The U.S. men’s national team is heading back to the men’s World Cup, qualifying for the 2022 edition of the tournament with a 2-0 loss on Wednesday night in Costa Rica.

Despite the setback over 90 minutes, the U.S. did just enough to return to the quadrennial tournament.

Much has been made and will be made of such a young group having to navigate through qualifying. And like the country it reflects, there are a variety of pathways that these players took to get minutes over the past 14 games in Concacaf World Cup qualifying. The relative success of U.S. youth national team players in identifying talent and moving players on to the full team was a big part of the team’s success.

Head coach Gregg Berhalter used a total of 37 players over the course of the past eight months. Of that group, 30 had earned at least a call-up to a U.S. youth national team at one point or another during their early career. Of that group, 21 made a World Cup squad for that respective tournament.

One of the many notable elements to the core of the qualifying group is how many recently played at a youth World Cup. Five players from the U20 World Cup squad in 2019 played during qualifying: Sergino Dest, Mark McKenzie, Christopher Richards, Timothy Weah and Konrad de la Fuente. Four players from the 2019 U17 tournament – which was a disappointing showing from the U.S. – played in this qualifying cycle: George Bello, Gianluca Busio, Ricardo Pepi, Giovanni Reyna.

Six players – Dest, Josh Sargent, Paul Arriola, Luca de la Torre, Tim Weah and Tyler Adams played at both age-group tournaments.

Of course, what’s just as notable has been the players to come around the youth national team veterans to also contribute. Several players went through the college route, including Miles Robinson and Walker Zimmerman. They both made appearances in U20 national team camps, but didn’t make their respective World Cup squads. That duo played the bulk of minutes in central defense in front of Steffen during the 14 games of qualifying.

Weston McKennie, a critical player for the U.S. and one of the best players in qualifying, was cut from the 2015 U17 squad that featured de la Torre, Adams and Christian Pulisic. So even those left out have preserved and found a way. Brenden Aaronson emerged as a key figure in this past year of qualifying. Despite being born in 2000, he didn't make the U17 team in 2017. In fact, he earned call-ups to the U.S. U15, but went overlooked until a U23 call-up in 2019.

Finally, dual national recruitment yielded a few players that played big minutes. Antonee Robinson played the most minutes in Concacaf qualifying (1,061). Yunus Musah, who had played for various England youth national teams, emerged as a regular contributor. Jesus Ferreira played in Olympic qualifying in 2021, earning his U.S. citizenship shortly before that.

It should come as no shock that Matt Turner’s long and winding journey to the national team didn’t feature pitstops at any U.S. youth national teams. Turner’s pathway is a good reminder that keeping as many high-level options for as many players as possible is best for the game as a whole.

While none of these U.S. youth squads were able to win tournaments, identifying and preparing talent for the full team remains their primary purpose. And certainly players from outside the pathway helped, the YNT program was able to do its job during 2022 World Cup qualifying.

Youth World Cup Vets that played in qualifying

2013 U20 World Cup: DeAndre Yedlin, Kellyn Acosta, Zack Steffen

2015 U20 World Cup: Zack Steffen, Shaq Moore, Paul Arriola, Kellyn Acosta, Erik Palmer-Brown

2017 U20 World Cup: Tyler Adams, Josh Sargent, Luca de la Torre

2019 U20 World Cup: Sergino Dest, Mark McKenzie, Christopher Richards, Timothy Weah, Konrad de la Fuente

2011 U17 World Cup: Paul Arriola, Kellyn Acosta

2015 U17 World Cup: Luca de la Torre, Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams

2017 U17 World Cup: James Sands, Josh Sargent, Tim Weah, Sergino Dest

2019 U17 World Cup: George Bello, Gianluca Busio, Ricardo Pepi, Giovanni Reyna