To say that the U.S. men’s national soccer team will have one of the three direct CONCACAF tickets to Qatar 2022, although mathematically it is not yet a fact, would be a virtually certain bet, this after Sunday’s comprehensive 5-1 win in Orlando against now-eliminated Panama.
The current situation in the CONCACAF qualifiers
Gregg Berhalter’s team has reached 25 points, which puts them in second place on goal difference behind Canada, although they have the same number of points as Mexico. Three points behind them is Costa Rica, their opponent in the last game of this qualifying round, who defeated El Salvador 2-1 as visitors, thus eliminating Panama from Qatar 2022.
This Wednesday, Costa Rica will host the United States at the National Stadium in San Jose, capital of the beautiful Central American country and if the Ticos win, they would reach the same 25 points as Team USA.
The scenario that would send the USMNT to the intercontinental play-offs
The issue is precisely the goal difference, currently the USMNT has 21 goals for to eight against (+13), while Costa Rica has 11 goals for to eight against (+3).
With this reality, the only way Costa Rica can beat the U.S. is if it beats them by six goals or more, which has never happened in history and is virtually impossible.
Even if they win by five goals, the USMNT would still be ahead of Luis Fernando Suarez‘s team, because the third tiebreaker criterion is goals scored, and Gregg Berhalter’s team has a 10-goal advantage in that regard.
The “wrong” USMNT banner
So remote is this scenario that the “Stars and Stripes” team released a banner in which they assured their ticket to Qatar 2022, which, although it will happen, is not yet official.
The fourth place team from CONCACAF will play the winner of the Oceania qualifier for a ticket to the World Cup.
Marca
