Hello,

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Total Soccer Show.

My name is Taylor Rockwell and deep breath.

The U.S. men's national team is going to the World Cup with me tonight.

To talk about the USA's successful loss to Costa Rica in Costa Rica is a man who will be watching the U.S. at the World

Cup because they qualified. It's Joe Lowry. Joe, how are you feeling, buddy? I'm feeling good, Taylor. That's a clever turn of phrase from you, successful loss. That's exactly what it was. The U.S. just had to not lose by six, and they didn't lose by six. and Taylor Rockwell, they are going, as you said, to the World Cup.

So let's start there for a moment.

I watched some of the C. by six and Taylor Rockwell, they are going, as you said, to the World Cup.

So let's start there for a moment. I watched some of the CBS Postgame show, and it did a

pretty good job of encapsulating how I was feeling, which is like, yay, we went, but we lost,

and it kind of feels anticlimactic, but it's great we're going. Joe, my assumption, or at least

my sort of operating assumption based on your initial messages trying to cheer me up, or that you are feeling more optimistic, you're feeling better about this result.

I am. It is a weird emotional conflict, though, right? And I think Christian Policic actually captured this really well after the game in his interview with Jenny Chu. He said, I'm extremely proud.

I'm extremely proud of this group. It's a bit weird of a feeling right now because I hate to

lose so much, but I'm really proud and I can't wait to go to the World Cup. I think that is

the perfect quote for that moment because it really was a weird thing to see the ref blow the final

whistle and knowing that the U.S.

was officially now going to the World Cup, but also that understandable disappointment from a group of professional athletes that are paid to win, number one, but just love to win. Otherwise, they wouldn't be professional athletes. So it's a weird mixture of things, but I can't help feel like for me that, man, this is a really cool moment. It's been nine years since the U.S. clinched a qualification,

clinch qualification to the world cup and this is my first ever time looking ahead to covering a world cup so my heart was racing after this game i was excited i still am excited i'm buzzing for this team it wasn't perfect tonight that are issues and we can talk about that stuff later It hasn't been perfect under Greg Berlter, and we've talked about that stuff before,

and maybe we'll talk about that later or down the road as well as we approach Qatar. But, man, what a cool moment for these players, a really young group, and Greg Berlter made sure to emphasize that after the match. An incredibly young group missing key players for this window. they came out and got two huge results earlier on in this window,

a great performance against Mexico,

a decent enough performance and a huge result. missing key players for this window. They came out and got two huge results earlier on in this window, a great performance against Mexico,

...