Away From the USA

Away From the U.S.A.

The US Men’s National Team just wrapped up their 2023 campaign with yet another Gregg Berhalter road loss to Trinidad and Tobago in a critical match, but this time the USMNT was able to qualify for the 2024 Copa America.

For decades the philosophy for the US Men’s National Team when playing in FIFA competitive Concacaf road matches was to play for the draw, which doesn’t really provide the necessary mindset or winning culture for a nation that has more money & resources that most of the 41 teams of Concacaf.

I am not suggesting that it’s easy to play road matches in Concacaf, there aren’t a lot of challenges that the team encounters from the field conditions, fans surrounding team buses on their way to the stadium and the passionate fans yelling and cheering against their team’s opponent.  

It’s rare for the USMNT to play road Concacaf Friendly matches. Here’s a breakdown of those matches played since the 1990 cycle.

2022 Cycle – 2 Wins, GF-10, GA-3
2 Neutral Match Friendlies played at Wiener Neustadt, Austria

2018 Cycle – 2 Wins, GF-5, GA-1
2 Road matches against Cuba & Puerto Rico

2014 Cycle – 2 Wins & 1 Draw GF-2, GA-0
3 Road matches against Canada, Mexico & Panama

2010 Cycle
No Matches played

2006 Cycle – 1 Win, GF-2, GA-1
1 Road matches against Jamaica

2002 Cycle – 1 Draw GF-2, GA-2
1 Road matches against Jamaica

1998 Cycle – 1 Win, 1 Loss, GF-3, GA-1
2 Road matches against Jamaica & Trinidad & Tobago

1994 Cycle – 1 Win, 2 Draws & 3 Losses, GF-5, GA-9
6 Road matches against Jamaica & Trinidad & Tobago

1990 Cycle – 2 Wins, 1 Loss, GF-2, GA-1
3 Road matches two against Guatemala & the other against Bermuda

USMNT Managers Concacaf Road Results

Below is a look at the road result for World Cup qualifying for the USMNT by cycle, with the 2022 and 2018 cycles being two of the worst performance from the USMNT, with the 2006 and 2010 cycles being the only ones where the USMNT had the winning road record, however, both of those years Concacaf qualify only provide byes for top teams for the 1st round of qualifies and saw the USMNT playing the 2nd Round and beat Grenada at home 3-0 and 3-2 on the road during the  2006 cycle and also beat Barbados at home 8-0 and won 1-0 on the road in the 2010 cycle.

2022 – WCQ Road Results – Managed by Gregg Berhalter
1 Win, 3 Draws & 3 Losses, 6 pts, GF-5, GA-7

2018 – WCQ Road Results – Managed by Jurgen Klinsmann (1-1-2) & Bruce Arena (0-3-1)
1 Win, 4 Draws & 3 Losses, 5 pts, GF-10, GA-11

2014 – WCQ Road Results – Managed by Jurgen Klinsmann
3 Wins, 2 Draws & 3 Losses, 11 pts, GF-11, GA-12

2010 – WCQ Road Results – Managed by Bob Bradley
5 Wins, 1 Draw & 3 Losses, 16 pts, GF-12, GA-11

2006 – WCQ Road Results – Managed by Bruce Arena
4 Wins, 3 Draws & 2 Losses, 15pts, GF-13, GA-10

2002 – WCQ Road Results – Managed by Bruce Arena
2 Wins, 3 Draws & 3 Losses, 9 pts, GF-8, GA-7

1998 – WCQ Road Results – Managed by Steve Sampson
2 Wins, 4 Draws & 2 Losses, 10 Pts, GF-10, GA-8

1990 – WCQ Road Results – Managed by Bob Gansler (2-1-1) & Lothar Osiander (0-1-0)
2 Wins, 2 Draws & 1 Loss, 8 Pts, GF-2, GA-1

A look at the past USMNT managers road World Cup qualifying results from the 1990 cycle to 2022 cycle.

Gregg Berhalter

Away
1 Win, 4 Draws & 5 Losses, GF-7, GA-12

-USMNT score zero goals in their 4 losses & 2 goals in their 3 draws

Neutral
1 Win, 0 Draws & 0 Losses, GF-4, GA-0

Jurgen Klinsmann

Away
4 Wins, 3 Draws & 5 Losses, GF-17, GA-18

Klinsmann had 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses in road matches during the 2018 cycle before being fired.

Bob Bradley

Away
5 Wins, 1 Draws & 3 Losses, GF-12, GA-11

Bruce Arena

Away
6 Wins, 9 Draws & 7 Losses, GF-25, GA-23

Arena’s road record after replace Jurgen Klinsmann during the 2018 cycle was 0 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss.

Steve Sampson

Away
2 Wins, 3 Draws & 2 Losses, GF-8, GA-6

Bob Gansler

Away
1 Win, 2 Draws & 1 Loss, GF-1, GA-1

Neutral
1 Win, 0 Draws & 0 Losses, GF-1, GA-0

USA vs. Concacaf and their struggles.

Here’s a breakdown of the road World Cup Qualifying results for most common USMNT opponents from 1990 through 2022 cycles. The USMNT has a road record against the below Concacaf teams of 13 Wins, 21 Draws, and 19 Losses with a GF-51, GA-62, and having never won a World Cup qualifier at Costa Rica or Mexico.

In an effort to prepare themselves for the smog and high altitude of Azteca, the USMNT has taken many measures to prepare one of which has been the use of hyperbaric chambers leading up to the matches. While other road Concacaf venues have different challenges this is the only known extra preparation the USMNT has taken to try and give themselves an advance and I have wondered why we don’t see more of an effort to do things like this for other road Concacaf opponents.

Costa Rica
0 Wins, 0 Draws & 10 Losses, GF-6, GA-25

El Salvador
2 Wins, 2 Draws & 0 Losses, GF-6, GA-3

Guatemala
1 Win, 5 Draws & 1 Loss, GF-5, GA-6

Honduras
3 Wins, 1 Draw & 1 Loss, GF-11, GA-7

Jamaica
1 Win, 5 Draws & 1 Loss, GF-5, GA-5

Mexico
0 Wins, 4 Draws & 3 Losses, GF-3, GA-6

Panama
2 Wins, 2 Draws & 1 Loss, GF-8, GA-5

Trinidad & Tobago
4 Wins, 2 Draws & 2 Loses, GF-7, GA-5

What this means

Everything the USMNT has experienced over the last 30-plus years suggests that the mindset, preparation, and mentality for road matches especially in Concacaf needs to greatly improve if US Men’s Soccer is ever going to become a consistent elite nation on the International stage.