The most important U.S. men’s national team roster of this youth-infused era and of Gregg Berhalter’s three-year tenure—the one that will determine whether the Americans are in the World Cup draw on April 1—was unveiled Thursday evening.
Three years of tactical, technical and cultural development, along with the near-term fate of an unprecedented generation of young and ambitious U.S. talent, will be on the line over the next two weeks. The U.S. will train in Houston before visiting rival Mexico on March 24, hosting Panama in Orlando three days later and then concluding its qualifying schedule with a match at Costa Rica on March 30.
After waiting out the worst of the pandemic and then taking a crash course in the idiosyncrasies of Concacaf qualifying, the Americans find themselves at 6-2-3 and in second place in the region’s eight-team final round. The top three finishers advance directly to the November-December World Cup in Qatar and the fourth heads to a one-game playoff in June.
