It was not always an easy road, but it was a road that resulted in qualification for the USMNT and Gregg Berhalter. The qualifying campaign was not without its hiccups as the United States had to play many critical matches without Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna who got injured.
Despite that qualification was never really in jeopardy for the USMNT, it was more an analysis of how poor the team had played for most of the campaign. Gregg Berhalter had used many strikers, with no one really claiming the spot and made changes in defense.
The USMNT also suffered from slow starts needing some big come from behind wins to eventually qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Here is an overview of the USMNT World Cup qualifying campaign.
USMNT World Cup 2022 qualifying record
Of the 14 matches the USMNT went 7-3-4, finishing 3rd with 25 points, tied with Costa Rica, but with a better goal differential. Canada and Mexico both finished with 28 points, but Canada had more goals for than El Tri.
Christian Pulisic (Getty Images)
For the USMNT it all began with a subpar performance in El Salvador 0-0, only to play equally as bad against Canada at home 1-1. Eventually on the road to Honduras after a horrible first half and a coaching blunder by then Honduras coach Fabián Coito the USMNT won 4-1.
Other results would be a 2-0 win at home against Jamaica, their first defeat to Panama 1-0 on the road, 2-1 win at home to Costa Rica, and then the best performance during the Berhalter era a 2-0 win at home to Mexico.
After a 1-0 win at home to El Salvador, the USMNT suffered a defeat to upstart Canada 2-0 away, then bounced back with a 3-0 win over Honduras in a game played in freezing cold. A 0-0 draw at Azteca would eventually punch a ticket to Qatar, a 5-1 win over Panama was icing on the cake. The USMNT would drop a 2-0 decision to Costa Rica on the road but through a string of results were through to Qatar.
