World Cup 2022: Where the USMNT stand heading into final stretch of qualifying
By Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
Editor's note: The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar begins Nov. 21, 2022, only on FOX networks. All this week, we'll have stories and videos counting down to the one-year-out mark.
The U.S. men’s national team followed last week’s rousing victory over archrival Mexico with a 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw on Tuesday in Jamaica.
The final round of qualifying resumes in late January. So now is a good time to step back, take a deep breath and look closely at where the Americans stand eight games into the 14-match marathon that they hope ends with a ticket to next year’s tournament in Qatar.
Where does the USMNT stand one year out from the 2022 World Cup?
They're on pace to qualify. That’s all that matters after the epic failure four years ago. Following the games Tuesday, the U.S. sit second in the eight-team standings, with the top three finishers securing passage to the World Cup.
"We wanted to end in first or second position this window, and we're going to do that," Berhalter said before Canada beat Mexico to leapfrog the Americans into the top spot. "And now we have six games left."
Sure, Berhalter’s team has left points on the table, particularly away from home. That’s not ideal, especially with the USMNT's three most difficult road games — against the Canadians, Costa Ricans and El Tri — still to come early next year. But 15 points from eight games, including 10 in their past six, isn’t bad.
After all, the formula to qualify for World Cups is tried and true: Win at home, and pick up points wherever you can on the road.
The U.S. was disappointed not to get all three Tuesday after Tim Weah provided an early lead following some slick interplay with Brendan Aaronson:
On another night, maybe the Americans could have secured the win. But qualifying games are hard, and they can turn in an instant. While center backs Walker Zimmerman and Chris Richards held Reggae Boyz frontman Michail Antonio in check almost all night, the Premier League’s third-leading scorer still found the one moment of magic he needed to cancel out Weah’s opener:
"It’s one of those goals where, really, you just turn around and clap your hands and say, ‘amazing goal, amazing individual effort,’" Berhalter said. "Can't do much about that."
It even looked like Jamaica had the game won late, but the apparent goal was whistled off because of a foul in the box. All things considered, a tie is acceptable.
"We're looking at it as a good result," Berhalter said. "Any time you get a point away from home is a good thing in CONCACAF qualifying, and I want to be very clear by saying that. For the guys to have their heads down because we wanted more is completely natural, but this is a point that we'll absolutely take on the road."
There’s no question that Berhalter’s young squad has shown clear improvement since the round robin began in September. With an average age of 22 years, 341 days, the lineup in Kingston was the USMNT’s second-youngest for a qualifier. The youngest was the one Berhalter used in the squad's victory over the Ticos last month.
We now have a much better sense of this team.
The USMNT barely played in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And because of their ages, most of the current players had hardly broken though, let alone played together often, before the global health crisis began.
But the Core Four of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Sergiño Dest and the rest of the European-based regulars got invaluable experience during CONCACAF Nations League victories over Honduras and Mexico in June, just as the understudies did by winning the Gold Cup two months later.
Still, the USMNT looked like a team that had never played together when qualifying began — largely because they hadn’t. Now they have, and their confidence is growing. So, quietly, is their swagger.
"Consistency will come," Weah said after being named his team’s Man of the Match for the second game running. "We're all super young, so it's all a learning experience. I'm happy with where we're at right now."
How we got here
As important as the summer was, the U.S. quickly found out that opponents take their games to another level when their World Cup lives are on the line.
The U.S. started slowly, with a scoreless tie in El Salvador. After drawing Canada at home, the Americans had just two points from two games. Another lackluster half on the road in Honduras followed, but then 18-year-old debutant Ricardo Pepi led a furious comeback. The 4-1 win helped the U.S. hold serve and sent players back to their clubs with much-needed good vibes.
A 1-0 loss in Panama in October was the low point. But the early struggles also led to lineup changes, and eventually Berhalter found something approaching a preferred starting 11. The coach made just two changes before the Mexico game and another two Tuesday, as McKennie and defender Miles Robinson served one-game suspensions for yellow card accumulation.
After a disappointing 1-1 tie against Canada in Nashville, the U.S. won three straight at home, culminating with yet another "dos a cero" triumph over Mexico, the best performance of the Berhalter era so far.
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It wasn’t a fluke.
"The first window was a major learning experience for us in terms of how to mentally prepare for these three games," Berhalter said Tuesday. "We got five points, went undefeated, but we dipped below two points per game. And then the next two windows, we maintained the two points per game [average], and that's pretty good.
"Most of the home performances of late, we've done really well. Our road record is pretty much like expected. We would have loved to have that one point in Panama, but we've been resilient. This group has character, and it's a really fun group to work with. And we're on the right track."
What have we learned so far?
Berhalter wasn’t necessarily talking injuries when he mentioned his young group’s roll-with-the-punches ethos, but he could have been. The U.S. has been severely shorthanded through qualifying so far.
Pulisic, the team’s irreplaceable player, has started just two of eight games so far and missed the entire October window due to a high ankle sprain. Giovanni Reyna, perhaps the USMNT’s second-most gifted attacking talent, pulled his hamstring in the first match and hasn’t played since. McKennie missed two games in September for violating team rules. Dest, who put the team on his back with an all-world strike in the victory over Costa Rica, missed this window because of a back ailment.
Every time, others have stepped up.
Aaronson was the team’s most consistent player through October. Eighteen-year-old Yunus Musah has emerged as a key midfield cog alongside Adams and McKennie. Weah has raised his stock more than anyone this month.
In the back, Berhalter made a gutsy decision to leave struggling central defender John Brooks off his latest roster. The coach was rewarded with another standout performance by Zimmerman, who now looks like a lock to pair with Miles Robinson in the middle when qualifying resumes in January. Richards could have something to say about that, though. So could the veteran Brooks, who will no doubt be motivated to play his way back into Berhalter’s plans. After all, there are still six matches to go.
Beating El Salvador and Honduras at home in January and Panama in March is paramount. The Americans can’t count on getting anything from their final two road trips, to Mexico and Costa Rica, where they’ve never won a qualifier.
That said, a few more plot twists surely lie ahead.
"There's ups and downs in qualifying," Berhalter said. "We talk about the roller coaster that it is, but we just keep slowly and steadily climbing."
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.
