As of Tuesday, Oct. 10, The United States Men’s National Team has ruined their own chances of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. An utterly pathetic loss to Trinidad and Tobago along with wins by Honduras and Panama sealed the fate of the National Team. The game started off poorly with an own goal scored by US defender Omar Gonzalez, followed by a 35 yard shot by Trinidad’s Alvin Jones that sailed over the helpless head of US goalkeeper Tim Howard. The US looked hopeless throughout the game. They showed no sense of urgency and the lack of desire was appalling. The United States has taken part in every World Cup since 1986. For 30 years, the team has been a fixture at the world’s biggest tournament. In 2014, the United States ploughed their way to a round of 16 loss to Belgium in an epic game which instilled confidence in many fans that the United States would only continue to trend upward in hopes that one day the United States of America would lift the World Cup trophy.
That dream vanished at the drop of a hat or rather the drop of the ball that ricocheted off the foot of Omar Gonzalez and dropped softly into the net behind a frantic Tim Howard. With the United States down, their sloppy game only got worse. Their lack of frustration with themselves and their complacency, orchestrated by blasé coach Bruce Arena, is probably the definitive indicator that this team did not deserve to qualify for the World Cup. The USA should be one of the top three or even top four in the North American soccer confederation known as CONCACAF. There is no excuse. We are by far the most populous nation and second only to Canada in total landmass. The United States has a population of 323.1 Million people and Trinidad and Tobago, two nations who share an island just north of Venezuela and a population of only 1.35 Million toppled the US. You cannot tell me statistically that it makes sense that a nation over 350 times the size of another cannot find 23 players capable of beating or even tying minuscule Trinidad and Tobago.
For years, the United States National team has been a mess. They rarely have a semi-consistent lineup and poor coaching has held the program back. The United States seemed to be trending upwards under former German international and World Cup winner Jurgen Klinnsman, but some setbacks in qualification including a bad loss to Mexico on home soil caused US Soccer Federation to panic and fire Klinnsman. In the midst of their panic, some genius involved in the hiring process decided that it would be a good idea to hire the MLS’ LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena who had already coached (and been fired by) the United States from 1998 to 2006. Arena has coached a few different MLS teams and never had any experience coaching at the club level outside of the United States. Hiring Bruce Arena in my mind is the equivalent of reelecting Bill Clinton after he had resigned from the presidency following the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Many fans were immediately critical of the move which was clearly not well thought through. No one in their right mind would have seen someone who had gotten fired ten years prior as the breath of fresh air that the team needed to pick itself back up.
Arena failed to change the course of the team which picked up another stretch of bad results. A lucky 3-0 win over Panama earlier in the week had fans hoping for qualification which would buy the team another few months to improve and find a rhythm before the World Cup in Russia next summer. All the United States had to do was beat Trinidad. A loss could have seen them through if Mexico had beaten Honduras or if Panama had lost. These were unlikely scenarios given that Mexico had already assured themselves of qualification and Panama was fighting for their place in the tournament as well. The US had a 93% chance of going through and they ultimately controlled their own destiny. This team failed. They looked disinterested and defeated from minute one. They got outplayed, they got outworked and left a generation of future soccer players behind in their wake.
The World Cup is the game’s greatest stage. As the world’s most-watched sporting event, young fans everywhere develop their interest in the sport by cheering for their country and seeing all the great players of the time compete for any sports most valuable prize. The stakes are never higher. My first real memories of watching the game of soccer come from the 2006 World Cup when I first saw my idols play against one another and felt the elation when Italy won in dramatic fashion through each stage of the tournament. That tournament shaped my love for the game and solidified my desire to play until I can play no longer. I still watch the highlights and hearken back to my childhood when I can feel the same emotions I felt 11 years ago. The World Cup is more meaningful than the Olympics and is only held every four years. Around the world, billions of people are glued to their television sets for over a month awaiting some of the most impressive displays of skill, anguish and celebration.
For at least another four years, American children who would have seen the tournament because they were cheering for the United States will not have the same passion to one day represent the country on the same stage. These kids will only have people from other countries to look up to. The heroics of the last two World Cups showed improvement. But the defeat last night has shown that the nation has taken a major step back. A rising generation of young stars led by Borussia Dortmund star Christian Pulisic gives some fans hope but questions about the people in charge of the federation outweigh their promise. When will the United States find a coach that they can rely on and develop a consistent lineup that most other countries have? When will United States players stay abroad instead of retreating to the safe confines of Major League Soccer like Michael Bradley (Don't even get me started on Michael Bradley. I'll start flipping out and this will turn into a 10 page paper on why he is the worst.), Tim Howard, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, the list goes on and on. They hurt themselves and the country’s development. Our best players need to go abroad not come home. They need to be trained in Europe with the best coaches and be surrounded by the best talent. Matt Miazga and Christian Pulisic are leading the way for young stars in Europe and prove that Americans can play with the best.
It is no secret that the best talent is concentrated on the European continent, and to be the best you have to be there and learn from the most gifted people in the sport. US soccer must make a commitment to not only growing the game at home but until it reaches the level of its European counterparts, it should encourage its players to take their opportunities abroad for the development of the national team. The US needs to take a long look in the mirror to examine their arrogance, lack of character and incompetence. Each individual player, coach and administrator needs to ask themselves individually what they did that led to the disappointment of an entire nation. This entire soccer federation needs to stop whining about the horrible pitches and conditions they have to play through and worry about qualifying. Once you qualify and prove something, then, and only then, you can afford to lose to Trinidad and Tobago in embarrassing fashion like that. Alexi Lalas was right. The US national team consists of "a bunch of soft, under-performing, tattooed millionaires" and they just threw everything away.
