On Friday, Matt Besler and the U.S. Men's National Team will kick off their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign with a home match against St. Vincent and The Grenadines. The USMNT have qualified for seven consecutive World Cups and enter the Road to Russia in the fourth round of CONCACAF's qualifying tournament.
Besler, 28, has earned 27 caps for the U.S. Men’s National Team, including three friendly appearances in 2015 and a start in the CONCACAF Cup last month. Ahead of the match, the Overland Park native joined the Border Patrol on Sports Radio 810 to discuss the team's qualifying campaign as well as last month's penalty kick loss to the Portland Timbers.
On Friday's match vs. St. Vincent and The Grenadines
"I am so excited to get to St. Louis and being able to play a U.S. match in the Midwest. They don’t happen often and being back in a city like St. Louis, we know there is going to be a great turnout."
On the mood of the team despite recent results
"I think it’s still positive. Everybody is aware that things haven’t gone perfectly, especially the last couple of months. Obviously, we were disappointed with the Gold Cup, not winning that. But that’s the best thing about sports, it’s all about what’s next. You can be extremely disappointed with how things went, but there is always something to look forward to, always something on the horizon. Now, we have an opportunity to start our World Cup qualifying journey and we want to make sure we do everything we can to start that on the right note.
On the team's second qualifying match against Trinidad and Tobago
"Trinidad has a good team. They have a lot of athletes and a lot of guys playing in England. They have some English guys who have found some passports from Trinidad with some relatives. They have a strong team and we can’t look past them."
On the club's playoff loss to Portland
"It’s still in there. It’s still hurting. It’s hard to think about and I still won’t go online and go on to the MLS website. I wasn’t able to watch any of the MLS Playoff games because I had a sick feeling in my stomach. When we talk about Portland, it’s definitely one of the hardest losses of my career, right up there with some of the Houston games. I just think with how dramatic it was and how we had a few chances to win the match, that's what makes it so difficult. i have had a week to reflect on everything and there’s going to be a lot of good that comes from that match and a lot of good that comes from this season."
Listen below for the full podcast from the interview:
