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Gregg Berhalter and his United States men’s national team are on a one-way collision course with a nasty ass kicking in Qatar at the World Cup. On Tuesday the USMNT played its final friendly before the World Cup and pathetically tied lowly Saudi Arabia 0-0.

There are few words that can accurately describe how poor the U.S. has looked in the last two friendly games vs. Japan and Saudi Arabia. With no words to summarize these poor performances let’s just let one stat in particular speak.

Oh boy. After getting played off the pitch against Japan last Friday, our USMNT vs Saudi Arabia player ratings from Tuesday's friendly in Spain aren't much better. 

Saudi Arabia entered the match having recently gone goalless against Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, and that lack of a cutting edge was evident against the U.S. — although the Americans did take it in turns to gift opportunities to the Green Falcons.

DOHA — Qatar has called up hundreds of civilians, including diplomats summoned back from overseas, for mandatory military service operating security checkpoints at World Cup stadiums, according to a source and documents seen by Reuters.

The deployment of conscripts, some of whom would normally defer national service because their work is considered vital, highlights the logistical challenge faced by the tiny Gulf Arab state hosting one of the world's biggest sports tournaments.

The USMNT's penultimate friendly before the start of the World Cup was a lesson in what not to do against Wales on Nov. 21 at Al-Rayyan Stadium. Japan destroyed the U.S. defense and midfield with its press, isolated the Americans' attack and generated all the chances in a thorough 2-0 victory in Düsseldorf.

This USMNT team is very young; they'll be the youngest at Qatar. Sometimes they look like serious 2026 World Cup contenders, sometimes they look lucky to have qualified for the 2022 tournament. Friday's 2-0 loss to Japan was a look at, as we outlined in our match preview, many of the worst-case scenarios for this team.

American fans that woke up early Friday morning to watch the United States men’s national team play a friendly vs. Japan were greeted to a pathetic, lackluster 2-0 U.S. defeat. Gregg Berhalter’s men were second-best just about everywhere on the field.

Gregg Berhalter’s United States men’s national team plays its first of two friendlies on Friday vs. Japan. The game is being played on neutral ground in Düsseldorf, Germany. Here are some USMNT vs Japan predictions and scenarios.

USMNT vs Japan Predictions & Scenarios

Up first will be the overall scenarios, and then it'll be broken down by the three sections (attack, midfield and defense).

DOHA - "Stop! Can't you see the metro station is full? Stop!" a frazzled supervisor shouted as green-vested marshals linked arms to contain thousands of fans streaming from the stadium that will host soccer's World Cup final in Qatar.

It was after midnight on Friday and, for hours, nearly 78,000 people had been filing out of the stadium after a near-capacity match tested the small Gulf state's readiness for the tournament, which kicks off on Nov. 20.