Remarkably, of the 29 WCQ debutants, 19 were 23-years-old or younger at the time, smashing the USMNT record of 14 debuts by players 23 or younger in WCQ previously set during the 2010 qualifying campaign. During that cycle, the team played four more matches than in ’22 qualifying, with 11 of those 14 Under-23 debuts coming during the team’s preliminary matchup with Barbados, a two-game series which the USMNT won 9-0 on aggregate.
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Modern Era WCQ Debuts By Cycle
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Modern Era U-23 WCQ Debuts by Cycle
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Cycle
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Debuts (GP)
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Cycle
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U-23 Debuts (GP)
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2022
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29 (14)
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2022
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19 (14)
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1998
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29 (16)
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2010
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14 (18)
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2010
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26 (18)
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1990
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12 (10)
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2006
|
26 (18)
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2018
|
10 (16)
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1990
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22 (10)
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2006
|
10 (18)
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2002
|
20 (16)
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2002
|
8 (16)
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2014
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19 (16)
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2014
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7 (16)
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2018
|
18 (16)
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1998
|
6 (16)
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INCREDIBLE UNDER-23 MINUTES AND GOALS RATE
In terms of minutes played during a cycle by players 23 and younger, the dominance of youth throughout the squad is nearly unprecedented in team history. Only numbers from the 1990 qualifying cycle – when the USMNT featured a number of semi-professional and collegiate players - trends younger than the current squad. Even then, it’s not by much.
The team’s U-23 start rate during the recently concluded cycle was 55 percent in 14 games, compared with 56 percent through 10 games in 1990 WCQ. Meanwhile, U-23 players accounted for 51 percent of the total minutes played for Qatar ’22, compared with 58 percent for Italia ’90. The next closest rate in the modern era in both categories is substantially less, coming in at 28 percent during 2006 qualifying.
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Modern Era U-23 WCQ Start and Minutes Rate
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|
Cycle
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U-23 WCQ Start Rate
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Cycle
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U-23 WCQ Minutes Rate
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|
1990
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62/110 (56%)
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1990
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5,707/9,900 (58%)
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2022
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84/154 (55%)
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2022
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7,026/13,860 (51%)
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2006
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55/198 (28%)
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2006
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4,979/17,820 (28%)
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2010
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52/198 (26%)
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2010
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4,826/17,820 (27%)
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2018
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33/176 (19%)
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2018
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3,093/15,480 (20%)
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The youth of the 2022 qualifying team also surpasses previous cycles when it comes to goals scored, with 15 of the team’s 21 goals (71 percent) tallied by U-23 players. That number increases to 76 percent if you credit Tim Weah with the own goal he forced in last October’s 2-1 win against Costa Rica.
In total, U-23 players either scored, assisted, contributed in the run of play or earned a foul that led to each of the 21 goals scored by the USA during the 2022 WCQ cycle.
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Goals From U-23 Players by WCQ Cycle (Modern Era)
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|
Cycle
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U-23 Goals
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Total Goals
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U-23 Goal Percentage
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|
2022
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15
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21
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71%
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2006
|
18
|
35
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51%
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1990
|
5
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11
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45%
|
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2010
|
14
|
42
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33%
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2018
|
11
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37
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30%
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Meanwhile, the team’s 21 goals came from 11 different goal scorers, besting the previous goal distribution record during final round qualifying, which was 10 different scorers contributing a total of 17 goals during the 1998 Hexagonal.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
Brenden Aaronson entered the final window on pace to be the only player to appear in all 14 WCQ matches, but a knee injury forced him to withdraw from the March camp. With appearances in the final three matches, the trio of Kellyn Acosta, Tyler Adams and Antonee Robinson jointly led the USMNT with 13 appearances out of a possible 14 qualifiers. Robinson also led all players with 1,061 minutes played, followed closely by Adams (1,023) and center back stalwart Miles Robinson (964).
