Paul Aguilar’s extra time goal puts Mexico past USA 3-2

But Saturday was more than just one dark day for U.S. Soccer. I didn’t see how I could afford a 2,800-mile drive from Florida, where we both live, but my friend was persuasive.

It’s been a while since I can rememeber a match where a stadium swelled with feeling from start to finish, hitting every note of the emotional register on the way. Normally, win or lose, I typically write up my match thoughts on games focusing on lessons learned and where the team goes from there. Writing up a simple analysis of the game focuses on the small picture, but the problems are serious and reflective of something bigger.

But with a penalty-kick tiebreaker looming, the United States failed to clear the ball from danger.

The Americans again equalized in the second extra time.

“The plan was maybe to have [goalkeeper] Nick Rimando ready for the shootout, because, obviously, he’s the best penalty-blocker you can have in this whole region”, Klinsmann said.

U.S. Soccer has endured dark days in the past. The lineup was identical to the beginning of the 2014 World Cup, save Gyasi Zardes filling in for Alejandro Bedoya, who missed the game through illness. It was the second-largest crowd ever to watch the U.S Mens National team at home, barely surpassed by the 1994 Rose Bowl turnout for a World Cup game against Romania.

[It was a awful day for USA soccer]. Bruce Arena quickly came in and restored order after 1998. After a stale ninety minutes, extra time would be needed to decide CONCACAF’s Confederations Cup representative. With wins over Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and Germany, the team finished in third place.

The top six teams in each conference advance to the playoffs. After a week of heavily promoting the Confederations Cup as a very important competition™ it’s Mexico taking that very important place in the 2015 tournament.

It all felt like a fairly realistic representation of where these two teams are – Mexico displayed an abundance of attacking talent, and a frustrating lack of ruthlessness, while United States of America showed flashes of quality and rather more evidence of being in a rut. After all, he announced his worldwide retirement past year, only to be summoned back by Klinsmann when an injury glut tore through the ranks of left-backs.

Geoff Cameron’s 13th-minute goal lifted the U.S. into a 1-1 tie with Mexico that ultimately sent Saturday’s CONCACAF Cup match into extra time. With World Cup qualifiers on the horizon, they need to get their act together, and fast. As a team, the Americans were thoroughly outclassed.

“A loss is always hard to swallow especially when there’s a lot at stake”. Where is the progress?

This is true. Provided that the future promises to be better than the past. Paul Aguilar scored the game victor on a stunning strike in the 118th minute. They just had to play ninety minutes of regular time to build up the anticipation first. “That’s definitely a big advantage for being in the World Cup, there’s no doubt about it”. And like Klinsmann, he had previously won the Gold Cup. Paul Aguilar’s volley in the 117th minute stunned the USA and gave the Mexicans a win for the storybooks. Klinsmann should be held accountable. U.S. Soccer still seems committed to Klinsmann and given the amount of resources and relative success that he has had that is understandable. Soccer in a way reflects the culture of a country. Klinsmann bears blame for the current plight in his dual role as coach and technical director, though the overall results during his tenure justify his continued employment.

Where is the leadership?

Like Vermes, Ben Olsen is a former USMNT player and one of the young MLS managers out there.

That the US was still in the game at that point was credit to Klinsmann’s substitutions. The current CONCACAF champion took an early lead scoring in the 10th minute of play. His view is long term, and in that sense, it makes a few sense for the US federation to keep showing him unyielding support. “That’s no slight on the American fans here”. No matter who you have, managing an expansion team is tough and Kreis did the best he could this season.

“You make maybe one in your life like he did it today”, US midfielder Jermaine Jones said.