US Wins World Cup Qualifier Over Honduras

The World Cup is easily the biggest sporting event in the entire world. While the United States has never made it to the final rounds of the prestigious soccer tournament, they routinely put together a decent showing. They all changed in 2018 when the team failed to qualify for the tournament for the first time in 32 years. The US looks poised to right this wrong with one its most talented teams the country has ever seen.

The United States looked to get one step closer to qualification when they played Honduras on Wednesday night. This was the 11th of 14 qualifying games for both teams. The US entered tied for second in the group with 18 points. Honduras was sitting at the bottom of the group after only accumulating three points in 10 games. At the end of qualifying, the top three teams will move on to the World Cup. The fourth place team will have a chance to earn a spot via a play-in game with a nation for the Oceanic Football Conference.

It did not take very long for the United States to prove their dominance over Honduras. Weston McKennie used a beautiful header in the box to score in the eighth minute of the match. The goal was set up from a perfect cross from Kellyn Acosta on a free kick. After a brief lull in the action, the US got back on the scoreboard with a goal from Walker Zimmerman in the 37th minute.

The United States had several great scoring chances early in the second half that were just missed. They finally found the back of the net in the 67th minute when Christian Pulisic tapped in an easy goal from the middle of the box. Both teams took their foot off the gas after this goal as the US cruised to a 3-0 win over Honduras.

This was a much-needed win for the United States. They simply could not afford to miss out on points against a team like Honduras. With Panama losing to Mexico on Wednesday, the US now has a four-point cushion over the fourth place spot. The remaining three games of qualifying will all take place at the end of March. Winning one of these games should be enough to guaranteed a spot in Qatar this summer. The next qualifying match sees the United States go up against Mexico on March 24.