Edmonton Journal

Silver lining for U.S. in ouster, says Keegan

- DEREK VAN DIEST dvandiest@postmedia.com Twitter: @DerekVanDi­est

American soccer fans were in utter disbelief at the turn of events Tuesday, which saw the United States fail to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Three separate scenarios needed to play out on the final night of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament to deny the United States a berth in the next World Cup tournament.

Against the odds, all three occurred as the U.S. lost at Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras upset Mexico and Panama, with help from the referee, beat Costa Rica.

“It’s disappoint­ing, but I think that people are blowing it a little bit out of proportion. There is a lot of good that can come out of it,” said FC Edmonton’s American forward Jake Keegan. “It’s disappoint­ing because the World Cup brings people together and it adds fans to the game that you wouldn’t normally have. Four years ago, we probably added a few hundred thousand fans that weren’t fans before that, and this World Cup, we could have done the same thing. So from that perspectiv­e, it’s disappoint­ing.

“But at the same time, it makes you look in the mirror, similar to the season we’re having here. It makes you look in the mirror and ask yourself how to make things better. How do you change? How do you make sure something like this doesn’t happen again?”

The U.S. last failed to qualify for a World Cup in 1986, which happened to be the only time Canada participat­ed in the global event.

Canada was eliminated from World Cup contention more than a year ago, failing to move on to the final six-team qualifying round.

By virtue of their loss and wins by Panama and Honduras, the United States finished fifth in the final qualifying group and were eliminated.

The top three teams — Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama — earned automatic berths into the 2018 World Cup. Honduras advanced to an interconti­nental playoff against Australia.

“Hopefully, the people in charge and those that are in power (of U.S. soccer) will either not be in power anymore, or if they are still in power, make the right decisions going forward,” Keegan said.

The U.S. had been inconsiste­nt through the final qualifying round, but still had control of its fate heading into the game against Trinidad and Tobago, which had already been eliminated.

The U.S. conceded two first-half goals before battling back in the second half in the 2-1 loss. A tie would have been good enough to qualify and U.S. captain Clint Dempsey came close, hitting the goalpost in the final minutes.

“I watched the game,” Keegan said. “I’m not one that gets overly nervous, and I honestly thought Dempsey was going to equalize, and of course, he hits the post. But I was never really overly worried, and maybe that was part of the problem — people weren’t worried and when you don’t worry, sometimes you take it for granted.”

The U.S. had been inconsiste­nt throughout qualifying and were criticized for fielding an older team that was past its prime.

However, Keegan, a New York product, believes the U.S. national team had little choice but to go with veterans.

“I think it comes down to the youngsters coming through weren’t good enough,” he explained.

“Usually, players between 20 and 27 make up the core of your national team, whereas our core was 29 to however old (goaltender) Tim Howard is, 38.

“I don’t think they were picking the older guys because they were older, the older guys were the better players. And when the core of your team is that old, sometimes that can lead to issues and I think that’s where they faltered.”

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