It was only fitting that it was Groundhog Day.
On two previous occasions in World Cup qualifying, the U.S. men's national team had entered the last game of a three-match window needing to win. Mathematically, it may not have been a must-win situation, but for all intents and purposes it was to prevent its qualifying campaign from entering the danger zone.
That happened again on Wednesday, when the U.S. plunged into the sub-zero temperatures of a winter night in Minnesota to take on a Honduras side that has already been eliminated from contention. And the resiliency the U.S. had shown in the past was prevalent again. Set-piece goals in the first half from Weston McKennie and Walker Zimmerman and another from second-half substitute Christian Pulisic put the Americans in control and delivered a 3–0 win.
With the victory, the U.S. stays on course for Qatar heading into the final qualifying window next month. That window includes road matches at Mexico and Costa Rica, two places the U.S. has never won a qualifier, so it was imperative that business was taken care of Wednesday night. After the other results in the region on the night, Canada still leads the table and is in golden shape to make its first World Cup since 1986. Four points behind are the U.S. and Mexico, with another four-point gap to fourth-place Panama. The top three teams in Concacaf qualify for the World Cup, while the fourth-place team goes to an intercontinental playoff against Oceania's champion.
The U.S. won the reverse fixture vs. Honduras in San Pedro Sula in September, coming back from a 1–0 deficit with four second-half goals. The 4–1 victory was spearheaded by Ricardo Pepi, who has been more of an afterthought this window but got the start Wednesday as one of seven lineup changes for manager Gregg Berhalter.
Pulisic, Sergiño Dest, Yunus Musah and Brenden Aaronson were all on the bench to start, while the U.S. was significantly shorthanded as well, with Tyler Adams (hamstring) and Chris Richards (foot) both ruled out with injuries. Their absences forced Berhalter into some other lineup swaps, with Zimmerman returning to the XI while midfielders Kellyn Acosta and Luca de la Torre got their first starts of the window in a tense environment at Minnesota United's Allianz Field.
As has been advertised for days, it was cold in St. Paul. Just how cold? This cold:
The cold's first intervention came less than two minutes in, when referee Oshane Nation ordered U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner to remove the hand-warming pouch he had around his waist, something that had been provided by the Minnesota Vikings. Evidently, the warming aid was not approved by the officials, and thus Turner needed to rely on other means than those of an NFL quarterback to keep his hands from freezing.
In terms of the actual play, the U.S. scored on its first real opportunity. Acosta delivered a perfect free kick into the center of the box, and McKennie headed it home for an eighth-minute goal. It marked just the third time in 11 qualifying match that the U.S. has scored a first-half goal.
Honduras responded well to the goal, both physically and in terms of game flow. A couple of forays forward were cut out by the U.S. defense, but as Pepi tried to win a ball at the quarter-hour mark he took an elbow to the face, getting bloodied in the process (he later shared a photo on social media claiming he suffered a broken nose).
Honduras continued to push, earning a corner kick and a free kick, with the U.S. having trouble clearing both. Ultimately Los Catrachos never conjured anything that threatened Turner's goal, but it remained a warning for the U.S. that the goal alone wasn't enough to sit on.
The U.S. finally broke forward again in the 20th minute, and after working a combination with Antonee Robinson, Tim Weah came inches from scoring the U.S.'s second in sensational fashion. His curling right-footed shot from the edge of the box appeared to be tipped around the post by a diving Luis López, although a goal kick was given.
Weah had another chance a couple of minutes later after a ball over the top from Acosta, with the Lille forward getting in behind and trying to contort himself to back-heel the ball by López, who made the initial stop before Honduras cleared away the rebound.
The U.S. created another chance in the 29th minute, with McKennie playing Robinson down the left on the overlapping run. The fullback crossed for Pepi, whose acrobatic effort went just over the bar.
The U.S. got its second goal in the 37th minute. It came off another set piece, with Acosta coming through with another sound delivery into the center of the box. Jordan Morris wasn't able to get a full touch on it, but the ball fall into the area of Zimmerman, who bodied off his defender, turned and finished to make it 2-0. The goal was reviewed by VAR for a potential foul on Zimmerman, but there wasn't enough to overturn the initial goal call, and it stood.
McKennie and Weah worked a fantastic set of combinations early in the second half to give the U.S. a great chance at a third, displaying patience, flair and well-timed runs to weave through the Honduran low block before substitute goalkeeper Edrick Menjivar ultimately made the point-blank save. It came out after the match that López was one of two Honduras players who couldn't come back out for the second half, with reports stating the goalkeeper suffered from hypothermia.
Another U.S. chance went wide in the 58th minute, when Morris set up Pepi in the center of the box, only for the new Augsburg signing to yank his chance just to the left of the left post.
Morris made way in the 64th minute, with Pulisic coming on against a Honduras side that began looking more weary as the night went on.
It didn't take long for Pulisic to make an impact. Off yet another set piece, the U.S. got its third goal, with Acosta's corner kick being flicked on by Pepi, before a Zimmerman deflection put the ball in Pulisic's path. The Chelsea star made no mistake, with a clean strike to make it 3–0.
Pulisic had a potential second goal wiped off the board due to an offside call in the 88th minute, capping a wild sequence in which multiple U.S. shots were cleared off the line before the ball fell to the Pennsylvania native right on the doorstep.
So comfortable was the result, that in the final stages, Berhalter went to the front row of the stands and took pictures with supporters.
Concacaf's World Cup qualifying Octagonal wraps up late next month, with the U.S. sandwiching those notoriously difficult trips to Mexico and Costa Rica with a home match vs. Panama in more balmy Orlando as the final steps on the road to Qatar.
