The FIFA World Cup is officially underway in Qatar and Team USA is back on the world's biggest stage after not qualifying for the event in 2018. The games are taking place a few months later than the usual time of year. With Qatar's blistering summer temperatures getting close to 120 degrees, FIFA thought it was best to wait until November.

Well, the wait is finally over for the Men National team as they took center stage today in their opening match against Wales. The opening round for the World Cup happens in round-robin fashion. All 32 teams who qualified for the tournament are placed into groups of four, all four teams will play each other and the two teams with the best record will move on to the round of 16. Team USA is in group B with Wales, England, and Iran.

600 ESPN El Paso logo
Get our free mobile app

The Men's National team is led by young phenom, Christian Pulisic, who is widely seen as the one who can bring Team USA back to prominence after missing the World Cup in 2018.

USA v Wales: Group B - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
Getty Images
loading...

Both looks their shots early in the games but came up just short of getting on the board. Team USA would break the scoreless tie as Pulisic would pass to Tim Weah who found the back of the net to make it a 1-0 game.

The U.S. seemed to have control for the larger part of this game as they would hold Wales scoreless through the first 80 minutes of the play,  but Wales didn't go away. A penalty kick was awarded to Wales which allowed Gareth Bale to tie the game up in the 81st minute.

The game would end in a tie with a final score of 1-1. This is not as disappointing as fans might think a tie is good for the round of 32. The top two teams move on from each group, so a tie is extremely beneficial to Team USA. The team would have preferred a win here obviously, but the 2014 Men's National team qualified for the round of 16 with a record of 1-1-1 in the round of 32.

 

Now with that being said, the U.S. could really benefit from a win in its next match. That won't be an easy task as they are slated to face off against England on November 25th. England took down Iran convincingly in their opening game by a final of 6-2.

Most Valuable Franchises in American Sports

Five of the ten most valuable franchises in American sports come from the NFL.

10 Highest Paid Athletes in the World in 2022

Between the 10 of them, they will bring in a total of more than $992 million in 2022.

More From 600 ESPN El Paso