Steve Davies
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Gregg Berhalter did his job in getting the USMNT to Qatar, thus erasing memories of Bruce Arena’s failute to get the nation to Russia 4 years ago, and the head coach is now backing his youngsters to come of age and get their country past the group stage.
And let’s face it, getting through the group phase of the World Cup finals has become something of an American specialty – in 4 of 6 finals between 1994 and 2014, USA made the knockouts, peaking in 2002 with an appearance in the quarterfinals.
That’s the history, those are the yardsticks, and pitched into a section alongside obvious group favorites England, plus Wales and Iran, hopes would ordinarily be high of another journey into the latter stages.
The problem is that momentum, form, fitness and several other factors seem to be conspiring against a group that is struggling at the wrong time, and there are serious question marks over whether Berhalter’s young team can rescue him.
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Can the USMNT’s young players help them at the 2022 World Cup?
Lock-ins like Sergino Dest, Antonee Robinson, Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah are classy players with bags of talent – and not one of them is over the age of 25. Musah doesn’t turn 20 until the finals are in full swing.
Many of these players struggle for game time at their clubs, which is why USMNT fans were so desperate to see how they gelled in their team’s final games before the World Cup against Japan and Saudi Arabia in September – and why they were left so bitterly unimpressed by a 2-0 loss to Japan and a 0-0 tie with Saudi Arabia.
Berhalter bemoaned a lack of confidence and a shortage of passion, the latter almost unthinkable in a side which is known for being fearless and spirited.
That can be addressed, however. A bigger worry was 2 shots on target over the course of those two matches and Berhalter was still in the dark over who leads the line in his favored 4-3-3 set-up. He’s hardly overflowing with options.
In 12 matches in 2022 the USMNT has failed to find the net in exactly half of them and for all the positive things it’s possible to say about the likes of Josh Sargent, Haji Wright, Jesus Ferreira and others.
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2022 USA World Cup best bet: USMNT not to qualify from Group B (-115)
The USMNT generally does good things at World Cup finals, a competition it qualified for 7 times in a row before 2018. With that record added to last year’s serene Gold Cup triumph it was possible to overlook the narrowness of the margin by which it qualified for Qatar.
But suddenly and worryingly there are issues and several of them, and banking on the kids for salvation might be a tall order.
We can confidently predict it’s a 3-horse race between the US, Wales and Iran for 2nd place in Group B with England likely to claim top spot. After poor preparations ahead of clashes with Wales and Iran, don’t be surprised if the USMNT fall at the first hurdle and fail to qualify.
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