Couva to Qatar: Tracing the 1,631-day USMNT trek to the 2022 World Cup

Wednesday marked the 1,631st “morning after” the international embarrassment that was the USMNT’s 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago’s B-team in Couva, baffling and sloppy performance that conspired with a Panamanian ghost goal and a Honduras win to end the nation’s run as a quadrennial World Cup team.

It Is a sweet relief now that the “Qualified” banner is officially official, as Gregg Berhalter’s United States men’s national team reclaims the men’s program’s place as a World Cup team.

[ MORE: USMNT World Cup qualifying schedule ]

So… How did we get here? It certainly wasn’t a clean run back to a top-three place in CONCACAF but it’s also going to end with a World Cup appearance and that was Mission #1. The Yanks had some embarrassments and bumps along the way in showing that they still had lessons to learn despite the audacious slap to the face in Trinidad and Tobago, but there were huge moments, too, as Berhalter made his bones as a master of rivals Mexico in multiple silverware-winning affairs.

The “international embarrassment” had everyone laughing at Bruce Arena and his men, who essentially treated the game like a field trip to nowhere. Our 3 things learned could’ve been 1000 things, but the line that stands out from that post is here, still, in a quote from Arena:

“If we had qualified for the World Cup, there needed to be a number of changes for the World Cup roster.”

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, you should’ve brought those players to Couva, where Christian Pulisic and Michael Bradley were two of the lone players to perform, Geoff Cameron was left on the bench, and Clint Dempsey struck the post coming off of it.

Bruce Arena is an American soccer legend and he’s proven it since his failure in Couva, leading New