USA Soccer (*sigh* No World Cup)

Trinidad 2-1 USA
That loss sealed the fate for USA last night, as they failed to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1986. This qualifying season has been one of extreme ups and downs for USA. After losing the first two matches (Mexico 2-1 USA; Costa Rica 4-0 USA), coach Jurgen Klinsmann was fired and former coach Bruce Arena was brought back in to guide the squad through qualification. (I haven't seen the news yet but I assume Arena will be fired today--if 'fire' is even the term, he was simply brought in for this World Cup cycle so his presence is no longer required) At the time I was all for that move: Klinsmann had long shown me that he wasn't the man for the USA job and given the circumstances I thought Arena was the perfect choice. Arena's mission was clear: get the USA back on track, get through the Gold Cup and into the World Cup.

Arena's return to the Hex got off to a good start: USA 6-0 Honduras. This was one of the "ups". Clint Dempsey had a hat trick and USA seemed to have their feet under them again. The 1-1 draw in Panama was a good enough result, and though the defense was wobbly at times, Pulisic and Dempsey had some good interplay up front and it felt like USA finally had some identity to its game going forward. USA 2-0 Trinidad and USA 1-1 Mexico were also positive signs that the team was moving in the right direction. You've got to your win home games and a draw in Mexico City is a notable achievement (Mexico's home field advantage is pretty staggering). Two home wins (and piled up some goal differential) and two road draws are good results.

Then came this past summer's Gold Cup. (Hmmm....why didn't I write about this at the time?) I watched most all of the tourney and I'm pleased to report that USA was clearly the best team from beginning to end. Yes, Mexico didn't bring their top squad nor did Costa Rica, but USA's performance on both sides of the ball and with a wide variety of lineups was impressive throughout. And though it was Jamaica that USA beat in the final, I thought Panama, who tied USA in the first game, was probably the next best team. (Jamaica has a lot of impressive athletes but none seemed particularly good at soccer)

USA was finally ready to dominate, they had their identity, they had their form and they had good depth at all positions. Bring on the Hex!

Unfortunately, their next game was another one of the "downs": Costa Rica 2-0 USA. USA was listless in, couldn't seem to find in shape in the attacking half and were prone to dumb giveaways in the back that led to a disappointing--and shocking!--home defeat. Suddenly the team that had looked so convincing against the same opponents in the Gold Cup was in disarray all over again. This single game as much as any other was the back breaker, a win here would've made everything easy, instead this made everything hard.

The next match (USA 1-1 Honduras) featured another bad giveaway and, frankly, a lucky goal was the only thing that saved any shred of hope for the Americans. Honduras is not an easy place to play and never has been. The idea that this was where USA would right the ship was pretty much always doomed.

USA 4-0 Panama brought back some hope and put USA back into 3rd place in the Hex. Pulisic had a great game and cemented his status as the leader of this team. I was struck by Panama's funky attacking shape: when they pushed forward, they left a huge gaping hole in the middle of the field--dude, you could play Frisbee in the hole at midfield!--that USA was able to counter through again and again. (Kind of felt like Panama had a specific game plan in mind that they abandoned almost immediately because of Pulisic's early goal)

Then came last night's loss at Trinidad. The commentators for the game were quite upbeat about USA's chances (I believe he said USA had a 93% chance of qualifiying going into the game), but I was less sanguine. The nightmare scenario (USA losing, Panama and Honduras both winning) was hanging out there to be had. And it was had. It was another listless performance, another Omar Gonzalez mistake (and, oh man, how he wasn't called for the penalty a few minutes later is a mystery!), no one moved the ball forward, Trinidad stuck with their game plan, bogged down in the middle and road the early goal all the way to a W (only their second win in the Hex).

