Eventually, football will return. And when it does, the U.S. Men’s National Team will embark one of the most exciting and important periods of their recent history: attempting to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
It is exciting because the talent pool is full of young players who are crashing through the ceiling that previous American have banged their heads against. And yet, for all of the exhilaration and enthusiasm, there is a tentative nervousness because everyone understands just how humiliating it was to not qualify for the 2018 World Cup. That failure cannot be repeated.