U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter has likened the squad’s last group match at the 2022 World Cup to a knockout match, and he’s not wrong.
It’s make-or-break, win-or-go-home for the United States which is facing Iran in a Group B finale in Qatar on Tuesday. After tying Wales and England, the U.S.’s range of outcomes is finite. If it does not win, its World Cup will be over. If it does win, it’s headed to the knockout stage regardless, and depending on what happens in the simultaneous group finale between England and Wales, it could still finish in first (the group winner will play Senegal in the round of 16; second-place finisher will face the Netherlands).