As opposed to El Tri coming off a disastrous 2021, Team USA is coming off a good, though not great, year. Sure, when it comes to facing off against Mexico they had a tremendous year, but in general, they haven’t quite convinced.

With that in mind, this round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers is also of great importance to the USMNT and their fans. Granted, they are in a decent spot, squarely in second place, just one point behind Canada and one point ahead of Mexico. Clearly, a good but very delicate spot to be in.

For this round of matches, teams will play three games, with the US facing off against El Salvador (1/27), Canada (1/30), and Honduras (2/2). On paper, the challenge doesn’t seem too bad for the Stars and Stripes, but they’ll want to take full advantage.

For the US, here are three things to look for in these upcoming qualifiers:

Can the Young Players Pull it Off?

One of the biggest headlines surrounding Team USA is the young age of their group. The average age of the squad is under 24 years old. However, they are not totally inexperienced when it comes to national team play.

On average, team USA players have been capped 24 times, with a handful of players having less than 10 games experience. The core with the least number of games played on the national team is the defense, with an average of 20 caps with the national team.

Depending on the argument you want to make, this could be a good thing (they bring energy to the squad) or a bad thing (inexperience in the backfield will be their Achilles heel). In all respects, this is a young core of people, truly America’s “Golden Generation”, but… can they win and convince?

Can they Convince?

Everyone agrees, the USMNT is in the midst of generational change. They’ve got a number of players honing their craft overseas, with multiple doing so in top-tier teams.

Even still, they are a team that hasn’t quite finished convincing everyone that they’re the real deal. There’s still something missing. They certainly made great strides with their hat trick against Mexico last year but it’s also no secret that Mexico is just plain out not doing well.

That may well be the lucky break they need to come out as “top dog” in the CONCACAF. But they haven’t done that great of a job of proving it.

After that resounding Dos a cero against Mexico last year, they immediately went over to Jamaica to rescue a measly 1-1 tie. Before the Mexico game, they had struggled against Costa Rica and luckily walked away with a 2-1 win only after Costa Rica scored an own goal. Before that, they succumbed to Panama 1-0.

This has been the story of the USMNT: close game after close game. Never mind that they have great players in their squad, especially upfront. But even still, they can’t seem to net more than one to two goals a game. They’ve seemingly got the talent, it’s just that something is not quite clicking. They’ll want to start “clicking” right away though because in this round, they’ve got a tough matchup against Canada, the current 1^st place team in the qualifiers.

Can they Take First Place Over Canada?

The biggest marker of success for the US after this round of qualifiers will be if they overtake Canada for first place. They have everything lined up for them to be able to do so, but they’ll have to bring their A-game.

First up is going to El Salvador, a team which the US tied with last year. They can’t afford that this time around because Canada will be taking care of Honduras in what should be an easy three points for the North American team.

Then comes the marquee matchup of this round with Team USA facing off against Canada. It’s this game that can go a long way towards deciding who takes first place. A win for Team USA puts them in a good spot to take first place, and a win for Canada all but ensures they run away with the top spot. A tie gives Mexico a golden opportunity to battle for first place.

If the USMNT can take care of Canada, and if they can do so convincingly, then this is really the best indicator that they are the real deal and truly are the kings of CONCACAF. Anything else simply tells us they’re not quite there just yet.

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