The United States men’s soccer national team lost Wednesday night to Costa Rica, 2-0. But the result didn’t matter — the USMNT qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
What happened: The United States all but wrapped up qualifying for the World Cup with a 5-1 win over Panama on Sunday. Only an absolute 6-0 drubbing by Costa Rica on Wednesday would have led to the United States losing a guaranteed spot in the World Cup.
- However, the U.S. lost 2-0 to Costa Rica, sending the Americans straight through to the World Cup.
What’s next: On Friday, all of the qualified World Cup teams will learn their fates as FIFA will host the World Cup draw.
How the draw works: All the qualified teams will be placed into various pots based on their FIFA rankings, per MLS Soccer.
- There will be four pots.
- The seven best national teams will be in the first pot.
- Teams ranked No. 8 to No. 15 will be in pot two.
- The third pot will consist of the teams that rank 16 to 23.
- Pot four will be a little different. It will include the final 24 to 28 qualified teams, as well as three placeholders for the winners of the intercontinental play-offs (where a team from our region, CONCACAF, plays New Zealand and the remaining European play-off winner), which have yet to happen.
- Teams will be selected out of the pots until there are eight groups of four teams.
Expected pots: Per NBC Sports, here’s a breakdown of the expected pots.
- Pot 1: Qatar (host), Belgium, Brazil, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal
- Pot 2: Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, USA, Croatia
- Pot 3: Senegal, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, South Korea, Tunisia
- Pot 4: Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana + 2 intercontinental playoff winners, winner of Wales vs Scotland/Ukraine
How to watch: You can watch the draw live on Friday, April 1.
- Time: It will begin at 10 a.m. MT.
- Where: Peacock streaming service, Telemundo and Universo.
- Stream: You can watch on FIFA.com as well as FIFA’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages.
The 2022 World Cup will run from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18 later this year.