The United State Men’s football National Team on Thursday officially became the first team to arrive in Qatar. The World Cup tournament will take place in 10 days time.

The United State are back in the World Cup after an 8 year absence. And they’ll be kick starting their campaign against Wales on the 21st of November.

An unknown number of players were actually on Qatar Airways from New York. This was among the very first flight to use a new part of the Hamad International airport. This airport was opened on Thursday, an AFP photographer at the airport said.

However, many in the 26-man squad, and this includes captain Christian Pulisic are still based on Europe. This is because they still have domestic league games to play this weekend.

The American team which is coached by Gregg Berhalter will be staying at the Marsa Malaz Kempinski on the Pearl. This is an artificial island north of Doha favored by expatriates.

The United State Team will be training at the Al Gharafa club ground about 15 kilometers (nine miles) away.

The United State have played in 11 World Cups. They were third at the first tournament in 1930. A game which they beat England 1:0 at the 1950 World Cup and reached the quarter finals in 2002.

They’ve however managed to reach every finals from 1990 until 2004 but failed to get to Russia in 2018.