Defensive letdowns cost U.S. Cup berth
Relentless work ethic was missing under two coaches.
Standing COUVA, TRINIDAD — in the stadium tunnel near the U.S. locker room after the Collapse in Couva, captain Michael Bradley was asked over and over what went wrong.
How had the United States, a regional power that had made seven straight World Cup appearances, failed to qualify for next year’s tournament?
What led to the Americans’ stunning, crushing 2-1 loss to already eliminated Trinidad and Tobago that caused them to tumble to fifth in the six-nation final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region?
A year of defensive breakdowns under two coaching staffs did in the U.S., which finished with three wins, three losses and four ties.
“We like to hang our hat on the fact that we outwork teams and we press teams,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said. “They won a lot of second balls tonight and put us under pressure.”
A relentless work ethic the Americans relied on for years was absent too often.
“You can’t go and score four, five goals every game. We have to be able to be hard to play against,” forward Jozy Altidore said. “We weren’t hard enough to play against too many times on these nights.”
In this cycle, the Americans not only lost their first home qualifier since 2002, they lost two home games in a qualifying cycle for the first time since 1957 — during their 40-year absence from soccer’s top event.
“When you lose the first two games and you drop points on too many days, your margin for error goes away, and so you know you’re at the mercy of a night like this, where everything possible goes against you, both here and in the two other games,” Bradley said.
“When we start the hex poorly, when we don’t take the points that we should on some other days, then you leave open the chance on the last day this can happen.”
Bradley is 30 and may not play in another World Cup. Howard (38) and Clint Dempsey (34) will never again appear on soccer’s biggest stage.
“If I said disappointment, it would be an understatement,” Howard said.
A look at what went wrong in qualifying for the United States:
Nov. 11, 2016: The U.S. had been 30-0-2 in qualifying at home since a 3-2 loss to Honduras at Washington’s RFK Stadium in September 2001 and scheduled its opener of the hex against Mexico at Columbus, Ohio, where the Americans had won four straight qualifiers against El Tri by 2-0 scores.
But Mexico scored on a corner kick in the 89th minute for the go-ahead goal in a 2-1 win.
Nov. 15, 2016: Costa Rica routed the visiting United States 4-0, the Americans’ first four-goal loss in qualifying since 1980. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired six days later and replaced by Bruce Arena, the U.S. coach from 1998-2006.
“There’s going to need to be some urgency,” Bradley said before boarding the team bus. “We’re going to have to look collectively real hard in the mirror at ourselves.”
March 28, 2017: Four days after a 6-0 rout of Honduras at San Jose, Calif., in the first competitive match of Arena’s return, the U.S. tied Panama 1-1 at Panama City.
June 11, 2017: Arena changed seven starters with only two off days following a 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago at Commerce City, Colo., but the U.S. tied Mexico 1-1 in Mexico City.
Sept. 1, 2017: The Americans lost 2-0 to Costa Rica in Harrison, N.J.
Sept. 5, 2017: Bobby Wood’s 85th-minute goal salvaged a 1-1 draw with Honduras at San Pedro Sula that kept the Americans in fourth place, behind Panama but ahead of Honduras on goal difference.
Oct. 10, 2017: A 4-0 rout of Panama days earlier in Orlando, Fla., moved the Americans back into third place and put them in position to qualify with a win over Trinidad and Tobago, almost certainly with a tie (because of goal difference) or even a defeat if Panama failed to beat Costa Rica and Honduras did not defeat Mexico.
A loss coupled by either a Costa Rica or Honduras defeat would mean a twogame playoff for the U.S. next month against Australia.
But 28 years after the U.S. won at Trinidad and Tobago to return to the World Cup for the first time since 1950, the Soca Warriors upset the Americans 2-1.
And both Panama and Costa Rica rallied from halftime deficits to win.