Sports Illustrated - USA (2022-04)

SPORTS

ILLUSTRATED

SI.COM

APRIL 2022

53

his jersey to reveal man in the mirror scrawled on the

T-shirt underneath. Mexico had been beaten by the U.S.

before—but rarely so emphatically and never by a group

of much younger players with such impressive résumés.

Last year was a reckoning for Mexico, which has

watched a relative tidal wave of U.S. teenagers (and an

increasing number of Canadians) head across the Atlantic.

El Tri’s previous slips from the Concacaf summit were

always temporary. But the professionalization of MLS

academies, which began in the mid-2000s, has altered

the local landscape. Young U.S. players move abroad and

hold their own, and so European clubs increase their

interest in the American market. Now deals are getting

done that were unimaginable just a couple of years ago,

such as 18-year-old striker Ricardo Pepi’s $20 million

January move from FC Dallas to Germany’s FC Augsburg.

That’s had a significant impact on the two national

teams, leaving El Tri doing the self-reflecting. “Any

Concacaf country that is going to be sending a lot of players

into the best leagues in the world, of course it’s going to

be something that improves the country,” says LA Galaxy

forward Javier Hernández, the Mexican national team’s

all-time leading goal-scorer. “And I think it’s something

that my country...they need to learn from that.”

Mexico has been far from convincing during qualify-

ing, but at 6-2-3 and behind the U.S. on goal difference,

it’s still likely bound for Qatar. El Tri’s experience in

November was symbolic, however, and it revealed as

much about the state of Concacaf as those fireworks over

San Salvador. A few days after Pulisic turned the tables on

Mexico, El Tri suffered a 2–1 defeat in frigid Edmonton.

Canada hasn’t advanced to the final stage of World Cup
qualifying since the 1998 cycle. Now here were these
footballers from a supposedly nonsoccer country, cele-
brating and leaping into snowbanks before more than
44,000 fans.
In late January, the disciplined and robust Canadians
suffocated the U.S., 2–0, in Hamilton, Ontario. Forced to
negotiate Concacaf ’s preliminary qualifying round because
of its FIFA ranking (72nd at the end of 2020), Canada is
now unbeaten at 7-0-4 and, barring a catastrophe, on its
way to the World Cup for the first time in 36 years. Another
beneficiary of the increased investment in professional
youth development, Canada—now ranked 33rd—has seen
the likes of Alphonso Davies (Vancouver Whitecaps to
Bayern Munich), Cyle Larin (Orlando City to Bes ̧ i k t a s ̧ )
and Tajon Buchanan (New England Revolution to
Club Brugge) flourish. Throw in forward Jonathan David,
the New York–born, Ottawa-raised star of French cham-
pion Lille, and you have the key ingredients of a team
that’s obliterated the established order.
Canada is now a soccer nation, well in advance of the
2026 World Cup it is cohosting with the U.S. and Mexico.
“This is what we’ve dreamed of,” Canada coach
John Herdman said after beating the U.S. “People who’ve
always had to wear an Italian shirt or a Serbian shirt, a
Greek shirt, they can put them down. That’s what we want
them to do, and pull on their Canadian jersey and now be
proud of us as a football country.”
Costa Rica, a 2014 World Cup quarterfinalist, is seeing
its best players age out. Panama, a Cup debutant in ’18,
is in fourth. Concacaf is on the threshold of a new era,
and the U.S. can seal its place in it with a solid finish. Its
last three games will be a fitting final exam—at Mexico
and Costa Rica, where the U.S. has never won a qualifier,
and home in Orlando against Panama, which beat the
Yanks in October.
“It’s all coming down to this window,” Berhalter says.
“Every other window, you’re pushing it down to the next
window and you just want to hang in there. You want to
put yourself into position, and we’ve done that.”
There are no trophies or titles in qualifying, and there
definitely aren’t any style points. It’s the ultimate survive-
and-advance scenario. And while the final three games
look tough on paper, Concacaf tends to ignore what’s
on paper. Mexico hasn’t been as dominant at the
Estadio Azteca, which was the region’s high-altitude
Death Star for decades. And Costa Rica now plays at a
shiny, modern facility in San José, not the intimidating
fortress that was the Ricardo Saprissa.
“Everything’s different,” Berhalter says. “This isn’t
to minimize any of our opponents, but...everything in
Concacaf has been turned on its head.
VA “Now it’s about finishing the job.”
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PERIOD OF REFLECTION

Pulisic ( left) had a cheeky reaction to scoring

against Mexico, while Larin (17) celebrated

his goal in a 2–0 win over the Yanks.

CONCACAF