After a long 8 years the United States are finally back in the FIFA World Cup.

With a loss against Costa Rica, the U.S. clinched qualification to go to Qatar in November of this year. In 2017 the men failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup after losing 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago in the final match of qualifying. This was a terrible moment for the U.S. team and the sport across the nation. Our country was not represented and it caused a complete switch in mentality concerning the U.S. National Team. 

Going into qualifying for the 2022 World Cup the USMNT found success in the CONCACAF Nations League and the Gold Cup over the summer. This brought huge confidence in both the team and the fanbase that the U.S. would certainly qualify for the World Cup. With both wins against the continental rivals Mexico everything was going well. 

An unexpected problem came: Canada. The Canadians came into qualifying flying and took the conference by storm and took first place in the qualifying games. Things for the U.S. were rocky with poor management and horrible player selections by coach Gregg Berhalter who seems to care more about the shoes he wears than the goal of making the World Cup. 

The qualifying campaign began with a draw to El Salvador which came as a surprise to everyone and brought back 2017 flashbacks when the team failed to qualify. Then, came another draw to our northern rivals Canada and fans began to question what in the world was going on.

The U.S. finally won against Honduras on September 8, 2021. Hope was not yet back, Honduras, a team that the U.S. should beat came back in the second round of games and got away with a tie. The win that brought happiness and joy to all USA fans was defeating Mexico 2-0 in Cincinnati, Ohio in November of 2021. 

The rest of qualifying was still up and down regardless of the ego-boosting win against Mexico. The stage was set for the U.S. to qualify on Mar 30, 2022 in an “easy game” against Costa Rica who was not at full strength. The U.S. had to lose by 6 to stay home from the World Cup, Costa Rica scored 2 unanswered goals and left U.S. fans uneasy for the future.

The team loses and celebrates the qualification as if they won both the game and the World Cup already. That is the problem and my biggest critique of this new generation of American players. Ego is everything and if they want to win a single game in Qatar in the winter, the egos must go.