U.S. men's national team looks to capitalize on cold home-field advantage vs. Honduras

U.S. Soccer went to great lengths — all the way to Minnesota's frozen tundra but heated pitch — to seek a home-country advantage in Wednesday's World Cup qualifier at Allianz Field.

This comes against a Honduras team that is winless in 10 CONCACAF qualifying games this time around and already has been eliminated from contention for one of three automatic spots in the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar come November.

Beat Honduras on Wednesday and the U.S. team stays second in regional play with three qualifiers in March remaining. It could clinch a World Cup spot with just one more victory in three more qualifiers to be held in March.

Lose against an opponent that has seven losses and three draws and the Americans could look back with more regret than after a summertime home qualifier loss to Costa Rica that helped knock them out of the 2018 World Cup for the first time since 1986.

The U.S. team is second due to a tiebreaker with Mexico in the eight-team CONCACAF group. It is four points behind first-place Canada and just one point ahead of Panama.

This is the last of three qualifiers in the current window of three games. The U.S. beat El Salvador 1-0 in Columbus, Ohio, and lost 2-0 to Canada in Hamilton, Ontario.

You'd think Wednesday's outcome is a foregone conclusion, what with Honduras winless and playing in single-digit temperatures and subzero windchill so far from their players' tropical homes.

"You could make the argument that they're free, they're relaxed now that they're officially eliminated," USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter said. "It's a dangerous opponent. We know in World Cup qualifying every opponent is difficult. I don't think they're as bad as the results have shown."

Or Honduras players could call to get the plane engines warmed up in bitter cold they haven't experienced before — particularly if the home team scores an early goal or two.

Honduras played its first two of three games in this window at home in humidity and temperatures in the mid- to high 70s.

The U.S. team's three games in this window all are at cold-weather sites, but there's cold and then there's Minnesota COLD.

"Obviously the (U.S. Soccer) federation tried to pick the best places for us to have an advantage over our opponent," U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie, a Texan who plays in Europe for Juventus in Italy. "Whether that's the weather, whether that's the fan base, whether that's a lot of things. Our players are more used to playing in colder weather than Honduran players.

Both teams trained at Allianz Field on Tuesday.

The U.S. arrived in late afternoon and took the field with many players wearing stocking caps pulled over their sweatshirt hoodies. All wore leggings, except for one brave coach — from New Jersey — who wore shorts in 14-degree temperature.

"Obviously, it's going to be cold," McKennie said. "Every sports team except basketball has played in a game like this. We don't control the weather. It's something we adapt to and play like any other game. We try to have the same result and win."

There is a chance, however small, that such cold could be an equalizer between two teams that are not equally talented.

Honduras star Alberth Elis was a sub in Sunday's 2-0 home loss to El Salvador. He did not play in a September qualifier that the U.S. won 4-1 in Honduras.

"They should be scoring more than they have been," Berhalter said. "They're going to be tricky. For us, it's about how do we keep the tempo high? How do we wear them down and score goals in to win the game?"

Berhalter's team has scored once in those qualifiers against El Salvador and Canada when both teams, particularly Canada, closely marked American star Christian Pulisic.

In a video call with reporters Tuesday, Berhalter was asked how much desperation he wants or needs to see from his team in something of a must-win situation.

"Listen, we go out and we play hard and we play to win the game," he said. "That's the message to the team. It's not time to panic. Other teams have been through this. We've been through this before."

McKennie said the situation calls for his team to play as it always has.