• USA legend Brian McBride is now the team’s general manager

• He speaks to FIFA+ about US preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™

• McBride believes the country is now producing “more well-rounded” players

Youth was the foundation on which USA built their Qatar 2022 qualifying campaign. The average starting XI was the youngest deployed by any US team in a FIFA World Cup™ preliminary cycle, with 13 out of 14 of Gregg Berhalter’s line-ups averaging out at 24 years or younger.

The coach himself was keen to emphasise this point. “If we had qualifying in 2026, and we had the same team, we'd still be younger than the team that didn't qualify in 2018,” he told the media in May. “That's how young this team is.” Berhalter’s youthful side ultimately prevailed, succeeding where their considerably more experienced predecessors had failed four years earlier. But by its very nature, this squad of teenagers and twenty-somethings will arrive in Qatar with precious little World Cup knowhow, and next to no survivors from the team’s last global finals in 2014. Berhalter, though, sampled two World Cups as a player, and general manager Brian McBride – a veteran of France ’98, Korea and Japan 2002 and Germany 2006 – is more experienced still. The latter, though, feels there is only so much that he and the head coach can do to prepare the class of ‘22 for what awaits them.

“We can talk to them about what we learned from those tournaments, and I’m sure we will,” he told FIFA+. “But until you experience a World Cup, it’s hard to explain. There really is nothing like it. “We can try and help them prepare for what’s ahead, just to give them a foundation of understanding and limit any worries or pressures they might be feeling. But the reality is that they’ll need to discover it for themselves. “We just need to create an environment where they can play freely and be confident in what they’re doing. And that’s something I do know from experience – when you can play like that, that’s when you really get to enjoy a World Cup.”

Such conviction stems from golden memories of Korea and Japan 2002, which McBride has previously described to FIFA+ as “the most special experience of my soccer career”. “That World Cup helped shape everything I want to do,” added the former striker, who was full of praise for the approach of then coach Bruce Arena. “Gregg [Berhalter] was also part of that 2002 group and the two of us look at things very similarly. He’s also of the mind that the players should feel like they’re part of a family.”

READ ON FIFA+: McBride's memories of beating Mexico at the 2002 FIFA World Cup

But although there will be valuable lessons from 2002 that can help influence USA’s plans for 2022, McBride knows that there will be differences between the two World Cups. The timing of Qatar’s showpiece, for example, poses a new and intriguing challenge to those charged with ensuring peak performance from their players. “It’s an interesting one, isn’t it? With a summer World Cup you always had quite a long lead-in period to get the squad together as a group, have a couple of matches, and this time we’re not going to have that,” acknowledged McBride. “It’s why our friendlies in June against Uruguay and Morocco (a 0-0 draw and 3-0 win respectively) were so important for us, and why the ones we have coming up in the September window (against Japan and Saudi Arabia) will be even more important. “The good thing is that Gregg and his coaching staff have done a really good job in helping our players understand their roles and where we might adapt or change our style of play and formation in certain situations. So there’s a good base there and, while we’d love to have more time ahead of that first match in Qatar, I know our coaching staff will have the team well prepared.”

Wales will be USA’s opponents in that opening encounter, swiftly followed by an encounter against England. And while the section’s British flavour might be expected to hold special resonance for a man who spent close to a decade in the UK, becoming a club legend at Fulham, McBride has little time for such personal sentimentality. “It was fun at the draw, meeting Gareth [Southgate, England coach] and thinking back to the times we played against each other in the Premier League,” he said. “But it’s not about me – it’s about this team and the players in it. “For us as a staff, we just need to focus on preparing those players, making their environment as comfortable and positive as possible and getting them ready to perform and meet the high expectations we have for them.”

READ ON FIFA+: Exclusive interview with Vlatko Andonovski, USWNT coach

Fans also have high hopes for a team that, while young, has shown itself capable of reaching new levels of technical excellence. In this area, McBride agrees with USA’s women’s coach Vlatko Andonovski, who told FIFA+ that the country is now producing more “complete players” than in years and decades gone by. “Yeah, I can see that,” said the USMNT general manager. “The infrastructure across the US is much better now; when I was young, we didn’t have academies and things of that nature. We’re still behind the top European and South American set-ups, but the environments in those academies are really good, and I give the MLS owners a lot of credit for the commitment they’ve shown to them. ”What we’re seeing these days is a larger group of talented players coming through than we used to, and I’d agree that – on the men’s side too, and on the whole – those players are more well-rounded. They also have a better understanding of what being a professional is at a younger age. That’s beneficial for us right now, but in the long run I feel it’s going to have a huge impact as we continue to improve as a country.”

That longer-term vision has a prominent focal point, with USA set to co-host the FIFA World Cup in 2026. Soccer is, of course, better established within the nation’s sporting landscape than it was when the global finals last came calling in 1994, with MLS a genuine and sustained success story. All the same, McBride saw that – after the missed opportunity that was Russia 2018 – qualifying for Qatar was essential to maintaining the game’s momentum. “We knew how vital it was to qualify for this one,” he acknowledged. “It would have been important regardless, but building excitement [ahead of 2026] and establishing a base of experience, given this is a young group, was huge. That experience will be massive in setting us up for 2026. “We’re excited about this team, most definitely. Unfortunately it’s been a while since USA have been to a World Cup, having missed out on Russia, so we’re really relishing and appreciating this opportunity. The focus is definitely there, and I know the players will arrive in Qatar motivated, prepared and ready to give their best.”