U.S. Men’s National Team Back In The World Cup After Eight-Year Absence

Amiliano FragosoMar 31st, 2022, 12:44 pm
 

Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team is officially headed to Qatar this year.

After an eight-year absence from the tournament, the boys in red, white, and blue have qualified for the 2022 World Cup after finishing third in the qualifying rounds.

The U.S. left it late however as they lost to a surging Costa Rica team 2-0 Wednesday night. Their bid for the 2022 tournament was thankfully saved on goal difference.

Those were differences that came thanks to massive victories against Honduras and Panama over the past week, giving the Americans a nice buffer heading into the final match with Costa Rica.

Still the prideful Americans were left frustrated after the loss despite qualifying, as this shows the level that is expected from these young guns, especially captain Christian Pulisic.

“Yeah, definitely frustrating, I hate to lose,” Pulisic explained after the match. “We lost concentration twice on set pieces and that’s how it goes but obviously we’re still proud to go to the World Cup.”

And proud the man nicknamed “Captain America” should be as he was monumental in his team’s advancement, securing his first international hat-trick Saturday in the 5-1 rout of Panama.

Pulisic was part of the men’s team that fell short of making the FIFA World Cup in 2017 when they suffered a disastrous loss to Trinidad & Tobago on the final matchday. This time around, Pulisic got to celebrate helping his nation qualify.

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But while the men’s team secured their 11th appearance in the prestigious tournament, the aspirations for the future are much higher than in the past as this squad is building to take a big step this winter under head coach Gregg Berhalter’s direction.

“Gregg speaks on the fact that, coming into the World Cup qualifier,” U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams said, “we really want to rewrite how these American fans view us, not just through our style of play, but our intensity, our commitment, our belief that we want to take U.S. soccer to the next level.”

We’ll have to wait awhile to see our boys back in action as the World Cup kicks off from Qatar in late November. The young Americans will look to make some noise this time around. After that, the attention will turn to 2028, when the tournament returns stateside and this young squad has more time to grow with one another. World Cup 2028 Champions possibly?

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