Qualifying failure haunts Americans
home rout in November 2016 that caused the U.S. Soccer Federation to fire coach Jurgen Klinsmann and bring back Arena, and a 2-0 win in New Jersey in September 2017.
Panama rallied with a late first-half goal to tie the U.S. team at home in March 2017, and the Americans won, 4-0, in Florida in October. The Americans then lost, 2-1, at Trinidad and Tobago, when only a tie was needed to qualify. The Americans finished fifth in the six-nation final round, falling below Honduras, which lost a playoff to Australia.
“If the United States had qualified, we would have done much better than Costa Rica and Panama,” said Steve Sampson, the U.S. coach from 1995-98. “I know that Panama finished ahead of the United States in the qualification phase, but with all the previous experience the United States would have, I’ve got to believe and I do believe that they would have done much better than Costa Rica and Panama in this World Cup.”
Former U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller said the failure of the U.S. team to qualify for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics was a sign of trouble to come.
“Our under-23s over an eight-year, 10-year period have not been as good as the rest of CONCACAF, and that’s eventually going to filter up to your national team, and it doesn’t surprise me that we had this struggle,” he said before adding: “Are we better than Panama?Of course we are.”
If Mexico moves on to the knockout rounds, which is likely, 13 of 24 CONCACAF teams (54 percent) will have reached the Round of 16 since 1990 — Mexico seven times, USA four and Costa Rica twice.
“I think we have a long way to go,” CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani said. “We still rank behind only UEFA on CONMEBOL in terms of points per game in World Cups, historically, but obviously now our fate in terms of a run is in the hands of Mexico.”