The Verde Report: U.S. National Team Limping Toward Qatar World Cup

With Major League Soccer on international break and the 2022 FIFA World Cup just around the corner, The Verde Report comes to you as the Red White & Blue Report this week. Stay tuned to The Austin Chronicle through the winter for coverage and analysis of the World Cup you won't get anywhere else.

Hey, at least they qualified?

That's pretty much where we're at with the United States Men's National Soccer Team headed toward the World Cup, set for kickoff Nov. 20 in Qatar. At the absolute bare minimum, and unlike four years ago, the stars and stripes won't be watching the world's most-celebrated sporting event from their couches at home. They'll be in the mix ... it just doesn't look like they'll make much noise when they get there.

The U.S. team this past week picked essentially the worst possible time – apart from the World Cup itself – to put together arguably its worst 180 minutes of soccer of the current four-year cycle. Two complete and utter no-shows: first a 2-0 loss to Japan last Friday in which the Americans registered zero shots on goal, then on Tuesday a listless 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia inside a practically empty stadium in Murcia, Spain. Head coach Gregg Berhalter certainly wasn't pleased.

"I think, if we're going to evaluate everybody, what I'd say in general, there's not many players that performed up to their normal levels in this camp. And that's just how it is," Berhalter said. "So you can ask me about center backs, the fullbacks, forwards, the midfield – anyone you want to ask, I'd say we're below our normal levels."

So ... nobody was good. Super. These were friendlies, yes, but they were also the last 180 minutes of game action the U.S. will get before landing in Doha in November. Not that it felt like anything of the sort. In a typical World Cup year, U.S. Soccer usually schedules three high-profile "send-off" friendlies on home soil in the weeks just prior to the start of the tournament. They're massive occasions, typically in NFL stadiums, creating big-buzz atmosphere more akin to a World Cup environment than you'd ever get in some European neutral site.

But this is no typical World Cup year. Players must return to their club teams for matches as soon as this weekend before the Winter Mundial interrupts domestic leagues across the world. The majority of the U.S. roster is based in Europe, which demanded that the matches be played across the pond for convenience's sake.

Theoretically, it's a good problem to have in that more talented Americans are involved in top-tier European leagues than ever. But that talent has not translated into inspiring results since a 2-0 win over Mexico in World Cup Qualifying more than a year before the start of the actual tournament. There are problems in central defense; notably, Berhalter has been unable to identify a suitable replacement for Miles Robinson, who suffered a torn Achilles in May. There are problems in attack, with the U.S. apparently no closer to identifying a starting striker than when the cycle began four year ago. These issues aren't works-in-progress anymore. They're incomplete assignments, and they don't bode well for a long stay beside the Persian Gulf.

For some optimism, fans can look to the current U.S. injury report and see key names like Tim Weah and Yunus Musah, two difference-makers that figure to be healthy by the start of the tournament. There's also the – for lack of a better word – magic of the World Cup, where unexpected things just happen every four years. Right now, the U.S. needs all the magic it can get.