Since the U.S. national team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and the federation began a rebuilding effort, the team’s only tests have come in the form of friendlies, largely inconsequential matches without championships on the line.
But now, almost a year since the World Cup ended and six months after Coach Gregg Berhalter took charge, the U.S. heads toward its first major competition, the Concacaf Gold Cup, with the hope of a better future.
That puts a bit more importance on the next two friendlies, Wednesday against Jamaica at Audi Field and Sunday against Venezuela in Cincinnati: Those who perform well will be part of the roster that leads the program in its first concrete steps forward under Berhalter.