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Generational Map: How 2002 USMNT Set Course for 2022 World Cup Team

Twenty years after the greatest U.S. men’s run in the modern era, the team with arguably the greatest potential takes to the World Cup stage—with many links to its predecessor.

Back in Frisco, Texas, the U.S. men’s national team’s unexpected and thrilling run to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals is commemorated permanently at the National Soccer Hall of Fame by a player’s participation medal and a No. 17 DaMarcus Beasley jersey signed by members of that historic squad.

But those two pieces of memorabilia don’t begin to convey the depth of that tournament’s long-term significance. For a more complete, immersive, flesh-and-blood exhibit, head about 8,000 miles east to Qatar.