Following an international window that included a draw, win and loss in rapid succession, the USMNT has fallen another two places to 15th in the latest FIFA rankings.
It took a long, agonizing time for the shock of not qualifying for 2018 to wear off, which has made the joy of seeing the USMNT get the job done in 2022 even sweeter.
With the goal of qualifying for the World Cup achieved, and the opponents for the final tournament to be revealed in less than a day, USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter says the team is ready to deal with any and all comers.
The United States men’s national team booked their passage to the World Cup, but it was not the way they wanted to finish CONCACAF qualifying as they fell to Costa Rica on Wednesday night in San Jose.
Ahead of what is likely the USMNT’s final qualifier before securing a trip to Qatar, head coach Gregg Berhalter hailed the growth of the team through what has been a grueling seven-month, 14-game stretch.
The USMNT needed a win on Sunday night, and they earned it in spades with a 5-1 drubbing of Panama. So why wasn’t that good enough?
With only a historically unprecedented disaster standing between the team and automatic qualification for the World Cup, Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT squad will look to notch their first-ever win in Costa Rica on Wednesday night.
Christian Pulisic bagged his first international hat-trick as the United States men’s national scored four first-half goals to come away with a big win over Panama on Sunday to put them one step away from returning to the World Cup.
Even though the USMNT could potentially qualify for the World Cup as early as Sunday night depending on other results, starting keeper Zack Steffen is focused on the task at hand, namely beating Panama.
It was only the fifth game in the current cycle of World Cup Qualifiers when the USA travelled to Panama in October and was handed its first defeat.