United States Men’s National Team

The United States of America enters this World Cup hoping to make noise in the tournament.  The United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) is the best the team has ever been in terms of talent.  They have an extremely hopeful core going into the tournament consisting of a strong midfield and attack.  Their core consists of Christian Pulisic, Weston Mckennie, Giovanni Reyna, Serginio Dest, Brenden Aaronson, Yunus Musah, Tim Weah, and their captain Tyler Adams.  They were the youngest team going into the tournament, but with multiple injuries surrounding their team the average age of their squad moved to 25.7 years old, making them the second youngest squad in the tournament behind Ghana.  The goal for the USMNT’s world cup is to make it out of their group and hopefully make a run in the knockout round.  That task is easier said than done, though.  The USMNT is in a group consisting of England, one of the favorites to win the tournament, Wales – an experienced group that has played together for around a decade, and Iran – an underdog hoping to bring attention to the Asian qualifying this tournament, which typically is looked down on as having the worst national teams.  The USMNT and all of the American fans are preparing for the best, but also are ready for a letdown.  The only issue at the moment with the team is the head coach, Gregg Berhalter.  Almost all followers of the national team similarly feel that Berhalter makes questionable decisions regarding gameplan, and there is a worry that he could make a crucial decision to ruin chances of a positive world cup run.

Mexico Men’s National Team

Mexico is going into this World Cup with experience and maturity.  Mexico’s team has an average age of 28.9, the third oldest in the tournament.  This is most likely the majority of the team’s last World Cup.  The team is led by Herving Lozano, Raúl Jimenez, Memo Ochoa, and Edson Álvarez.  Mexico is in hopes of similarly bringing attention to the Concacaf qualifying (North American) by making it out of the strong group that they have been placed in.  Mexico’s group consists of Argentina – one of the favorites to win the tournament led by arguably the best player of all time, Poland – a team of similar strength to Mexico led by one of the top strikers of this generation, and Saudi Arabia – an exciting team with a tactically aware coach.  Although Mexico is placed in a tough group, they can easily find their way out of it by playing a defensive style and focusing on counterattacks.  They will most likely do this against teams like Poland and Argentina since those teams have a heavy attack with the star players of Lionel Messi in Argentina, and Robert Lewandowski in Poland.  If they win balls they will try to send a counterattack to catch the weaker defenses off guard.  The Mexican national team’s fanbase is looking forward to the last run of this squad in the World Cup.