This time, there was no unthinkable capitulation for the U.S. men’s national team with a World Cup berth hanging in the balance.
The U.S. is heading back to the World Cup, clinching despite a 2-0 defeat in Costa Rica on Wednesday night and securing a return for the Americans after they missed out in 2018. There were some eerie similarities for the U.S. in the final stages of this qualifying campaign. It was another four-goal win over Panama in Orlando over four years ago that put the U.S. on the precipice of qualification, only for an infamous loss to Trinidad & Tobago and a wild set of simultaneous circumstances elsewhere keeping the U.S. from competing in Russia. But Gregg Berhalter’s young side flipped the script, avoided the impossible scenario—it would’ve taken a loss by six goals or more in San José on Wednesday to finish out of the top three in Concacaf this time—and will indeed be taking part in the fall competition in Qatar.
The U.S. wound up securing a third-place finish in the Concacaf Octagonal, and it joins fellow 2026 World Cup co-hosts Canada and Mexico in occupying the region’s three automatic berths in Qatar. Canada ended a 36-year drought on the men’s side by thrashing Jamaica at home on Sunday to make history of its own and punch its ticket with a game to spare. Costa Rica, meanwhile, finishes fourth after coming on strong in the second half of the Octagonal and will go to a June intercontinental playoff against Oceania’s qualifying champion, New Zealand, in a match that will be held in Qatar.
