Let's be real, it had not been a fun time to be a fan of the U.S. men's national team. Qualifying for the 2022 World Cup had hit a major bump in the road as they had a scoreless draw last Thursday at El Salvador, followed by a 1-1 tie with Canada in Nashville on Sunday. Couple that with injuries to some of their best players (Gio Reyna and Sergino Dest) not to mention a shameful temporary exit from the team after violating Covid-19 protocols (Weston McKennie) and you can understand why angst was growing by the hour. Tonight in the first half at Honduras, they looked like a mess as striker Brayan Moya used a diving header (when he was left completely unmarked in the middle of the box) to give the home team a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Thankfully, the second half was a revelation as the United States looked like a different team as they scored four times to come away with a much-needed 4-1 victory.
Nobody is probably more thankful for the win than U.S. head coach Gregg Berhalter since it is not hyperbole to say that his job was on the line if they had lost and come away with two out of a possible nine points this week. If you think that is being a little too dramatic, Jurgen Klinsmann was fired in a similar spot (after two matches in their ill-fated 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign). Also, former USMNT forward Taylor Twellman said as much on ESPN this evening after the U.S. vs. Honduras match. So where has this team been? Good question since three of the four goals for the Americans came from substitutes which shows how poorly Berhalter's strange makeshift lineup performed in the first half.
Fulham defender Antonee Robinson scored the biggest goal of his life in the 48th minute after he came on to start the second half. With a loose ball bouncing around in the box, he was there to calmly finish with a measured volley into the side netting. Making his first ever start for the U.S., 18-year-old striker Ricardo Pepi of FC Dallas made Berhalter look brilliant as he scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the 75th minute. Midfielder DeAndre Yedlin served a perfect cross to Pepi who headed the ball strongly into the corner. After playing great in the first half, Honduras crumbled late in the second half with another sub-forward Brenden Aaronson of Red Bull Salzburg-finishing a give-and-go with Pepi in the 86th minute. Finally, defender Sebastian Lletget of the LA Galaxy was able to clean up a rebound of a shot by Pepi for the final tally in the 93rd minute.
Besides the nightmare first half, the only real negative for the U.S. was that their best player Christian Pulisic of Chelsea fame went off in the 62nd minute with what looked like a pretty serious ankle injury. The good news in that regard is that he has nearly a month to heal up since the next window of World Cup qualifying games is in October starting on the 7th in Austin, TX vs. Jamaica. Three days later, the Americans go to Panama followed by an October 13 date with Costa Rica in Columbus, Ohio. After matchday three, the U.S. is tied with Canada for second-place (out of 8 countries) while Panama also has five points. Not surprisingly, Mexico is on top with seven points while Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador are all struggling with two points then Jamaica is last with only one point. Besides that performance, the best thing for this group is some time away from each other for a bit. They can focus on their club seasons for a few weeks before reconvening hopefully with a different mindset next month. The upcoming portion of their schedule does not sound too daunting at least on paper but the last week should prove that they cannot afford to take any opponent for granted right now and every point is precious to them because they simply have to qualify for the 2022 World Cup by any means necessary.
