You’d think after what happened in the 2018 World Cup qualifying cycle that the U.S. men’s national team would be a bit more cautious about jumping the gun.
Yet after a 5–1 win over Panama on Sunday night, U.S. players prematurely unveiled a “qualified” banner for fans despite not yet having qualified for the 2022 World Cup. With one game to go, the U.S. is all but there. The U.S. leads fourth-place Costa Rica by three points and has a +10 edge in goal differential, meaning that even with a loss of five or fewer goals in their head-to-head matchup to close qualifying on Wednesday night, the U.S. is heading to Qatar in November.
If the U.S. manages to lose by six goals or more—a highly unlikely outcome; perhaps even less likely than, say, losing in Trinidad & Tobago while events in two other simultaneous matches conspire against the U.S.—then this moment from the postgame celebrations will go down as an all-time gaffe.
