SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Officially, the U.S. men’s national soccer team has yet to qualify for the World Cup. Officially, Costa Rica has not confirmed its place in an intercontinental playoff for a berth in Qatar in November.
Yet when the teams arrive at Estadio Nacional on Wednesday night, their futures will have for all intents and purposes already been settled. Barring a six-goal defeat, the young U.S. squad will make amends for missing soccer’s greatest spectacle four years ago by successfully navigating Concacaf’s regional competition.
On Tuesday, no one in the U.S. delegation was speaking as though the team had qualified — even after a “QUALIFIED” banner inadvertently was handed to the players to parade around the stadium Sunday night after a 5-1 rout of Panama in Orlando.