Disaster Deja Vu
As the final whistle blew in Guadalajara, Mexico, the stunned faces of the USMNT U-23’s reflected the agony that nearly every American fan felt on Sunday evening. It was deja vu. The echoes of that fateful loss against Trinidad and Tobago still fresh in everyone’s minds. Sunday’s defeat against Honduras was not as monumental, but failing to qualify to the Olympics still deals a hefty blow. The United States has now missed out on the last three Olympics -- its longest drought in nearly fifty years. The damage may not be as apparent now, but failing to qualify could have disastrous consequences down the line. Never mind the future, though, this loss hurts now.
Going into Sunday’s semifinal against Honduras, all the US needed was a win to qualify for the Olympics. Unfortunately, the US lacked urgency from the opening whistle, and they deservedly found themselves down 1-0 going into halftime. Shortly after the break, a blunder by goalkeeper David Ochoa gifted Honduras with a second. A few minutes later, Jackson Yueill pulled a goal back for the US with a fantastic strike from distance, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. The US crashed out in an embarrassing fashion, and the criticisms poured in from all sides.
Taylor Twellman, who had THAT rant when the US failed to qualify for Russia 2018, did not pull any punches this time either. Immediately after the match ended, Twellman tweeted, “Unacceptable @ussoccer. A failure to the Nth degree because you had the ‘warning sign’ from October of 2017....and yet here we are. A proper ‘footballing nation’ doesn't fail to qualify for an Olympics 3 time running.” Scathing, but a fair assessment of the situation. Twellman probably spoke for many fans right after Sunday’s fiasco.
ESPN analyst and former player Hercules Gomez took to Twitter as well, saying, “C team? Sure. Preseason form? Ok. Failure? Absolutely. Deserved win from Honduras.”
Stu Holden was more succinct. “Failure... again,” he tweeted.
The criticism might appear a bit dramatic, but to be fair, it’s warranted. So many resources poured into the USMNT, so many “lessons” learned from past failures, and yet here we are again. Honduras has nowhere near the budget that US Soccer wields, and yet they turned up on Sunday and deservedly beat the US. It wasn’t even a contest. Every time the US plays a do-or-die match, it’s always a lackluster performance. We’ve seen this movie before.
It’s hard to find the right words to describe the disappointment after another defeat in this manner. It’s been three Olympics in a row, and in the end, we always pay down the road. When the US failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, we had already missed out on the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. While the Olympics is by no means the peak of soccer tournaments, it is perhaps the most important stepping stone for young players to get meaningful tournament experience at the national team level. Missing out on Tokyo will cost the U-23’s dearly. We’ve seen where this road leads.
The senior team’s victory over Ireland on Sunday might give us hope that maybe not all is doom and gloom. Maybe we are all overreacting. But if we want the US to truly compete on the world stage, we cannot get used to failures like the one on Sunday.
