DOHA - Gianni Infantino has stepped sharply back from hotly contested plans for a biennial World Cup, telling world soccer’s leadership that FIFA had never proposed such an idea.

The FIFA president has been under fire for the past year, particularly in Europe, for proposals to increase the frequency of the global extravaganza from every four years, to every two.

The USMNT is back in the World Cup after great performances against Mexico and Panama earned the nation automatic qualification to Qatar. Not much more can be said about Wednesday night's loss in Costa Rica because at this point, all the United States does is lose in Costa Rica, even if the plan to lay the qualifying ghosts to rest with a historic win actually resulted in a worse margin of defeat than in Trinidad. 

Se acabó el sufrimiento. México hizo la tarea y luego de vencer 2-0 a El Salvador en el Estadio Azteca consiguió su soñado boleto a Catar 2022.

Sin volverse locos ni perder la cabeza, hay que reconocer que el Tri jugó mucho mejor de lo que venía haciéndolo, con más chispa en la generación de juego y mejor suerte frente al arco rival. Ayudó la actitud temerosa de La Selecta, pero también se debe destacar la fantástica actuación de Uriel Antuna.

Since he was hired in 2018, a large section of USMNT supporters have criticized every possible move made by Gregg Berhalter. Whether it was roster selections, tactical decisions or the way he likes to wear nice shoes, some fans always found something wrong with the coach. 

Now that the U.S. has qualified for the 2022 World Cup, I think it’s clear Berhalter coached the qualifying campaign just about as perfectly as any American could reasonably ask for. 

DOHA — FIFA officials will look to put aside division and controversy and turn the focus to this year's World Cup finals when they hold their annual congress in the Qatari capital on Thursday.

For the past year, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been under fire from critics, particularly in Europe, over his proposals to turn the World Cup from an event held every four years to a biennial tournament.

It’s not time to celebrate just yet, but USMNT fans can breathe a little more easily now. What USMNT needs to qualify for World Cup 2022 is to avoid catastrophe on the final day of qualifying. 

Fans have bought 804,186 tickets for matches at the World Cup in Qatar later this year in the first phase of sales, soccer's world governing body and tournament organisers FIFA said on Wednesday.

FIFA said interest in tickets mainly came from Qatar, the United States, England, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, India, Brazil, Argentina and Saudi Arabia.

No shaky legs, no big mistakes to regret. Perú beat Paraguay 2-0 and secured fifth place in CONMBEBOL qualifiers on Tuesday night, earning the ticket for an intercontinental World Cup playoff against Australia or the United Arab Emirates. 

Perú and Paraguay Highlights

Perú just needed five minutes to take away the pressure thanks to Italian-born Gianluca Lapadula. El Bambino finished gracefully an exquisite assist from Christian Cueva and started the celebrations accross the whole nation. 

If Zlatan Ibrahimović's famous logic that "a World Cup without Zlatan is not worth watching" holds true, then we can all give the 2022 World Cup a miss.   

Backed by a partisan crowd at Stadion Śląski in Chorzów, Robert Lewandowski's Poland clinched a spot at the big event and eliminated Ibrahimović's Sweden with a 2-0 victory that featured goals from the Bayern Munich star and Piotr Zieliński.