Breaking Down The United States’ Chances To Make It Past The Group Stage in the 2022 Qatar World Cup

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is set to kick off on November 21st, 2022. While that's still months away, it’s never too early to take a look at the fixtures that await us this fall–especially when you’re planning on placing some bets on them. You can bet on the 2022 World Cup through any of these New Jersey Online Casinos.

After failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the United States Men's National Team (USMNT) clinched a position in this year's Cup thanks to outstanding qualifying play. They were then drawn into group B, which contains:

• England
• Iran
• Wales

The top two teams from each group move on to the round of 32, which is when the knockout bracket begins. So, that begs the question: Can the US make it out of the groups and into the next round? Let’s take a look.

The only obviously threatening game in the group is obviously England. The US has only ever won two of their 11 games against England, their most recent win coming in 1993. The US did face off against their Revolutionary War opponents in the 2010 World Cup, and they were able to scrape away with a draw thanks to a blunder by English Keep Robert Green.

This current USMNT team is a lot different from that 2010 team–they are younger, faster, and in my opinion, much more talented. However, it’s never easy defeating England. So, we’ll chalk that up as a loss, and the USMNT is already in a hole.

Iran possessed a moderate amount of threat, but mostly because of the history the US side has had against them. They’ve only faced off twice, most recently in 2000, but the US has never been victorious in either clash. They lost the first match in 1998 in the World Cup, and tied an international friendly in 2000. Still, the US should have no trouble with Iran in the 2022 World Cup. Iran has dropped recent contests to the likes of Algeria and South Korea, which are two sides that the USMNT are much better than.

Wales is a bit of a wild card. All-time, the US is 1-0-1 against the Welsh National Team, with their most recent game ending in a draw just in November of 2020. The teams have never met outside of international friendlies. The US should have no trouble getting at least a point out of the Welsh side, but more realistically should have their sights set on three. 

A win against Iran and Wales would surely be enough to propel the USMNT past the group stages. However, the US has never really been the most competent when it comes to World Cup play, so really anything could happen.

As it stands now, though, the US are the favorites to finish second in the group behind England.