more than usual.
"We're going to need to be prepared to play under pressure, sometimes play in their end a little bit," Adams, who is expected to wear the armband with Pulisic on the bench, said Thursday when asked how he expects Friday’s encounter to go. "It's a transitional game. You have to be ready on both ends of the ball to react quickly.
"Every single play in these games matters."
Mexico dominated the series with the U.S. through the 2010s. El Tri also beat the U.S. twice in 2019, Berhalter’s first full year at the helm. His team has flipped the script since, beating El Tri in front of heavily pro-Mexican crowds twice last summer to win both the 2021 Gold Cup and the CONCACAF Nations League. Those were hugely valuable experiences for an unprecedentedly green U.S. squad, to be sure.
You can be just as sure that a deep, talented and battle-tested Mexican side will be out for revenge in the one that matters most.
"At the end of the day," Adams acknowledged, "those trophies don't mean anything."
One major difference from the summer is that the U.S. will take the pitch in front of a partisan home crowd, just as they have for every home qualifier against Mexico since 2001. The previous five editions were also played in Ohio, with the U.S. posting four consecutive 2-0, or "dos a cero," wins before their luck ran out in 2016.
"Being in a pro-U.S. environment is definitely huge for us," said Kellyn Acosta, who went the distance in both meetings with Mexico earlier this year. "Each home game is a game that has to be a must-win."
Rival or not, Mexico is no exception. Only the three points count. Securing them would inch the U.S. ever closer to Qatar. Any bragging rights would be a mere bonus.
"Despite being a young group, we know exactly what this is about," Berhalter said. "We’ve played Mexico four times in the last two years, and we’ve learned from that game.
"If we want respect as a team, we have to earn it."
One of the most prominent soccer journalists in North America, Doug McIntyre has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in more than a dozen countries, including multiple FIFA World Cups. Before joining FOX Sports, the New York City native was a staff writer for Yahoo Sports and ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
