For USMNT and Wales, Vital World Cup Opener Has Been a Long Time Coming

The U.S. has waited eight years to return to this stage, while for Wales it’s been 64. Either way, motivation and urgency are not in short supply.

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — Michael Sheen asked for a moment to “get in the right headspace,” but that didn’t take the Welsh actor long. Appearing on the British show A League of Their Own in September, Sheen was challenged to conjure an improvisational pre-game pep talk he might deliver to a Wales squad that had qualified for the World Cup for the first time since the 1950s.

Fueled by that wait, a lot of obvious national pride and, clearly, a bit of the indignation that comes from centuries of marginalization, Sheen let it rip in a rousing oration that quickly went viral.

“I hear the voices singing. Speed your journey, bois bach [dear boys],” he began. “One nation, singing with one voice—a song of hope, a song of courage, a victory song that floats through the valleys like a red mist, rolls over the mountaintops like crimson thunder. A red storm is coming to the gates of Qatar!”

That reservoir of crimson thunder is what’s simmering just beneath the Welsh surface, and it’s what’s waiting for the U.S. men’s national team when it makes its 2022 World Cup debut Monday at nearby Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.

“For us, the starting point is—again. I've said this six times already—but it's just matching their intensity and coming with a competitive mindset,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter repeated during Sunday’s pre-match press conference. “Because we know that's going to be needed.”

For the Americans, this will be 90 minutes that are at least eight years in the making. Monday’s Group B opener represents a massive milestone on a potential pathway toward global relevance for a program that, following its failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, was relaunched under Berhalter and sporting director Earnie Stewart. 

This U.S. team, the second-youngest in Qatar, is anchored by a cohort of men in their early 20s who’ve already breached the traditional boundaries that traditionally defined the American game. Many play in Europe’s top leagues and/or have experienced the Champions League (and one, Christian Pulisic, has won it.) They’re ambitious, confident and, as Pulisic said this week, they “want to change the way that the world sees us—sees American soccer.” 

This World Cup will be a referendum on that progress.

Pulisic leads the USMNT into its first World Cup since 2014 :: Ashley Landis/AP

Eight years, however, is nothing to the Welsh. Their World Cup wait has been 64, and Monday’s match is not only a chance to realize a long-deferred dream, but to assert its identity as a distinctive nation. If you think American soccer culture defers too frequently to the English, imagine being Wales—a small, overshadowed country with which many outside Britain are unfamiliar. Its biggest clubs literally play in the English league system. The cross of its patron saint, St. David, isn’t even featured on the U.K. flag. That’s because Wales wasn’t considered a separate country when the banner was designed. They’ve been fighting for their proverbial place since, and this World Cup offers a poignant platform.

“For Wales to have their country in the World Cup now will be an incredible thing. … Everybody’s dreamt of it for such a long time” captain Gareth Bale said Sunday. “We get sent links and videos and photos of back home. … You can see the kind of the tension building in our country. The flags are going up. The shirts are out. We feel the buzz back at home here and we’re obviously going to try to do them proud.”

Both sides will have immense amounts of emotion and anticipation to manage. The American men—only reserve right back DeAndre Yedlin has any World Cup seasoning—may experience nerves at kickoff. They’ll have to balance those butterflies with Berhalter’s demand that they meet Wales head on—that they bring the vigor and focus required to counteract the Dragons’ fire and their “robust” and “very physical” players.

“For us to be successful in this game, we're going to need to be competing at a very high level. So it’s just getting the guys understanding from the outset what we need to bring to this game,” Berhalter said. “But the other side of it is that they've all played in … big football matches and at the end of the day, this is just another football match. And I hope that calms them, and I hope we can focus on our execution and competing in this game.”

Berhalter will coach the USMNT in a World Cup after experiencing it as a player :: Peter Byrne/PA Images/Imago Images

Midfielder Tyler Adams, announced Sunday as the U.S.’s World Cup captain, said, “When you're playing under pressure, it means that it really matters to you and it's really meaningful.”

The superficial tactical battle seems to be relatively clear cut. Wales usually plays with five in the back and likes to look for the likes of Bale or sturdy Bournemouth striker Kieffer Moore on the counter. The U.S. has struggled at times against similar teams (see Canada in qualifying) and typically performs better when it can press and cause some turnovers—and a bit of chaos—in midfield before finding space behind the opposition. Inside the red mist, a chess match will unfold as each team tries to dictate terms.

Berhalter said Sunday that midfielder Weston McKennie and Sergiño Dest, who have been nursing minor injuries, are “able to take part in the game.” He didn’t reveal whether they would start or might enter off the bench. Midfielder Luca de la Torre is also managing a knock. Otherwise, the U.S. seems as healthy as it’s ever been under Berhalter. Wales, meanwhile, will almost certainly start without veteran central midfielder Joe Allen, who’s still returning from a long-term hamstring injury. Meanwhile, Bale claimed he’s fully fit even though he hasn’t played a full 90 minutes since September. 

Wales coach Rob Page was preparing no excuses.

“I won’t need to fire them up. They’re ready for the game. We’ve got a game plan. We’ve done a lot of analysis on the first game and they’re ready for the game,” he said. “They’ve waited a long time for it. It’s been a difficult process to get here.”

Somehow, despite all that narrative and all that pressure and possibility, Monday’s match is still worth only three points. Nobody’s getting eliminated at the Ahmad bin Ali. Favored England awaits both the Americans and Welsh, however, and history informs. Openers seem to set the tone. And for the U.S. in the modern era, they’re predictive. Win or tie the first game (1994, 2002, 2010, 2014) and the Americans move on to the second round. Lose (1990, 1998, 2006) and its a flight home after the group stage.

“I think it's important to set the tone,” Yedlin said this week. He was 20 when the U.S. squeaked past Ghana in Natal, Brazil, and went on to advance.

“I think it's important that we come out strong,” he continued. “But in saying that, it's also not the be-all and end-all. You definitely don't want guys to feel a crazy amount of pressure coming in where if you don't win, now it's you die. So it's definitely important to set that tone but at the end of the day, there's still opportunities to go through the group if the first game isn't the result that you wanted.”

Yedlin is the only USMNT player in Qatar who has previous World Cup experience :: Ashley Landis/AP

There’s no point in adding even more pressure to their plate. The question hanging over this team since it started to gel in the summer of 2021 was whether energy, chemistry, confidence and some club success would be enough to withstand the World Cup crucible. Berhalter has acknowledged that his young side underestimated the peculiar problems posed by Concacaf qualifying at the start of its journey last year, and had been worried about a similar miscalculation in Qatar.

On Monday, he put those fears to rest. Despite all they’re up against, the Americans are ready, he said.

“That was a major concern of mine then,” he revealed. “What I could honestly say is, how I see this group focus and shift has been incredible. And it's not just talk anymore. We talked about our goals and what we want to do at the World Cup and then I'm looking at actions. I'm looking at training. I'm looking at it off-the-field. I'm looking how guys are interacting with each other. And I have to say that I'm confident that this group is ready to play. A lot of it has to do with their mindset and their ability to support each other.”