Okay. Where do we go now? Well, Coach Bruce Arena is not coming back. He was never the man for the future, only for now and...well....now is over. I've said a few times already that Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard have played their final games for USA but this time I have to believe that everyone else agrees with me. To my mind one of the downsides of Arena's "now"-ness was not moving on to Brad Guzan earlier. Personally I've seen enough of Omar Gonzalez, never understood why Arena kept going with him: he doesn't hold the off-side trap well and regularly gets beat when strikers attack him directly.

On defense, I liked the Brooks-Cameron line up the middle, not sure why Arena abandoned that. I kinda liked Villafana and Yedlin on the wings both of whom are young enough to be back around. I'm not sure about Brooks and Cameron coming back (Cameron in particular seemed quite salty about being left out of Arena's plans, not sure he'll want to be back). I like Matt Besler and Tim Ream to provide bench depth. Not sure which youngsters are in the pipeline.

Pulisic and Nagbe are clearly the core of offense for the foreseeable future. I assume Michael Bradley will be too; I've long had that love-hate thing with Bradley: I appreciate that he's confident and sure with the ball, that he's a leader in the middle; but I wish he'd push the ball forward more, he seems intent on settling when getting into the attack is crucial. If he steadily drifts back to a defensive mid, maybe even a sweeper role, I'd be okay with that. I'd like the see more attack in the midfield, let Bradley become a defender if need be. I was generally pleased with Bedoya, Arriola and Kellen Acosta in the midfield. Fabian Johnson is young enough to deserve another shot, I suppose, but I was never blown away by that guy (he doesn't look like his heart in the game). Again, I'm sure the Under-17 team will produce another 4-5 guys to throw in the mix (at least I hope so!).

Altidore and Wood are big strong guys that can rip the ball when they get a chance and they're veterans now I assume those forward spots are theirs to lose. That said, I was never terribly impressed with their ability to create chances and if there's some USA youth out there that can compete, I say bring 'em on.

As for coach, I suggested a while back aiming for Didier Deschamps, who will either be canonized or fired by August 2018. The Klinsmann experience did not turn me off the European coaches, quite the contrary--I think Klinsmann just sucks at being a coach. I watch a lot of soccer but I'm not that immersed in the coaches, the culture, etc., to know who the next coach should be. But my gut is there aren't any South Americans ready for this job. And I don't see any North Americans out there ready to take on this task (unless you want to follow retread Bruce Arena with retread Bob Bradley, which I don't) so I think its back to the continent. Again, Deschamps will either be available or he won't and though USA soccer is itching to move on, we kinda have to wait until the Cup is over to see who the next coach will be.

And what about Sunil Gulati? I don't think he's the problem. His only mistake was sticking with Klinsmann for so long but (arguably) that was a mistake that anyone would've made. I understood bringing Klinsmann in, I understood keeping him through the 2014 Cup, and while doubling down on him after Summer 2014 was not what I wanted, I can understand that within USA Soccer there would've been a faction in favor of it. And I kinda like him in a public persona kinda way. So while Gulati will undoubtedly face more competition the next time his seat is up for election, I don't think getting rid of him now advances anything (or is even possible to do...?).

I am disappointed to not be going to the World Cup. Not because I think we were gonna win this time (ha!) or because its the only thing getting me interested in the Cup (hell, no! I've quit jobs to watch the World Cup before! USA impacts nothing on my interest in the Cup), but because USA's natural progression should include always making the Cup. Dude, our hemisphere gets 3 bids and a chance for a 4th--there's no way USA should ever not be in the top 4! Ever! Under any circumstances! (Mexico, too, should never be out of the top 4)

So how did this come to be? You know my answer: Klinsmann was good at developing the youth game in America but not good at dealing with the players once they got to the national level. Klinsmann set this team back a whole four years, while simultaneously producing a deeper collection of talented players. I thought there was still enough time and talent for Bruce Arena to get it done (kudos for USA's dominating performance in the Gold Cup) but he was never able to fully get a grip on where this team needs to go. Now its up to Gulati (or Gulati's replacement) to get the program back on track.