USA gets draw, new life in Cup quest
SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS If you were tasked with making a case for the USA to go on a deep or even decent run in next summer’s World Cup right now, you might spend a good long time staring at a blank page.
Even reaching the tournament remains an onerous task, despite the national team’s late equalizer to secure a 1-1 tie in Honduras on Tuesday, a result the Americans fought hard for but were somewhat fortunate to wind up with.
The USA tries to reach the World Cup every four years by progressing from the CONCACAF region, composed of teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean and generally regarded as one of the weakest in global soccer.
Against such opposition, the U.S. team has managed two qualifying wins out of eight in the current campaign and, if not for Bobby Wood’s desperate late goal in San Pedro Sula, would be on the verge of elimination. That’s hardly a wonderful portent for success in Russia next June, if indeed they get there.
Except World Cups rarely work that way. Teams that thrive in qualifying routinely bomb out in the group stage once the tournament begins. Stars who were supposed to go on a tear end up being crushed by the expectations foisted upon them. Underdogs that scrapped and scraped their way into the field go on deep runs that no one expected.
That’s why it’s not just the smarter thing for the USA to live in the present with two games left, but it’s also the only viable choice. For all the positive vibes that were spawned when that flick of Wood’s right foot canceled out Romell Quioto’s firsthalf goal, there is still no margin for error.
Victories against Panama and Trinidad and Tobago next month would be enough to clinch a spot beyond all doubt. Anything less, and a playoff against Syria or Australia could beckon or even a fifth-place finish and a summer of inactivity in 2018. As things stand, even if the USA does crawl over the line, it will have found a particularly inauspicious way of doing so.
Yet don’t write it all off yet. Once you qualify for a World Cup, it is like you get a clean slate. Big teams thrive, sure. Brazil, Germany and Spain have a consistency of performance that befits the standard of the players at their disposal.
But others who reach the the Round of 16 or quarterfinals, the kind of result the USA could justifiably be satisfied with, dispel the form guide and find surprising strength from intangible things. Sometimes it is an individual player who picks the perfect time to step into the spotlight. And sometimes it is the memory of having survived adversity and come back stronger.
There were few positives to be taken out of Honduras on Tuesday in terms of technical proficiency. The squad didn’t look like it had meshed well. It didn’t look dangerous when attacking nor comfortable when being attacked. It was listless.
But if learning to struggle is part of what it takes to be a good World Cup team, there was something of value to be grasped at. It was found in the waning moments at Estadio Olimpico, when the players’ legs were as exhausted as their oxygen supplies in the sapping heat of the northern Honduran city.
It was found right at the time when the bumpy field and the unclipped grass and the unpredictable referee had angered the visitors so much it would have been easy to mail it in for the final few minutes.
Instead, a final effort was discovered, dragged from somewhere. It changed the game, and it changed the team’s attitude as it moves toward the final push of qualifying.
“This is what qualifying is all about,” captain Michael Bradley said. “There are some days when it is not pretty. In a lot of moments it has nothing to do with (soccer) and (everything about) finding a way to survive. Dealing with everything that gets thrown at you and having a group that can hold up in the toughest moments.”
About 30 minutes after the USA’s great escape, Bradley strode up the steps of the team bus and skipped down the aisle. As he did so he was greeted by the sounds of excited chatter and laughter.
Meanwhile, a short walk away, Honduras coach Jose Luis Pinto was being berated by his country’s media. “Do you want to cry?” asked one journalist, and Pinto looked as if he did.
Such is the fickle nature of soccer and the forces of momentum. The U.S. team was outplayed and largely outfought, yet it flew home full of the joys of life. Honduras, having come so close to a win that would have put it in strong position to reach Russia next summer, will have deflating memories of an afternoon in which it was the better team.
“Welcome to World Cup qualifying,” U.S. coach Bruce Arena said with a shrug of the shoulders.
Welcome, more accurately, to another chance for the USA to get things done. Welcome, after it was so nearly farewell.