It’s almost that time again for the U.S. men’s national team.
When we last saw the Americans—at least the first-choice batch—they were wrapping up a four-point November World Cup qualifying window, which included a familiar 2–0 home win over Mexico before a satisfactory if not unimpressive 1–1 draw at Jamaica. That left the U.S. in second place in Concacaf's eight-team table, where the top three automatically go to the World Cup and the fourth-place finisher goes to Qatar in June for a one-game playoff against Oceania's representative for a final spot in the 32-team field.
There’s plenty at stake when qualifying resumes next week, with the U.S. continuing its second lap through the regional pool by hosting El Salvador in Columbus, Ohio, facing Canada in Hamilton, Ontario, and then returning home to St. Paul, Minn., for a date vs. Honduras. It's the reverse fixtures of the opening three-game window of qualifying in September, and the points that could nudge the U.S. closer to Qatar are there for the taking, with the two home matches coming against the worst two teams in the table. First-place Canada will be weakened some following the word that Alphonso Davies is out while recovering from a case of myocarditis discovered following his recent experience with COVID-19.
