CHICAGO (April 6, 2022) – With the U.S. Men’s National Team having achieved the goal of advancing to the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar ’22, U.S. Soccer today unveiled a “QUALIFIED” illustration series depicting the team’s journey through World Cup Qualifying.
The six-part series captures the iconic moments of the campaign in which the USMNT deployed its youngest team in World Cup Qualifying history en route to returning to the world’s biggest stage.
Collaborating with artist Robert Bruno, the collection is broken up into the five World Cup Qualifying windows, with the final illustration highlighting the celebration by the team and the fans. The ‘QUALIFIED’ series will be posted across the USMNT social channels beginning April 6.
The U.S. Men’s National Team qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup following a condensed and highly challenging seven-month World Cup qualifying campaign that featured 14 matches – seven home and seven away. The USA’s starting lineups during those games averaged 23 years, 302 days, which is the youngest in team history for a qualifying cycle.
Appearing in its 11th World Cup, the USMNT was drawn into Group B along with England, IR Iran and the winner of the UEFA Playoff between Wales, Scotland and Ukraine.
The USA opens group play against either Wales, Scotland or Ukraine on Nov. 21. The USA will then meet England on Nov. 25 and finish group play with IR Iran on Nov. 29. The full tournament schedule, which includes venues and kickoff times, will be confirmed by FIFA at a later time. Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, FIFA delayed until June the playoff semifinal between Scotland and Ukraine, as well as the final, where the winner will meet Wales.
All 2022 FIFA World Cup matches will be shown live on FOX Sports and Telemundo broadcast networks.