Stunned US face major questions after World Cup debacle

United States soccer manager Bruce Arena told the Washington Post’s Steven Goff on Thursday he does not have a desire to remain at the helm through another four-year World Cup qualifying period. Let that sink in for a moment.

Instead, Bruce Arena and his players will be watching the tournament from the couch at home.

Such a sentiment should disturb American soccer fans.

The American Outlaws are an unofficial supporters group of the US national soccer teams. Kinnear and Schmid have both been fired in the last couple years. So what went wrong? We can’t beat Trinidad on a field that’s too wet and too heavy?

Mexico topped the standings with Costa Rica in second place while the third automatic spot went to Panama. All three outcomes were considered highly unlikely ahead of time.

“A massive reboot needs to happen in a federation that has too often been opaque, insular and woefully resistant to change over the years, and it has to start at the top with the replacement of US Soccer president Sunil Gulati”. I’m disappointed the U.S. didn’t make it to Russian Federation, but I’m not terribly surprised; they’re kind of at their level, a team that works hard but doesn’t have the technical skill to make serious waves on the world level. The U.S. women’s team has probably lived with this reality since fielding its first squad in the 1980s.

“We have some good players coming up”. But they are 34 and 38, respectively, old for soccer players, and as they’ve aged, they’ve lost a step. [T&T] played nearly the same team that played against Mexico on Friday, so there’s no difference.

But Arena, who had a long and distinguished career as a domestic coach in the U.S., said clubs need to do a better job of nurturing players. The U.S. men have been inconsistent for quite some time.

As you might have heard by now since American soccer Twitter melted down on Tuesday night, that 1-in-27 scenario played out in nightmarish fashion. Torches are routinely passed from generation to generation in soccer, and sometimes the process is painful.

While fans fulminated over the front office, the next national team coach must instigate a ruthless roster purge. Not bad. But after that, Klinsmann failed to find a way to rejuvenate the squad while still winning games.

Arena, the most successful men’s coach in usa history, was about the only one who didn’t see the sky caving in on American soccer. And since 2007, the group has grown both in size and recognition, traveling around the world to give the national teams a visible fan presence. It’s on and I’m going to bring it up right now: The gloves should have been off years ago. Trinidad and Tobago’s victory last night may have been unexpected, but it was not inconceivable.

After coming within minutes and inches of defeating Belgium in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the United States soccer team has been in a complete free fall from the days of Jurgen Klinsmann and the versatile “Captain America”, Clint Dempsey. We’re building a good system in our professional league. The league is also producing new talent.

The impact of the U.S’s absence will be felt at broadcasters Fox, who take over coverage of the World Cup from ESPN starting with the 2018 tournament and a host of sponsors, such as Nike, who had been hoping for plenty of World Cup exposure.