SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — The United States men’s national team has qualified for the 2022 World Cup and secured their spot for the tournament in Qatar after missing out on the 2018 edition in Russia.
Despite the 2-0 defeat Costa Rica, USMNT managed to secure one of CONCACAF’s three automatic places alongside group winners Canada and rivals Mexico on Tuesday.
The USA went into Wednesday’s game at the Estadio Nacional only needing to avoid a loss of six goals or more to redeem their ticket.
– World Cup finals draw: date, time, format, seedings
– World Cup: Who qualified and who is still in?
The United States finishes the 14-game qualifying cycle with a record of 7 wins, 3 losses and 4 draws for 25 points. That left the USA three points behind Canada and Mexico and level with Costa Rica, with just a +11 goal difference ensuring the Americans were ahead of the hosts (+5) on Tuesday.
Despite being inconsistent at times in qualifying, the team remained in a strong position throughout the cycle.
“I think it’s exactly what we expected, but sometimes you wish it had been different,” US coach Gregg Berhalter said ahead of Tuesday’s game against Costa Rica. “We wish we’d won every single game, but that’s not realistic. And I think what comes out at the end is exactly what we expect.”
“We expected [qualifying] a challenge and expected many ups and downs. Lots of trial and error and we know we have a really young group going through this for the first time. We know how difficult it is to qualify for CONCACAF.”
Although only four players in the current roster were with the side when they missed out on the 2018 World Cup, the group was burdened with trying to rectify that failure. None more so than Christian Pulisic, Chelsea’s star striker.
“I think Christian always felt that responsibility,” midfielder Tyler Adams said on Tuesday.
“Growing up as a kind of golden kid in [this] US soccer generation, people have expectations of him. To be blunt, he handled them better than anyone would really handle. In every single situation he is expected to do things that people like [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo should do it.
“He’s supposed to take us to the World Cup.”
And while Pulisic came under pressure at times during qualifying, his hat-trick against Panama on Sunday was the most consequential game the USA had played in years. Pulisic ended the cycle with the team’s top five goals. at 23 years, Pulisic’s 12 goals in the last two qualifying cycles ranks fourth all-time in US history.
Qualifying wasn’t the only goal USA were pursuing, right-back DeAndre Yedlin said on Tuesday.
“I think at this point I wouldn’t say it’s the ultimate goal, I think the ultimate goal is obviously to win a World Cup,” he said. “But there are steps you have to take to get there and one of the big steps is qualifying for the World Cup.”
The USA will be placed in Pot 2 for the draw to determine the eight groups of four, which will take place on Friday at 12:00pm ET in Doha, Qatar.
Only three teams in the field of 32 have not yet been determined. In two one-game playoffs in Qatar in June, Costa Rica will face New Zealand, while Peru will face either Australia or the United Arab Emirates.
The last place belongs to the winner of Wales against Scotland/Ukraine. The play-off game between Scotland and Ukraine, originally scheduled for March 24, was postponed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has not been rescheduled.