US men fall to Honduras, miss 3rd straight Olympic tourney

The United States missed its third straight Olympic men’s soccer tournament, losing to Honduras 2-1 on Sunday night in a qualification game as Juan Carlos Obregon scored in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time and goalkeeper David Ochoa committed a blunder that gifted Luis Palma a goal two minutes into the second half.

U.S. captain Jackson Yueill pulled a goal back with a curling 23-yard shot in the 52nd minute, and the Americans had several good chances to tie the score. Jonathan Lewis’ 63rd-minute header was headed off the goal line by Wesley Degas, Yueill’s free kick in the 69th was batted away by goalkeeper Alex Barrios, Lewis’ open 4-yard shot off Tanner Tessman’s pass in the 83rd minute bounced off a boot, and Johnny Cardoso mis-hit an open header in stoppage time.

While Honduras advanced to its fourth straight Olympics this summer in Japan, the U.S. extended its streak of futility. The Americans missed the 2012 Games in England when goalkeeper Sean Johnson allowed a 25-yard shot to bounce in off his hands in second-half stoppage time for a 3-3 draw against El Salvador, then didn’t reach the 2016 Olympics in Brazil due to a 2-0 loss to Honduras followed by a playoff defeat to Colombia. The senior U.S. national teamalso failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

The U.S. menplayed in four of five Olympics from 1992 to 2008.

Host Mexico played Canada in the second game of the doubleheader for the other berth from North and

Central America and the Caribbean.

CONCACAFqualifiersjoinArgentina, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, France, Germany, Ivory Coast, Japan, New Zealand, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Spain in the draw, which will be held in Zurich on April 21. The tournament will be played from July 21 to Aug. 7 in Tokyo, Kashima, Miyagi, Saitama, Sapporo and Yokohama.

Honduras advanced to Tuesday night’s CONCACAF Under-24 Championship, which has no impact on the Olympics.