NEW YORK (AP) – The United States could begin qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Trinidad, where Americans collapsed last night three years ago and failed to succeed in the 2018 tournament.
“We know what happened last time, and it may just be an opportunity for us to get out, to start very strong immediately and obviously get even there too,” star striker Christian Pulisic said after Wednesday’s draw. it would be a very important game. “
The Americans open their 14-game circular with 4 matches next June and end early 2022 with a difficult streak. They are in Mexico on February 1, 2022, at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City; They play at home on March 25, the maximum maximum probably opposite to Panama or Curaçao, and then finish on March 29 in Costa Rica, where they lost seven consecutive playoffs.
“You have 11 games before that so the organization gets used to betting on those qualifying matches and then you have two of the toughest war parts abroad,” said American coach Gregg Berhalter. “The other way to look at it is that if you can take care of all your business in advance, it may be a very smart position in those games. “
The United States qualified for seven consecutive World Cups before missing the 2018 tournament. Americans are among the five nations that dock directly in the last round of qualifiers in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, known as octagonals, united across Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Jamaica.
A highly remodeled team is led through Pulisic and can come with goalkeeper Zack Steffen, defenseman Sergiño Dest, midfielders Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna, and ahead Josh Sargent.
Defenseman Tim Ream recalled the house’s first loss to Mexico, followed by a 4-0 defeat in Costa Rica in the last hexagonal and predicted that the new organization will qualify more deftly, although it was 30 at the time of the October 2017 defeat in Couva. , Trinidad, Ream recalled being one of the youngest American players on the bench.
“You look at those guys who are 21, 22 years old, and they brought young people, exuberance to the team and with young people bring legs, bring energy, it brings enthusiasm,” he said. “The first time we didn’t start on the right foot obviously at the start of qualifying and we played to get up to date. So I think with those young people, we strive to be more sensible from the first game. “
The first 3 nations of the octagonal qualify for the 32-team tournament in Qatar that will begin on November 21, 2022, the first World Cup has moved from its classic start at the end of May-June in accommodation in the heat of summer. The fourth-place team qualified for a two-round intercontinental playoff series in June 2022.
Berhalter estimated that 26 or 27 numbers would be sufficient to qualify.
In a draw Wednesday at the FIFA office in Zurich, the United States selected in a bowl to start the playoff winner among the teams in Groups A and F, whose most sensible nations are El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago. Approximately on June 3 they will take position and the Americans will be at home about 4 days later opposing the winner of the qualifiers between Groups B and E, whose most sensitive seeds are Canada and Haiti.
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The United States then played a difficult game in Honduras around June 11, before the June double window at the house opposite Jamaica.
When qualifying resumes around September 3, the United States will be the winner of the playoffs between Groups C and D, whose most sensitive seed heads are Curacao and Panama, then host of Costa Rica. and a game as a visitor in Jamaica, and the November window, a home game opposite the A/F and a game as a visitor in B/E, which can mean a bloodless game in Canada.
FIFA’s new window at the end of January 2022 has a home game opposite Honduras followed by the away game in Mexico, a heartbreaking adventure for players who will be in the middle of their European club season.
European club seasons are expected to end on the weekend from 22 to 23 May, with the exception of the Europa League final on 26 May and the Champions League final on 29 May. Foreign game The windows.
CONCACAF used the hexagon for the last qualifying circular for the 1998 to 2018 World Cups. This year’s hexagon is scheduled to begin next month and comes with the six most sensitive nations in the region, with Canada minus El Salvador for little bit. vying for a spot in the intercontinental playoffs.
But the coronavirus pandemic led CONCACAF to announce on July 27 a new format that placed the five most sensitive groups classified in the curse and gave the other 30 nations the chance to compete for 3 places in the final circular. First circular groups playing only one circular robin, with two games in October and November.
The organization’s winners qualify for a two-moment circular in March that determines which organizations will enroll in the octagonal: Winner A plays F, B faces E, and C face D.