The Americans go into Estadio Azteca on Thursday night to face Mexico with a lot on the line.
This is when it gets serious for the U.S. men’s soccer team. And this is also when all of those ghastly memories of the 2017 World Cup qualifying cycle, and particularly the end of it, could smack these players right between the eyes.
The USA plays Mexico in the first of three matches in seven days, and probably the hardest three matches of the qualifying period: At Mexico, a home game against Panama in Orlando on Sunday, and at Costa Rica next Wednesday. They enter the final three matches with 21 points, tied with Mexico for second place, four points behind first-place Canada and four points clear of fourth-place Panama.
“Qualifying for the World Cup is the absolute minimum,” forward Tyler Adams said on a Zoom call this week. “We have to do that to continue to move the program forward, to give our players the best opportunity to continue to develop and get that international exposure and grow the game in the U.S. That raises the stakes Thursday night, even though there’s a train of thought that the Panama game on Sunday is the more crucial result. But the rivalry alone should put any thoughts of even the next game on the back burner.