The USA play England tonight

Reflections on a match with wide-ranging implications, not limited to just a World Cup. Can the underdog USMNT pull it off? According to them, yes.

It feels like nearly yesterday I was sitting in the kitchen of an Airbnb in Costa Rica watching the draw for a World Cup that felt far, far off. The official World Cup Qualification of the USA clinched just that week in San Jose, the next phase felt far in the future.

England was placed first into Group B, shortly followed by the United States. Immediately, the gleeful texting to friends commenced, various versions of: “well, well, well… looking who’s playing each other in the World Cup”. 

Media, fans, players all said similar about the draw. Gio Reyna told media this week that he had a text from Jude Bellingham (his teammate at Dortmund) within about 30 seconds. The first teammate Christian Pulisic messaged was Mason Mount. 

Media had a field day. It was a match-up made in narrative heaven, USA v England on Black Friday, 2 PM back home where people would watch with leftover turkey and family on the couch. The two proud nations with no shortage of ties, no dearth of fraught history, would have roughly eight months to banter about a game.

But those eight months have gone now. The United States plays England late this evening in Qatar.