| The infamous night in T+T, one year later |
[Oct. 10th, 2018|10:29 pm]
Fans of U.S. Soccer
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Thoughts? I'm sure many of you were upset like I was, on the verge of tears even. Livid at the lack of effort against a team with nothing to play for by all of the players but Pulisic, frustrated by everything going wrong (panama and honduras winning their matches), knowing Mexico wouldn't return the favor we did for them in 2013, despair seeing U.S. soccer be set back 30 years, shock at Gonzalez's own goal and getting a loss when we just needed a draw. It wasn't one game, or one mistake. It was a culmination of several years of decline and complacency.
2013 was the first sign. It was 2013 when Mexico were in such poor form they were nearly eliminated. 2 goals in extra time by none other than the U.S.,their archrival, saved their world cup hopes. It was a game a number of us kinda felt bad for winning because it killed Panama's dream of their very first world cup. Ome of them even asked Beckerman why they didn't stop when they could've.
2014. The World Cup. While the U.S. stsrted with flying colors and nearly finished top of the group, the big highlight was the Belgium game. Tim Howard's 16 saves is a world cup record. However, it showed how poorly everyone else was playing, including Wondo's miss (but he was offside anyway). The U.S. lost or drew most of the friendlies later that year.
2015. The U.S. finished 4th in the Gold Cup after losing to Jamaica then Panama. They also lost the concacaf cup to mexico, therefore they lost their confederations cup spot.
2016. A kid from Hershey, Pennsylvania named Christian Pulisic rises through the Dortmund and USMNT ranks and makes his debut early that year. The U.S. failed to qualify for the olympics again. The U.S. gets embarassed by Guatemala in the 3rd round of WCQs, where Klinsmann's job was on the line more than ever. They finished 4th in the copa america after the demolition by Argentina. It gets worse. The Dos A Cero curse ends after the first Hex match. Costa Rica, a team that's a thorn in our side, demolishes the U.S. 4-0. Klinsmann is fired after this game.
2017. Bruce Arena returns as U.S. manager. After a decent start, the U.S. wins the Gold Cup. However, after getting too many road draws (in Mexico, Panama and Honduras) and a loss at home to Costa Rica, the U.S. found itself in danger of not qualifying. While the 4-0 win over Panama was a reprieve, they needed a draw against Trinidad and Tobago to punch those tickets to Russia.
It all went wrong. O.G.'s own goal, Tim Howard's blunder, and Pulisic's goal not being enough, Panama and Honduras getting the points they needed to put us in 5th in the hex. T+T got their revenge for 1989.
Mexico's poor form made the USMNT complacent. They assumed they'd dominate CONCACAF. They thought they were world class and could compete on the world stage. Wrong and wrong. We will never be like Germany or France or Spain or Belgium or Italy. Our national team identity is based on being the underdogs. We will always be.
Look at the team from the 2010 world cup. They fought and fought and never gave up. I remember Donovan's goal that made a nation cheer. I remember the heartbreaking match against Ghana. Where's the fight in this team? Last year most of them look lost, dazed, confused.
This new-look team has potential. Some played for the quarterfinalists in both youth world cups. Many of them are in big clubs in Europe. However, given the lack of a permanent manager (though sarachan has done a good job giving young players a chance), they need to push on not because of the USSF but despite it.
Win or lose, I support the U.S. team! |
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