This time, there was no unthinkable capitulation for the U.S. men’s national team with a World Cup berth hanging in the balance.
The U.S. is heading back to the World Cup, clinching despite a 2-0 defeat in Costa Rica on Wednesday night and securing a return for the Americans after they missed out in 2018. There were some eerie similarities for the U.S. in the final stages of this qualifying campaign. It was another four-goal win over Panama in Orlando over four years ago that put the U.S. on the precipice of qualification, only for an infamous loss to Trinidad & Tobago and a wild set of simultaneous circumstances elsewhere keeping the U.