USMNT missed 2018 World Cup
The United States Men’s National Team missed the World Cup. Top players were choosing to make millions in MLS rather than fighting for their places in European teams. The USMNT has missed the 2018 World Cup because of bad coaching decisions and players performing below their talent level.
This is not to dismiss any of American soccer’s very real problems. All of the above-listed issues are hurdles to building a men’s national team that can realistically compete to win a World Cup, but making the World Cup and winning the World Cup are two completely different things. The USMNT is already good enough that it should do the former every four years; it is miles away from the latter.
There is no position in which the United States did not have a more talented player than Trinidad and Tobago Tuesday night. T&T’s lineup is made up of mostly fringe MLS players or players who are below MLS standard. Star players on the Panamanian, Honduran and Costa Rican national teams play in MLS as well, where they are regularly outplayed by their American counterparts. And Tuesday, a set of American players more talented and accomplished at club level than their predecessors failed to do what previous editions of the USMNT have done on six consecutive occasions — finish top three in the Hex.
Christian Pulisic of the United States reacted to his team’s 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night.
Americans didn’t win. Over 90 excruciating minutes, and then a half-dozen more in extra time, it all went very, very wrong. Even a tie would have been enough for the Americans. Even with a loss, they still might have been all right, depending on other results. But those went wrong, too.
And so the United States is not going to the World Cup in Russia next summer, but Panama is, and Honduras might. “It was a perfect storm kind of a night, where everything that could have possibly went wrong did, in this stadium and two others,” Michael Bradley, the American captain, said.
Here is how, over 90 minutes of uncommonly tense soccer in three cities, everything changed:
1st minute Three Games, Three Countries
The ball rolls off the spot to kick off World Cup qualifiers here in Couva, Trinidad; in San Pedro Sula, Honduras; and in Panama City. The United States qualifies for next year’s World Cup with a win or a tie. But if the Americans lose, and Panama and Honduras both post wins, over Costa Rica and Mexico, they’re out. Their opponent, Trinidad, is in last place in the qualifying group, with one win in nine games.
17’ Americans Stunned by Own Goal
The first sign of trouble comes at the same time as a hint of potential salvation. In San Pedro Sula, Oribe Peralta gives Mexico a 1-0 lead over Honduras at about the same moment United States defender Omar Gonzalez swings his leg toward Trinidad forward Shahdon Winchester in Couva. Gonzalez and Winchester both are racing to be first to a routine cross, but Winchester gets there first and the ball ricochets off him, then off Gonzalez’s shin, and then in a spinning loop over goalkeeper Tim Howard.
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