The bad news for the United States men's soccer team is that they suffered a 2-0 loss to Costa Rica in their final World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday. The good news, however, is that the result didn't matter -- the Americans will still be making the trip to Qatar this winter to compete on the grandest stage.
After missing out on the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the United States secured a 2022 World Cup berth in spite of the loss. They entered Wednesday's game only needing to avoid a defeat by six-plus goals, and did just that. Overall, the U.S. went 7-3-4 (25 points) in 14 total qualifying games, and therefore earned one of the CONCACAF's three automatic berths. The World Cup is scheduled to run from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18.
"If they're placed into an extremely difficult group, it's going to be a challenge to be one of the top two teams to advance into the Round of 16," Washington Post soccer reporter Steven Goff explained to After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Thursday. "That said, they have the capacity to do it. If you're in a mid-level group, there's a very good chance of advancing. That's the goal.
"When you're a program like the U.S. is, still growing and evolving, you want to get out of group play, want to get to the Round of 16. Then, it's these one-off matches and anything can happen. So, we'll see how it all plays out. There's a decent chance we'll see them in the knockout stage of this year's World Cup."
The entire FIFA World Cup conversation between Goff and Lawrence can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow After Hours With Amy Lawrence on Twitter @ALawRadio and @AfterHoursCBS, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.